Born in 1883, Leonard Bohning began doing taxidermy at the age of 15 in Cleveland, Ohio. Mr. Bohning moved to Knox, Starke County, Indiana in 1916 to farm land that his father purchased on the edge of the great Kankakee Marsh. This area was extremely rich in wildlife and provided Mr. Bohning with an almost unlimited supply of specimens to practice with. Although his farming career ended in the 1960’s due to a tractor accident, Leonard continued doing taxidermy until he passed away in 1985. Unlike modern taxidermists, Leonard didn’t use pre-made forms; he would construct unique forms using the old method of wrapping cotton and twine around a wire frame. Mr. Bohning's taxidermy work is a wonderful example of early taxidermy methods that capture a life-like essence that is often found lacking in mounts. Many of the mounts from this collection have a personal story associated with it, such as the three day old fawn that was struck by a combine, the albino weasel that was “clubbed in a henhouse after it killed all the chickens,” and the family of owls that died in a tree after raccoon hunters built a fire in a hollow tree. Leonard’s work was well known. The Late Governor Schricker, also from Knox, liked Mr. Bohning’s work so much that he displayed it in the Governor’s mansion during his administration.