Over fifty-two years ago, in mid-March 1972, a 19th century double-barreled shotgun that had belonged to American naturalist and artist John James Audubon was stolen from the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
A Little History About Where the Theft Happened
The Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia, the oldest continuously operating science institution in the Western Hemisphere, was founded in 1812 “for the encouragement and cultivation of the sciences, and the advancement of useful learning.” Its Journal of the Academy of Natural Sciences was the first peer-reviewed publication in the United States devoted to the natural sciences, with the first volume published in 1817.
Early members of the Academy included William Bartram, an American naturalist and writer, Titian Peale, an American naturalist, artist and scientific illustrator, and Alexander Wilson, a Scottish-American poet and ornithologist who is considered to be the father of American ornithology. Early members from other locations, known as corresponding members, were Thomas Jefferson and Alexander von Humboldt, a German explorer and geographer. Nineteenth century members included John James Audubon, Asa Gray, considered to be the most important American botanist of that time and Ferdinand Hayden, known for his pioneering surveying expeditions of the Rocky Mountains, as well as corresponding member Charles Darwin, best known for his contributions to evolutionary biology.
Shortly after its founding, the Academy began to organize expeditions to explore wilderness areas of the United States. Its first research and collecting expedition, organized by Academy president William Mclure, was to Florida in 1817. In 1819, Major Stephen H. Long led the Long Expedition to the Rocky Mountains, the first scientific exploration of the Louisiana Territory with trained naturalists and artists. That expedition included naturalist Edwin James. On that trip, James became the first man to record a climb to the summit of Pike’s Peak, a 14,115 foot mountain in Colorado, a summit that just ten years earlier, Zebulon Montgomery Pike, for whom the mountain is named, reported as “unattainable.” These individuals, and many other explorers associated with the Academy, brought back new species of plants and animals to be studied and cataloged. These items formed the foundation of the Academy’s scientific collections, which now contain more than 18 million specimens.
The Academy opened its doors and collections to the public in 1828. Its popularity soared in 1868 with the debut of the world’s first mounted dinosaur skeleton. The skeleton of Hadrosaurus foulkii, which had been discovered ten years earlier across the Delaware River from Philadelphia in Haddonfield, New Jersey, was 15-feet high and assembled on an iron latticework in a life-like pose by British artist Benjamin Waterhouse Hawkins. This innovative idea allowed the public to see, for the first time, a close-up view of one of these wondrous prehistoric creatures and became the standard for future dinosaur displays.
Visitors from across the United States, and from around the world, came to the Academy to see this remarkable dinosaur discovery, more than tripling the number of visitors to the institution in three years. As a result, in 1876, the Academy built a new home for its collections at 19th Street and the Benjamin Franklin Parkway, where it still sits today — at the center of Philadelphia’s cultural district.
By the early twentieth century, expeditions funded by the Academy were going to the Arctic, Central America, and later to Africa and Asia. One of those expeditions was Admiral Peary’s 1891-1892 expedition to Greenland. Today, the American flag carried by Peary on that expedition, and that had been presented to Peary by the Academy before his departure, is on display at the Academy.
Plants and animals collected during these expeditions were incorporated into the Academy’s stunning 37 dioramas, mostly constructed between the 1920s and 1950s. These dioramas, described by the Academy as a “fusion of art and science,” provided many visitors with their first glimpse of exotic wildlife, such as North American bison, bears and moose, African lions, zebras, gorillas and antelopes, and Asian tigers, pandas and yaks. There is even a diorama of the extinct passenger pigeon.
In 1948, the Academy established its Environmental Research Division, marking the beginning of even broader research areas for the institution. In 2011, the Academy became affiliated with nearby Drexel University and changed its name to the Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University.
How the Theft Happened
The theft of the Audubon shotgun from a display case in the Academy of Natural Sciences was discovered by a security guard on Monday morning, March 20, 1972. According to an article in the Philadelphia Inquirer from March 21 of that year, sometime over the weekend, “[t]he thief forced open a frame door of the glass case and then snipped wires holding the shotgun on a wall.”
No information about the theft came to light until 2020 when Thomas Gavin, a 77 year-old resident of a suburban Philadelphia county, consented to an interview by law enforcement officers concerning the theft of another firearm, a 1775 rifle made by master gunsmith Christian Oerter that had been stolen from the Valley Forge Historical Society in 1971. Gavin, who had sold the Oerter rifle to a local antiques dealer in 2018, admitted to the theft of the Oerter rifle, as well as the theft of other firearms from the Valley Forge Historical Society in the early 1970’s and the theft of firearms from a number of other museums, including the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the American Swedish Historical Museum, the Mercer Museum and the Mystic Seaport Museum.
In addition, Gavin admitted to the1972 theft of the John James Audubon shotgun from the Academy of Natural Sciences. Unfortunately, Gavin did not have a good recall of what happened to the Audubon shotgun, which he no longer possessed. He may have tried to consign it at auction or he may have sold it to someone whose name he could not remember. Despite law enforcement efforts over the next several years, the shotgun remains missing.
How to Identify This Missing Piece of History
There are no photographs of the Audubon shotgun and descriptions of the missing firearm have varied. It was described by Larry Herbert, the Superintendent of the Academy of Natural Sciences at the time of the theft, as a “12 gauge double barrel hammer action shotgun with engraving on barrel – namely an engraved deer hunting scheme on one side of the chamber, and a duck hunting scene on the other side.”
It was described in the March 21, 1972 Philadelphia Inquirer article as a “hammer-action shotgun, manufactured in the early 1800s” with “floral designs on the wooden stock” and “unidentifiable designs etched on the metal barrels” that was used by Audubon “to bag most of the birds he had catalogued over a 20-year period.”
Why This Missing Piece of History is Important
John James Audubon, born Jean-Jacques Rabin, was a French-American self-taught artist, naturalist and ornithologist. He is best known for his extensive efforts documenting and illustrating American birds in their natural habitats. His major work, a color-plate book titled The Birds of America, published between 1827 and 1837, is considered one of the finest books on birds ever created. Audubon is also known for identifying over 20 new species of birds and the National Audubon Society is named for him.
John James Audubon. Painting: George P. A. Healy; Museum of Science, Boston
According to Robert Peck, Curator of Art and Artifacts and Senior Fellow of the Academy of Natural Sciences, the Academy’s John James Audubon collection is considered to be one of the finest in the world. As previously noted, Audubon was a member of the Academy and several hundred of the bird specimens he collected are held in its Ornithology Department.
Items related to Audubon in the Academy’s archives include manuscripts and letters written by him, his life mask and artifacts he collected on his trip up the Missouri River in 1842. The Academy’s Library holds a rare copy of Audubon’s double Elephant folio of The Birds of America, an original subscription copy purchased directly from Audubon. The stolen, and still missing, 19th century Audubon shotgun was among the most important pieces in the Academy’s collection in general and certainly in its Audubon collection.
What to Do if You Know Where This Missing Piece of History Is
If you recognize the John James Audubon shotgun, have any information about it, or know its whereabouts, please call us at 1-202-240-2355 or send us an email at contact@arguscpc.com.