Carl Cotton

Carl Cotton (1918–1971 ) was an American taxidermist known for his work on exhibition development at the Field Museum of Natural History from 1947 to 1971. He was the first African American taxidermist at the Field Museum and, as noted by museum staff, likely the first professional black taxidermist in all of Chicago. Black discussed how he was childhood friends with Cotton and that, because of his young interest in the field of taxidermy, “cats and rats ran when they saw Carl.” A school field trip to the Field Museum as a child was likely the inspiration for his desire to have a position there.

Career Cotton first wrote a letter to the Field Museum's director in 1940 to request a taxidermy job, saying that he was an amateur taxidermist that had an interest in working on reptiles and that he already had a personal collection of 30 live snakes he could use for the museum. His request was refused however, with the director noting that they had no openings in the department and that they usually required their taxidermists to have a graduate degree in the practice or existing professional experience and notoriety.

Personal life It was common for Cotton to practice taxidermy at home even throughout his museum career, working on outside commissions and other projects. While initially living in Gary, Indiana, during the 1950's and 60's with his family, he did move back into the city of Chicago proper in the years just before his death. An expansion of their garage in Gary was used as his personal home lab, with it being usual for large animals to be preserved there while being worked on. Cotton died of cancer in 1971. A part of this exhibit included adding labels to all of his works throughout the museum, as it had been uncommon for taxidermists to have their names included on their works, which had contributed to records of Cotton's involvement having been previously lost in the museum's archives. It was only after several staff members, Reda Brooks and Tori Lee, had found photographical evidence of Cotton while looking for material to exhibit for Black History Month that the new exhibition was decided upon, unearthing the letters, reports, photos, and other pieces of Cotton's history at the museum that had been in the records.