Date of Birth: February 24, 1876
Place of Birth: Enosburg Falls, Vermont
Date of Death: August 10, 1971
Burial Place: Paradise, California
Will Richard’s career as a taxidermist dates back to the late 1800s until his death in 1971. He has provided taxidermy specimens to numerous museums including the Museum of Natural History (New York State Museum – Albany, New York), Denver Museum (Colorado), Buffalo Bill Museum (Buffalo Bill Center of the West – Cody, Wyoming) as well as others. He did taxidermy for people from all over the world and had an international reputation as a taxidermist, sculptor, artist, outdoorsman, fisherman and hunter.
(The following is taken from an interview with Will Richard in 1964 by the Paradise, California newspaper the “Sacramento Bee” — April 23, 1964)
The mother of Will C. Richard had no way of knowing that spring day in 1881, that the wide eyed five year old at her elbow as she attempted to stuff a game bird, would grow, in manhood, to become an authority on taxidermy.
She had hoped that, some day, he would become a doctor, but young Will, prompted by his mother’s interest in wild animals and birds and, some seven years later by his father’s gift of $2.50 muzzle loading shotgun, began experimenting with ways to preserve the animals and birds he found on his parents Enosberg Falls, Vermont farm.
Richard recalls, “There were no books on taxidermy that satisfied me so I began, literally, from the ground up.” His first attempts, he admits, were crude. But, as his interest developed, he found by mixing a concoction of clay, petroleum jelly and a small amount of beeswax, he could mold a likeness of his subject. Over the sculpture, Richard placed burlap and plaster of Paris. Once the plaster hardened, he removed the clay model and placed the skin over the plaster cast.
His success was so marked, that, at the age of 19, he applied for a job as taxidermist at the New York State Museum in Albany, New York. “They didn’t think I could handle the job,” he chuckles, “but they agreed to pay me $3.00 a day on a trial basis.”
Will Richard stayed, and, over a three year period replaced the entire state museum collection with his own work. During those years he became one of the first taxidermists to exhibit wild animals and birds in family groupings and in their natural habitat. Most of his original museum collection is still on display at Albany and, he is told, is still in good condition.
Will left the museum in 1901 and traveled to Cody, Wyoming with his brothers, Fred and George and worked on a ranch outside of Cody until 1904 when the owner passed away and he returned to New York. He went back to the museum to work and worked alongside of James L. Clark. He married, but decided he wanted to travel and own his own taxidermy shop so he returned to Cody, Wyoming.
In 1906 opened the Richard Taxidermy Shop and Cody Museum, which housed his taxidermy mounts from his travels around the world. He mounted trophy heads for such luminaries as President Theodore Roosevelt, William F. “Buffalo Bill” Cody, Painter W.R. Leigh, western furniture maker Tom Molesworth and western Hollywood saddle maker (who started his saddle business in Cody, WY), Ed Bohlin as well as numerous others.
Richard had discovered, early in his career, that to do an accurate job in mounting animals and birds, he must study them in their natural habitat. For this purpose, and to obtain animals for his taxidermy profession, he became an avid hunter. “The only part of the world that I haven’t hunted, ” he says, “is Australia.”
During the years between 1906 and 1952, when he retired, Will Richard traveled extensively. In his hunting, he has painstakingly jotted down exact anatomical measurements of the animals taken in order to recreate them in a more lifelike manner in his taxidermy studio.
His hunting hobby and his taxidermy profession have led him to still another pastime, painting. Early in his career, Richard took western artist W.R. Leigh on a pack trip into Yellowstone National Park and used the occasion to learn to paint by watching a professional at work. W.R. Leigh wrote numerous stories about hunting and painting with Will Richard in his autobiography book.
Will Richard has spent much of his retirement continuing in his taxidermy profession, and in 1962, he mounted a wildcat, which had been shot in Paradise, California, and presented the animal to Paradise High School, where it is on display in a trophy case, and where the Paradise High School Bobcats can admire their own mascot. An interesting note; the town of Paradise almost completely burned to the ground in 2018, part of the school was saved along with Will Richard’s mascot.
