I owe thanks to a number of people for invaluable assistance and great generosity during the researching and writing of this book.
In Connecticut, Richard Moore kindly met with me, and granted permission to quote from the diary and other writings of his father, E. D. Moore; Robbi Storms, Ivoryton Library Association director, gave me access to unpublished ivory-related material and permission to reproduce several of the photographs in the association’s collection; Brenda Milkofsky, senior curator of the Connecticut River Museum in Essex, also granted permission to reproduce photographs and documents in the museum’s collection and to quote from correspondence in the Cheney-Downing Collection Archive. Edith DeForest of the Deep River Historical Society shared her recollections of her years at Pratt, Read; Frank Stopa, ex-foreman in the key division, answered questions about ivory cutting. Don Malcarne, Essex town historian, shared his deep knowledge of the history of the ivory industry in the Connecticut River Valley; Anne Farrow of the Hartford Courant opened her files on the ivory industry in the state and lent important texts. Lorraine Kerr Faison, former director, Kent Memorial Library, and the library’s helpful staff, located a number of scarce texts, and Jason Wright of South Kent suggested several museum contacts. William Jenks of Falls Village supported my efforts early on, as did Jackie Markham and Allan Priaulx of Kent.
In New York, Clare Flemming, curator of research collections at the Explorers Club, let me prowl in the club’s library and examine its four-tusked elephant skull; Ross MacPhee, curator, Division of Vertebrate Zoology at the American Museum of Natural History, was available for repeat interviews and shared a sizable chunk of his articles and papers;
Christopher Norris, the museum’s director of collections and archives in the Division of Paleontology, explained ivory subfossils; Rory Callahan twice assisted with travel arrangements to Africa; James Mellon let me inspect Mohammed’s splendid tusk and gave me copies of rare photographs.
In Washington, D.C., Edward Grace, senior special agent of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, answered questions and supplied copies of pertinent regulations. Syd Butler of the American Zoo and Aquarium Association discussed elephants in captivity. Rick Parsons, director of wildlife conservation of the Safari Club International Foundation, shared the trophy hunters’ perspective on ivory importation. At the African Wildlife Foundation, Patrick J. Bergin, CEO, and Craig Sholley, senior director of development, encouraged and supported my research from the beginning and helped me set up the Ivory Project to secure travel funds; David Shayt of the National Museum of American History at the Smithsonian Institution made available his extensive files on ivory, ivory manufacturing, and billiards; David Miller, armed forces historian at the Smithsonian, let me examine antique ivory-inlaid firearms, and the staff of the Archives Center at the National Museum of American History helped in searching through the center’s vast corporate records. Virginia and Robert Hurt opened their home to me on my visits.
In the UK, Dorothee Dines of the Victoria and Albert Museum’s press office and Diane Bilbey, secretary of sculpture in the museum’s Department of Sculpture, Metalwork, Ceramics and Glass, answered inquiries; Claire Frankland of the Museum in Docklands helped gather critical documents on ivory importation in London; Daphne M. Hills, Zoology Department, Natural History Museum, supplied information on how the Kilimanjaro tusks entered the museum’s collection; Simon Keynes in Cambridge and Randal Keynes in London were both marvelous hosts.
In South Africa, Jeremy and Liz Anderson in White River offered hospitality and much useful advice; their neighbors John and Jennifer Ilsley shared their experiences in the pre-ban ivory trade; Petri Viljoen discussed Chinese attitudes toward wildlife. In Cape Town, Holly T. Dublin, chair of the IUCN Species Survival Commission, gave me an invaluable overview of elephant policy in the African range states; Cheryl-Samantha Owen discussed her research on Botswana trophy elephant quotas; Sarah Borchert, Africa Geographic’s editor, made several suggestions for further research, as did Brian and Merle Huntley, Terry Robinson, and John and Carol Hanks, also my hosts in Greyton. Rudi van Aarde of the University of Pretoria sent me his overview of the Kruger culling issue. In Kruger National Park, I was assisted by Karen van Rooyen, and Ian Whyte spent the better part of a day with me at the park’s headquarters in Skukuza. In Pretoria, Jakkie Potgieter of Safer Africa discussed the proliferation of military weaponry in postcolonial sub-Saharan states and its effect on poaching.
In Kenya, Esmond Bradley Martin supplied copies of all his many ivory trade reports and answered numerous inquiries; Nigel Hunter offered an overview of CITES ivory policy; Leo Niskanen, program officer, IUCN African Elephant Specialist Group, explained human-elephant conflict; Ian Parker had a far-ranging talk with me on very short notice; Iain Douglas-Hamilton shared some of his latest research with me over the phone; Tony Dyer kindly assented to an on-the-spot interview; Anthony King, director of the Laikipia Wildlife Forum, and Nicholas Georgiadis, then director of the Mpala Research Center, discussed elephant policy in detail; Philip Muruthi of the AWF’s Nairobi office answered my CITES queries.
Other researchers in different parts of the globe—Richard Estes, Abdul Sheriff, and Jared Hudson—answered my questions or assisted in other ways; Stuart Marks shared his findings and allowed me to quote from his unpublished work.
Several people who were already of great help—Don Malcarne, Esmond Bradley Martin, and David Shayt—allowed me to impose on them again, this time to look over portions of the text. Other sections and chapters were also read by Edward Alpers, Department of History, University of California, Los Angeles; Anthony Cutler, Department of Art History, Penn State University; Mark Elvin, Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies, Australian National University; Robert Harms, Department of History, Yale University; Charles Little, Curator in the Department of Medieval Art and the Cloisters, the Metropolitan Museum of Art; Enid Schildkrout, Chief Curator of the Museum for African Art; and Randall White, Department of Anthropology, New York University. These readers alerted me to various mangled facts and saved me from several scholarly stumbles. Whatever failings remain, however, are my responsibility.
My agent, Kim Witherspoon, and Alexis Hurley at InkWell Management, were marvelously patient, supportive, and encouraging during the five years I worked on this book. Morgan Entrekin, Grove/Atlantic’s publisher, once again extended to me the time I needed to complete it. Joan Bingham, my editor, applied just the right carrot-and-stick mix of enthusiasm and critical questioning to spur me to another revision, and Alex Littlefield put his finger on several passages that needed another look. Eric Price offered important guidance on permissions; although I made every effort to contact holders of copyrighted materials, I was not always successful.
In addition, thanks are due several friends whose generosity at certain points was critical to the project: Anne Dodgson and the late Bill Dodgson; Mary Kay and Woody Flowers, who also put me up in their New York apartment on numerous occasions, as did Bridget Potter. Jonathan Alexander at the Institute of Fine Arts, New York University, put his art history library at my disposal, never once mentioning the two scarce texts I didn’t return for three years, and put me in touch with several prominent ivory experts. I’m most grateful for all their support, and for that of the late Elizabeth Crow, who told me how much she was looking forward to reading the book. I like to think she wouldn’t have been disappointed.
Finally, I’m grateful to my sister, Barbara Walker, and my brother, William Walker, for their long-standing encouragement of all my efforts. My greatest debts are to my son, Gavin Walker, for his careful reading of earlier drafts, incisive comments, and help in checking obscure Asian references, and to my wife, Elin McCoy, for taking time away from her own writing to give the manuscript a meticulous reading. There are few pages that haven’t been improved by her suggestions.