National Collection of Heads and Horns
Sportsmen of the late 1800s were witness to the “Era of Extermination” of the nation’s wildlife and were the first to demand change. Most citizens were largely unaware that after unregulated and relentless killing, the nation’s wildlife was in grave condition. The New York Zoological Society—an organization formed by Boone and Crockett Club and led by B&C members William T. Hornaday and Madison Grant—formulated a plan to create a depository of outstanding big game trophies from around the world to preserve for future generations…before it was too late.
In 1906, the National Collection of Heads and Horns was formed with the collection growing to nearly 700 specimens by 1910. Not more than a dozen years later, a special building in New York City’s Bronx Zoo was constructed to house the display. At the May 1922 opening of the new museum, the collection was officially dedicated “In Memory of the Vanishing Big Game of the World.”
It may have just been a taxidermy display, but it ignited the public support for conservation, which directly led to the successes in conservation we see today. It also proved that trophies had a lasting significance to conservation.
Changing philosophies at the zoo led to the closing of the exhibit. B&C salvaged many of the North American specimens, which eventually found a new home at the NRA’s Firearms Museum in Washington, D.C., in 1978. The Collection was relocated to the Buffalo Bill Historical Center in Cody, Wyoming, in 1982.
Today the collection is part of Johnny Morris’ Wonders of Wildlife National Museum and Aquarium in Springfield, Missouri. It is a most befitting home because the National Collection could very well have been named a Wonders of Wildlife exhibit from the beginning. Such public displays are a constant reminder that conservation matters to everyone.
The National Collection of Heads and Horns is indeed part of the history of North American conservation, which itself is the greatest story never told.
At the Boone and Crockett Club, we've never stopped fighting for conservation and we never will.
The Boone and Crockett Club has shaped American conservation since Theodore Roosevelt gathered a small group of forward-thinking hunters in 1887. Every acre protected, every species recovered, every generation of young hunters educated all trace back to members like you who believed the fight was worth it.
Your tax-deductible gift will go directly to work advancing our mission: science-based wildlife policy, ethical fair chase hunting, youth education, and the preservation of our public lands for generations to come. Together, we are not just preserving a tradition. We are writing the next chapter of America’s conservation legacy. Please help us keep writing it.