Lunch & Learn: Animating Central Park

On September 10th, author and professor Dawn Biehler will explore how different groups of humans and animals used Central Park to transform human-animal relationships in New York City during the nineteenth century. While park authorities tried to design Central Park’s animal landscapes to reflect elite Western European aesthetics and cultural values, regular New Yorkers demanded accessible animal exhibits—and even introduced animals themselves.

Dr. Biehler’s talk will focus on three stories from her new book, Animating Central Park: A Multispecies History: the replacement of immigrant farmers’ livestock with English-style livestock displays; the creation of and struggles over the Central Park Menagerie; and how humans attempted to manipulate wildlife populations, even as wild birds and aquatic creatures made a place for themselves in the park.