Oakland California's Snow Museum of Natural History opened in 1922. Specimens collected by big game hunters Henry A.Snow and Leslie Simson on a city-funded African safari in 1919 formed the majority of the collection. Henry Snow was the museum's first director, followed by his daughter, Nydine E.
Hunting and the museum
Through the 1910s, Oakland had a desire to expand its museums. As part of the promotion for a new museum complex, in 1919 big game hunters Henry Snow and Leslie Simson were sent on an expedition to collect specimens. Henry boasted, "Build me a museum and I'll fill 'er up". When he returned to Oakland in 1921, he was greeted by Mayor John L. Davie and a "tidal wave of publicity." He collected 169 mammals, 1,500 birds, 5,000 bird eggs, and 40,000 insects for the museum. Henry hoped that a large, fire-proof museum building would be built to house his collection.
Oakland purchased the Cutting Mansion to serve as a temporary location for exhibiting the collection. It opened to large crowds in June, 1922, and by the next year had become permanent, with the city allocating a budget for it, and naming it the Snow Museum of Natural History. Henry Snow tried to maintain enthusiasm for a new museum complex with expeditions to the Arctic, and in 1924 he and local businessmen raised $1 million towards its construction. Architect Maury Diggs (who designed the Fox Theatre) even drew up plans for it, but the city attorney ruled it would be illegal for the city to accept it. Snow's death in 1927 and the stock market crash in 1929 brought efforts for a new museum complex to an end for the time being.
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