MORRIS TONWSHIP, N.J. (Morris County) — The Morris Museum has opened a new exhibition featuring original hand-colored prints from John James Audubon’s famed Birds of America alongside antique mechanical songbirds, offering visitors a unique look at 19th-century art, science and innovation.
The exhibition, “Audubon Songbirds from the Dr. Michael and Elyn Stubblefield Collection,” opened June 26 and will remain on display through November 2026 in the museum’s Bickford Gallery.
The exhibit features rare prints from Birds of America (1827–1838) on loan from New Jersey philanthropists and art collectors Dr. Michael and Elyn Stubblefield, paired with automata from the renowned Murtogh D. Guinness Collection.
Museum officials said the exhibition explores how artists, scientists and inventors of the 19th century sought to document and recreate the natural world.
“John James Audubon… was undeniably ambitious and perseverant in the face of almost unimaginable obstacles in his quest to publish Birds of America,” said Dr. Michael Stubblefield. “I am fascinated by what it must have been like to be a naturalist during Audubon’s time. How challenging it must have been to collect and identify the hundreds of species that Audubon illustrated.”
Audubon’s illustrations, printed from engraved copper plates and hand-colored under his supervision, are considered among the most recognizable works in American art. Displayed alongside mechanical songbirds designed to imitate birdsong, the exhibition highlights the era’s fascination with observing, cataloging and reproducing nature.
Born in 1785 in what is now Haiti and raised in France, Audubon spent much of his life traveling throughout North America studying and illustrating birds. His monumental Birds of America, produced with London engraver Robert Havell Jr., includes 435 hand-colored plates depicting 497 bird species. Fewer than 120 complete sets are known to exist today.
The Morris Museum said the exhibition offers visitors an opportunity to experience one of America’s most celebrated artistic achievements while exploring the intersection of art, natural history and mechanical craftsmanship.
