In June 2023, at the 104th meeting of the Wilson Ornithological Society, I delivered a plenary talk about the history of American ornithology, in which I identified Moses Williams (1777–1825), who was born into slavery in the household of Charles Willson Peale (1741–1827), as the first Black American ornithologist (video here). I repeated that novel (but as yet, unpublished) claim in October 2023, when I gave an extended version of the same presentation for the Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University, Philadelphia, in collaboration with the Delaware Valley Ornithological Club (video here).
Until recently, my supposition about Mr. Williams was based completely on circumstantial evidence. I had no primary source linking him to ornithological activities, and I said as much in the presentations. However, Moses grew up alongside the Peale children, who were trained to prepare specimens, and he worked in Peale’s museum (later called the “Philadelphia Museum”) for much of his life. There is every reason to believe that Williams was taught the dirty job of specimen prep, and Peale’s dangerous but innovative method of dipping the mounted birds into a hot bath of dissolved arsenic.
Recently, I uncovered a new piece of evidence that confirms that Williams contributed to the assembly of Peale’s scientific collection. A fragile diary in the Peale-Sellers Family Collection at the American Philosophical Society (APS) Library (Mss.B.P31), in Philadelphia, written by Peale during a 1791 collecting trip to Cape May, New Jersey, contains the following important passage (boldface mine):
“At 12 o’clock left Philada, in a scallop … bound to Cape May with the intention to collect subjects of n[atural] history, having Mr. Fenton to assist me[,] with my molatto man Moses. I carry with me 5 guns[,] one of them a riffle, with plenty of ammunition and expect to preserve a considerable number of sea shore birds, it being a season very favorable for the purpose.”
Charles W. Peale diary, 30 May 1791. APS Library, Mss.B.P31.
The life of this interesting man is now gaining recognition, after two centuries of relative obscurity. Incidentally, a new exhibit about the art of Moses Williams has recently opened at The Peale in Baltimore, Maryland, which I recommend. Further research may reveal more details about Williams’s ornithological activity, but the expedition diary alone is enough to convince me that he is deserving of recognition as an American ornithologist. Let’s give this man some credit.
Matthew R. Halley 
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