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Balto, the Alaskan Dog and his Statue in New York’s Central Park: Animal Representation and National Heritage

2009; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 15; Issue: 5 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/13527250903072757

1470-3610

Hilda Kean,

Human-Animal Interaction Studies

Abstract This article explores the statue of Balto in New York's Central Park within a framework of discussion of animal representation in creating national heritages. It discusses the reasons for Balto's statue being sited in New York with reference to the competing demands for different heritage commemorations within the park's space. In exploring the role of different interests in promoting this particular commemoration the article questions a simplistic notion of heritage being created by bodies of the state and draws analogies with other national animal 'symbols' such as Greyfriars Bobby, and 'The Dog on the Tucker Box'. The article suggests that animal commemoration in everyday space may help create ongoing interest in animal pasts while noting the disjuncture between the represented animal and Balto's actual existence. Keywords: National HeritageBaltoPublic SculptureContested SpaceRepresentationAnimals Acknowledgements Thanks to Kenneth Cobb and staff at New York Municipal Archives; Keri Butler at New York Art Commission; New York Public Library; Trinity College Library, Hartford; Edward C. Martin Junior and staff at Hartsdale pet cemetery; Anne Humpherys; Kim Stallwood; Jennifer Nixon. Notes [1] Wright, On Living in an Old Country; Mandler, The English National Character; Hobsbawm, Nations and Nationalism; Fudge, Animal; Rothfels, Representing Animals. An exception is Kean, 'Public History'. [2] Described as part of an Alaskan Husky team in New York Art Commission File 1348 A; as part of a team of Siberian Wolves in New York Times, 10 February 1925, 19; New York City Department of Parks website describes Balto as an Alaskan Malamute: http://www.nycgovparks.org/sub_your_park/historical_signs/hs_historical_sign.php?id=1077 (accessed 12 February 2008). [3] New York Times, 7 February 1925, 5; Salisbury and Salisbury, The Cruellest Miles, xi; http://www.nomealaska.org/ (accessed 2 February 2008). [4] New York Times, 4 February 1925, 3. Salisbury, The Cruellest Miles, 247. [5] New York Times, 9 February 1925, 1. [6] New York Times, 9 February 1925, 1 and 10 February 1925, 24. [7] New York Times, 7 February 1925, 5. [8] Salisbury and Salisbury, The Cruellest Miles; Kimmel, Balto and the Great Race; Standiford and Cook, The Bravest Dog Ever. Films: Balto; Balto 11—Wolf Quest; Balto 111—Wings of Change. [9] Runte, National Parks, 106–7. [10] London's Call of the Wild focuses on Buck, a half St Bernard and half Scottish shepherd dog taken to Alaska from Klondike becoming, after various adventures for supremacy, the leader of both a sled team and, later, a wolf pack. Published in 1903 it was instantly hailed as a classic which created for American readers, 'a dreamland of heroic opportunities' (Kershaw, Jack London, 125). Reviewers at the time emphasised that this was a book for dog lovers but also for those interested in 'adventure in the Far North' (Labor and Leitz, 'Introduction', x). [11] Craske, 'Representations of Domestic Animals in Britain', 41–2; Blackwood, London's Immortals, 124–5. [12] Kean, 'An Exploration'; 'The Moment'; Mason, The Brown Dog Affair. [13] Kean, 'Public History'. [14] Doyle, 'The Dog on the Tucker Box', 192. [15] Inglis, Sacred Places; Cochrane, Simpson and the Donkey. [16] Lemish, War Dogs, 25–7. [17] New York Times, 4 July 1920, 68; http://www.petcem.com (accessed 4 May 2008). [18] http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2002/america.remembers/stories/heroes/lim.html (accessed 4 April 2008). [19] See Hinchliffe et al., 'Urban Wild Things'. The Hartsdale cemetery might no longer be accurately described simply as a pet cemetery since, as at 2007, it includes c. 700 human cremated remains (Friends of the Peaceable Kingdom, 2). [20] Pycior, 'The Making of the "First Dog"'. [21] Miller, Central Park, 217. [22] New York Times, 27 February 1925, 9; Salisbury and Salisbury, The Cruellest Miles, 244. [23] New York Times, 10 February 1925, 24. [24] Waldbauer and Hutt, 'The Antiquities Act of 1906'. [25] Wright, On Living in an Old Country, 69. [26] Black, Using History. See also, for example, Michael Kazin's project on 9/11. Cohen, 'The Future of Preserving the Past'. [27] Samuel, Theatres of Memory, 8. See also Kean and Ashton, 'People and their Pasts'. [28] Rogers, Rebuilding Central Park, 7. [29] Miller, Central Park, 12. [30] Runter, The National Parks, 4. [31] Rosenzweig and Blackmar, The Park and the People, 42; Hayden, 'The Power of Place', 16–17; Gough, '"Garden of Gratitude"'. [32] Central Park Association, Central Park, 52, 65, 77–111; Blashfield, 'A Plea for Municipal Art'; Schuyler, Robert L., ed. Dictionary of American Biography, 41–2. [33] As quoted in The Central Park Association, The Central Park, 64. [34] Halleck, A Memorial, 331, 329; Reynolds, Monuments, 98–100. [35] Rosenzweig and Blackmar, The Park and the People, 330; Reynolds, Monuments, 156; MacKay, The Animaliers, 107. [36] Reynolds, Monuments, 157–8; Craven, Sculpture in America, 537–40. [37] Rosenzweig and Blackmar, The Park and the People, 426, 430–33; Miller, Central Park, 191–2. [38] Schuyler and O'Donnell, 'The History and Preservation of Urban Parks', 85. [39] Craven, Sculpture in America, 540–41; http://www.pcgs.com/articles/article_view.chtml?artid=932&universeid=313&type=1 (accessed 20 February 2008); James, Edward T., ed. Dictionary of American Biography, supplement III. [40] Balto Monument Committee File, 1348 A–M, New York Art Commission. [41] Bide‐a ‐Wee Home Association papers Annual Report 4, 1906; 12th Bulletin and Annual Report 1915, 12. See also http://www.bideawee.org (accessed 20 April 2008). [42] Gardner, American Sculpture, 112. See http://www.metmuseum.org/works_of_art/collection_database/american_paintings_and_sculpture/Tricky_Paterboots_Clark/viewObject.aspx?&OID=20012330&PgSz=1 (accessed 3 April 2008). A housing reformer, Ella Mabel Clark had also attempted to build an equine hospital for working horses. C. Gray, 'An Early Haven for Artists', New York Times, 2 December 2007. [43] New York Times, 10 February 1925, 19; New York Times, 16 December 1925, 230. [44] Submission by the General Superintendent of Parks, (Robert Moses) Disapproved 1st August 1935 File 1348J. New York Art Commission. See also Caro, The Power Broker, 380–82. [45] Gustav Stryker to Vilhjalmur Stefansson, 23 July 1939, copied to Robert Moses. Department of Parks Correspondence Received files. Municipal Archives, New York. [46] Robert Moses to Wilhjalmur [sic] Stefansson, 4 August 1939, Department of Parks files. Correspondence sent files, Municipal Archives, New York. [47] Salisbury and Salisbury, The Cruellest Miles, 253–4; Cleveland museum, http://www.cmnh.org/site/Files/AtMuseum/BaltoStory.pdf (accessed 4 May 2008). [48] 'World Wildlife Fund Hypes Iditarod, Sponsors Musher'. See human-animalstudies@yahoogroups.com (accessed 3 March 2008). [49] Fudge, Animal, 152. [50] Kean, Animal Rights, 84–6; http://www.museumofwellington.co.nz/fact_sheets/paddy.pdf (accessed 4 May 2008).