Over forty-five years ago, in the winter of 1979, two very similar pieces of American folk art – wooden eagles with spread wings carved by Wilhelm Schimmel in the late 19th century – were stolen from two museums in Pennsylvania. One of those Schimmel eagles was stolen on January 9, 1979 from the Reading Public Museum in Reading, Pennsylvania; the second was stolen from the York County Historical Society in York, Pennsylvania between February 16 and 24, 1979.
A Little History About Where the Thefts Happened
The Reading Public Museum was founded by Dr. Levi W.S. Mengel. Dr. Mengel, who had a life-long passion for collecting natural objects, graduated from Reading Boys’ High School in 1886 and from the College of Pharmacy in Philadelphia in 1891. He did not pursue a career as a pharmacist, but instead joined the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia as a staff member.
While working at the Academy, he met civil engineer Robert E. Peary, who would become a U.S. Navy admiral and lead expeditions to the Arctic. In 1891, Mengel accompanied Peary on an expedition to Greenland that was financed by several groups, including the National Geographic Society and the Philadelphia Academy of Natural Sciences. Mengel returned to Philadelphia on the ship after the expedition set up camp by McCormick Bay, an Arctic waterway in Nunavut, Canada. In 1896, Mengel returned to his hometown and became a science teacher at his alma mater, Reading Boys’ High School.
Dr. Mengel founded what would become the Reading Public Museum with a collection of over 2,000 objects, described as “cabinets of curiosity” that he had purchased from the 1904 St. Louis World’s Fair, and that he stored on the third floor of the school district’s administration building. In keeping with Dr. Mengel’s philosophy of teaching, that third-floor collection became the first museum and provided hands-on learning experiences for the high school students. In the words of Dr. Mengel: “Giving a child a chance to see and handle the things about which they study is not only the greatest timesaver, but the most effective way of giving an absolutely correct impression.”
In 1913, Mengel, apparently with some reluctance, accepted the first of several pieces of artwork for the museum, and the collection was renamed the Reading Public Museum and Art Gallery and opened to the public. The museum was incorporated in 1921 with stated purposes of “establishing and maintaining in the said City of Reading a museum of natural history and commerce, and a museum of art, together with the libraries pertaining to the same; [and] of encouraging and developing the study of arts, and the application of the arts to manufacture and practical life.” The museum’s collection continued to grow and, with generous donations from local industrialists, a new museum building began welcoming visitors in 1929. The museum, with more than 300,00 objects, interactive exhibits, an arboretum and a planetarium, is still at this location today.
The York County Historical Society, formed in 1895, had its first museum inside the county courthouse in York, Pennsylvania, a city that was briefly the capital of the United States during the American Revolution and a county that just celebrated its 275th anniversary on August 19, 2024. In 1959, the historical society moved its location to a building in downtown York constructed in 1921 as an automobile dealership with the original showroom floor still in place. The historical society later merged with other groups that controlled historical downtown properties, such as the Agricultural and Industrial Museum and the Fire Museum of York County, into the York County Heritage Trust. In 2016, these institutions became the York County History Center.
In August 2024, after 10 years of planning, the museum moved its collection to a renovated late 19th century steam-generating plant building, adding state-of-the art interactive exhibits to its visitor experience. Among the items on display at the History Center are exhibits relating to York County’s agricultural and manufacturing history, as well as a Conestoga wagon and Revolutionary War-era documents.
How the Thefts Happened
Little is known about either of these thefts, other than the striking facts that wooden carvings of the same subject by the same folk artist were stolen within a six week period of time from museums that were less than 70 miles apart in two different eastern Pennsylvania counties. The theft from the Reading Public Museum occurred on January 9, 1979. The York County Historical Society’s Schimmel eagle was stolen from its case sometime after photographs were taken of it on February 16, 1979 and when it was discovered missing on February 24, 1979.
According to the minutes of the March 12, 1979 meeting of the executive committee of the historical society, the Wilhelm Schimmel eagle was one of the most valuable pieces in its collection. It is highly likely that these two Schimmel eagles were stolen by the same individual or individuals. It is also very possible that these two pieces were sold privately or at auction sometime after the mid-1990’s.
How to Identify These Missing Pieces of History
Both stolen Schimmel wooden carved eagles depict eagles with spread wings and have cross-hatched bodies.
The Schimmel carving stolen from the Reading Public Museum has a wingspan of 17 ½ inches and stands 9 ½ inches tall. It is painted black with pastel yellow and orange paint over its wings, and has a green painted base. The carving is missing wood on the tip of the eagle’s head and feathers.
The Schimmel carving stolen from the York County Historical Society is a bit smaller. It has a wingspan of 10 inches and stands 6 ½ inches tall. It is painted brown with black and white/tan painted spots on the body and wings, and is missing a small piece of wood on its cross-hatched head feathers. There appears to be a white spot on the center-front part of its body. Below is a photograph of the Schimmel eagle taken while it was on display at the historical society.
Why These Missing Pieces of History are Important
Wilhelm Schimmel (1817-1890) was a German immigrant who came to the Cumberland Valley region of south central Pennsylvania in the latter half of the nineteenth century. For the last 21 years of his life, he roamed throughout the region, mostly near Carlisle, Pennsylvania, as an itinerant tramp, going from farm to farm for periods of time and carving figures, mostly birds and animals, from pine in exchange for room and board or for a few pennies.
He carved parrots, roosters and dogs, as well as a few lions and tigers, but he is best known for his carving of spread-wing eagles. Schimmel carved his eagles’ bodies and wings separately, articulating them with angular feathers, then joining the parts, priming the surface of the birds, and adding color and depth with splashes of paint, such as red, brown, green and yellow.
His work was somewhat appreciated during his lifetime. He exhibited some of his wood carvings at the 1888 Cumberland County Fair, where he received recognition, but no monetary award. The Carlisle Sentinel reported that his “display of carved wood…showed great skill and workmanship.”
He died two years later, after a two-month stay in a poorhouse, and was buried in an unmarked grave in the local potter’s field. Remarkably, his obituary was published in local papers, including the Carlisle Sentinel in which was written: “Old Schimmel, the German who for many years tramped through this and adjoining counties, making his headquarters in jails and almshouses, died at the almshouse on Sunday. His only occupation was carving heads of animals out of soft pine wood. These he would sell for a few pennies each. He was apparently a man of very surly disposition.”
Today, Schimmel’s work is highly recognized and beloved folk art. The first major exhibition of his work, with 83 of his carvings, took place in the fall of 1965 at the Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Folk Art Center in Williamsburg, Virginia. Museums holding Schimmel carvings in their collections today include the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Chicago Art Institute, the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, the Shelburne Museum in Vermont, and the Henry Francis DuPont Winterthur Museum in Wilmington, Delaware.
What to Do if You Know Where These Missing Pieces of History Are
If you recognize either of these Schimmel eagles, have any information about them, or know their whereabouts, please call us at 1-202-240-2355 or send us an email at contact@arguscpc.com.