Born December 5, 1875,
Beaver Dam, Wisconsin
Died 1970,
Florida

The daughter of Irish immigrants, Akeley was born Delia Julia Denning on December 5, 1875, on a farm in Beaver Dam, Wisconsin. At the age of 13 she ran away from home to Milwaukee, where she was taken in by a barber. They were married the following year and divorced some time later. When Delia met Carl Akeley, he was a taxidermist who mounted wildlife exhibitions at the Milwaukee Public Museum. Carl had perfected a method of applying animal skin onto a mannequin to make animal displays more realistic. Having completely changed the science of taxidermy, he was appointed to the prestigious Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago. Delia married Carl on December 23, 1902, when she was 27. Two years later they traveled to Africa, where previously, in 1896, Carl had gone on an expedition for the museum.

Adventures in Africa

The Akeleys&rsquo...