Department of History Presents: Dena Goodman Professor Emerita - History and Women’s Studies University of Michigan- "Kangaroos for Science and the Nation:  Animals Caught between Cultures in London and Paris in 1802"

In this paper Professor Goodman tells the story of the acquisition of a pair of kangaroos in London during the Peace of Amiens by an agent of the National Museum of Natural History in Paris. She situates this purchase in relation to the history of menageries, the French Revolution, rivalry between France and Great Britain, and the cultures of scientific collecting, public entertainment, commerce, and diplomacy. Elephants and lions come into the story as well.