Carl Akeley is central figure in early 20th century natural history-as an explorer, museum collector, conservationist, and as single most important figure in development of art of taxidermy. By virtue of his status as the Father of Modern and pioneer in lifelike museum habitat dioramas, Akeley holds place of peculiar significance in world of museums, and indeed history of representation. Significantly, in parallel with his taxidermic accomplishments, Akeley was an accomplished sculptor as well as prolific inventor-most notable, in present context, for unique motion picture camera designed for ease and mobility in fieldwork, which rapidly became favorite of documentarists (Flaherty used two Akeleys to shoot Nanook of North [US/FR, 1922]), essential apparatus for aerial work (e.g., Wings [William Wellman, US, 1927]), and eventually standard tool for newsreels. Passing mentions of Akeley camera are scattered here and there in our film histories, especially in context of camera innovations in silent era, and in literature on documentaries and films of exploration. Kevin Brownlow has afforded Akeley more attention than most, calling him a vital, if neglected figure in motion picture history.1 Although technological innovations of Akeley's camera hardly rank with inventions of Edison, coming of sound, or recent advances in digital effects, his specific contribution to motion picture history is certainly important enough to warrant having more light shed on it. In addition, Akeley and his work-not only his invention and scattered cinematographic output, but totality of his creative efforts-invite consideration from theoretical perspective. The motion picture for Akeley was but one medium in broad repertoire of endeavor that had singular and coherent source of motivation: to make faithful record of natural world. Considering range of Akeley's tools-photography, motion picture photography, sculpture, and taxidermy-is suggestive of fundamental human drive, posited by many critics, to record and/or replicate reality. No doubt best known formulation of this impulse-to media scholars at least-is Andre Bazin's proposition that at root of representational arts is an obsession with realism or in his famous shorthand, mummy complex. The resonance of such Bazinian formulations with case of Akeley, taxidermist and filmmaker, is immediately intriguing. Akeley's work constitutes singular manifestation of that obsession-in sense, its living embodiment-a real, demonstrable, indeed sometimes explicitly stated drive to capture natural world through representational forms. In following pages I consider unique case of Carl Akeley as an exemplar of this realist obsession, driven by individual (psychological/scientific/artistic) forces as well as cultural (technological/ historiographical) ones. The essay has two general aims: first, to introduce Carl Akeley and his work to reader (especially film scholar) who might be unfamiliar with them, yet predisposed to find man and his contributions of interest; and second, to explore his work in context of realist theories of cinema and representation, where, I believe, it offers unique insights into interplay among representational forms, and in some sense serves to test certain theoretical pronouncements about them. The Father of Modern Taxidermy Carl Akeley might be called born naturalist. Born in 1864, he spent his childhood tromping around woods of western New York, bird-watching, hunting, and observing flora and fauna of region. He became fascinated with taxidermy at an early age after trip to small museum in Rochester, and taught himself basics with help of how-to pamphlet, showing early skill stuffing pet canary for neighbor. While in his teens he had business cards printed up announcing himself as practitioner of artistic taxidermy in all its branches. …