The mission of the Faunthorpe-Vernay Expedition of the American Museum of
Natural History was to amass a collection of mammals and other animals that
represented the South Asian region. The work was begun with the 1923 expedition
and continued through 1929. The main participants were Col. John Champion
Faunthorpe and Arthur Stannard Vernay, two British men who were previously
unassociated with the Museum. Funding was provided by Vernay and the Jesup Fund
through the Department of Mammals. The Expedition took place primarily in India,
Burma, and Nepal, and added an invaluable collection to the Museum’s holdings.
The Vernay-Faunthorpe Hall of South Asiatic Mammals, consisting of material
exclusively collected on these expeditions, opened on November 17, 1930.
Henry Cushier Raven, (born April 16, 1889, Brooklyn, New York, U.S. --
died April 4, 1944), was an expert scientific illustrator, taxidermist, and
collector of essential expedition specimens for several of the top natural
history institutions in the United States, including Columbia University,
Cornell University, Colorado Museum of Natural History, the Smithsonian
Institution, and the American Museum of Natural History. His research and
species data collecting brought him all over the world, resulting in the
acquisition of hundreds of physical specimens (resulting in many dissection
illustrations) as well as copious photographic and moving-picture evidence of
their natural movement and habitats.
Arthur Stannard Vernay was an English-born antiques dealer, hunting
enthusiast, naturalist and philanthropist. He immigrated to the United States in
1905 and opened the first of his antiques galleries in 1906, which he would run
until his retirement in 1941. He is especially well known for his extensive
expeditionary work collecting animal specimens for many cultural institutions,
notably the American Museum of Natural History in New York City. On behalf of
this Museum, he traveled to India, Burma, Angola, Tibet and the Kalahari Desert.