Between May 10 - August 3, 2014, the National Museum of Animals & Society hosted this exhibition at its space in Los Angeles. 

    Light In Dark Places
 
Researching and collating materials for this exhibition was at first exciting, and then quickly turned to daunting. Like Alice, I discovered the rabbit hole went very deep. Many of the historical heroes who had faced immense challenges in their campaigning against vivisection have been lost to the passages of time, as had much of the anti-vivisection movements historical artifacts.
 
Original artifacts are extremely rare and we are incredibly lucky to have collectors such as John Edmundson of the Ernest Bell Library who contributed many of the exhibit artifacts. I hope that this exhibition helps to document and remember the incredible passion, determination and unwavering vision of people who have carried the burning brand of anti-vivisection campaigning out of extremely dark places.
 
It has been impossible to highlight all of the incredible people and every milestone achievement so this exhibit is truly just the tip of a most amazing iceberg that many have helped pull together. My goal was to honor the truly dedicated, inspiring and heroic people that began this movement, and continue it today so that the notion that we are just crazy animal people is eradicated.
 
It is beyond a shadow of a doubt in my mind that if we did not fight against the evil of vivisection, the perpetrators would still be experimenting on orphans, the mentally insane, women, and any other living being they were allowed to. It is apparent from the historical observances that the vivisector’s chaff against any rule that restrains their cruel hands, and would subject animals to even grosser torture than they already do to satisfy some insane curiosity. It is only by the indomitable force of many people that even the most basic of animal welfare rules is in place today.
 
The great grandmothers of this movement were also ardent women’s rights activists. They started campaigning against vivisection when they themselves had no rights. The medical establishment came down on them aggressively charging them with hysteria and mental illness, an accusation that still echoes today.
 
It is an incredible honor to stand with such compassionate visionaries and be inspired by them - Frances Power Cobbe, Catherine Earle White, Anna Kingsford, George Bernard Shaw, Mark Twain, Queen Victoria, Lewis Carroll, Tolstoy, Mahatma Ghandi and on, and on.
 
This exhibit is dedicated to all those beings of light that have lost their lives and liberty to protect the most oppressed.
 
For the animals
Julia
 
 

Although the practice of vivisection has a history that long predates him, the early modern philosopher René Descartes (1596-1650) serves as a powerful focal point for a reflection on the motivations and often unexpressed assumptions underlying the use of animals as objects of experimentation. 'Vivisection' literally means, "live cutting," but the practice of experimentation on live animals takes a variety of other forms as well.

​Gary Steiner

René Descartes

Although the practice of vivisection has a history that long predates him, the early modern philosopher René Descartes (1596-1650) serves as a powerful focal point for a reflection on the motivations and often unexpressed assumptions underlying the use of animals as objects of experimentation. 'Vivisection' literally means, "live cutting," but the practice of experimentation on live animals takes a variety of other forms as well.
 
The use of animals as experimental subjects, particularly when many of the experiments we perform are completely unnecessary, are easily replaceable with computer simulations, and often yield no information that is applicable to human beings, is part of a larger regime of using animals for the satisfaction of human desires. To call into question the long-standing historical practice of vivisection is to call into question the historical assumptions that have long been used to justify it: that animals are inferior to human beings, that we share no bond of community with animals, and that animals exist simply as instrumentalities for the satisfaction of human desires. This kind of questioning requires a radical shift in our thinking and our valuing.
​
Gary Steiner
John Howard Harris Professor of Philosophy
Bucknell University, Lewisburg, PA
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Thank you to following for their help and support

AAVS, Anthony Bellotti, Neal Bernard (PCRM), BUAV (Now Cruelty International), Sue Coe, Fermare Green Hill, John Edmunson (Ernest Bell Library) Dr. Ray Greek, Justin Goodman, Hilda Kean, Shannon Keith (BFP), Dan Piraro, Darla McGrath, Bob Ingersoll, Alex Pacheco, Roberta Kalechofsky Ph.D., Lush Cosmetics, Gary Steiner and Tino Verducci,