Hanne Von Fuehrer
Born in Heidelberg, Germany, Hanne von Fuehrer moved to her aunt’s home in Pittsburgh at the age of 21. On the day of her arrival, she met her soon to be husband, Ottmar von Fuehrer. The two married in 1926 and shortly after began working at Natural History Museum. While Ottmar provided the painted murals for the backgrounds of the dioramas, Hanne created wax models of plants and insects. In the beginning, Hanne created these models “just for the fun of it”, as she said later in an interview with the Carnegie Magazine. Her first paid experience at CMNH was on the Pennsylvanian Spring Flora group in 1928. She played an extremely critical role in Botany Hall’s early beginnings. Hanne is described as resourceful and inventive, incorporating materials and processes to create accurate models.
Too often, women and their work have been written out of history and Hanne von Fuehrer was no exception. Many of the early documents and records on the dioramas fail to mention Hanne’s crucial role in their creation. First, the dioramas were attributed only to Ottmar, despite all of Hanne’s wax work. As time passed they were attributed simply to “the von Fuehrers”. In both instances, Hanne’s identity remained hidden from the public eye and it was her spouse that received the acknowledgment.
Thankfully, later documents begin attributing the dioramas to both Ottmar and Hanne and the Carnegie Magazine published an article on her life, creative process, and specific dioramas she has contributed over the years.
This is exactly what this project aims to do: rediscovering those who went unnoticed or were written out of history because they were women. Though the work these women have done is in the past, their work is vital to understanding the Hall in the present.
 and Joan Nicolas (right) preparing wax 1953_thumb.JPG){kind=link}
