Back in 1978 I became friends with Paul Schwarz Jr., one of the founding members of the NTA, which started in Missouri. He and I first met at a National Taxidermists Association convention in 1976 and we served on the NTA board together for three years. His father Frank Schwarz started the family studio in 1878. The Schwarz Studio is the oldest taxidermy studio in the United States. In 1994 we published an article on this famous family and institution located in St. Louis, Missouri. The studio is now for sale. News of this sale came when we were contacted by St. Louis realtor David Wright back in August, so I went into our archives thinking that now would be a good time to run that article again from Issue 38, 31 years ago. History never changes with time and this story of the Schwarz family and their historic studio is one young and old generations should hear again. This 31-year-old article, with a few updates and new photos we have acquired, will follow this introduction.
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