Bergen Village Historian Raymond MacConnell visited the Clarendon Historical Society July 19 to discuss the life and work of accomplished taxidermist Joseph Santens, who lived in Bergen following his retirement in 1934.
Clarendon residents are familiar with their own famous, native-son taxidermist Carl Akeley, who revolutionized the art of taxidermy, and Clarendon historian Melissa Ierlan says it’s very likely the work of Akeley influenced Santens.
“They both traveled in the same circles,” Ierlan observed, “they all followed the same background and applied their art in a similar fashion.”
She commended MacConnell for his presentation on Santens, which featured details of Santens’ life in Rochester and Bergen and major works including the mounting of “Mirage,” a magnificent white Arabian horse for a family in Ohio. Santens completed work on “Mirage” in his studio in the barn next to his home on South Lake Avenue in Bergen.
“He was very knowledgeable and passionate,” Ierlan said of MacConnell, “He conveyed that.”
MacConnell has been Bergen Village Historian since 2012. He worked for the University of Rochester for 33 and one-half years as a graphic artist and has a Master of Fine Arts degree from the Rochester Institute of Technology.
MacConnell noted that Santens worked for Wards Museum and Science in Rochester as well as the Frick Carnegie Museum in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the American Museum of Natural History, the Buffalo Museum of Science, the Philadelphia Academy of Natural Sciences and the Rochester Museum and Science Center, where he completed the diorama of the Bergen Swamp.
MacConnell also discussed the “stir” that Santens’ work on “Mirage” caused in the Village of Bergen, including young village residents who continually would sneak into the Santens’ yard to peek inside the house or barn windows in hopes of getting a glance at the work in progress.
