Friday Cat Blogging #2



It's what you've been waiting all week for, Friday Catblogging!

This week I've planned something a little different, with the hope of assuaging those who think that a museum studies blog is not an appropriate place for photos of pussy-cats.

So this week the spotlight falls on the famous feline residents of the Ernest Hemingway Home and Museum, many of whom are really quite special cats:
The Ernest Hemingway Home and Museum is home to approximately sixty cats. Normal cats have five front toes and four back toes. About half of the cats at the museum are polydactyl, which means they have extra toes. Most cats have extra toes on their front feet and sometimes on their back feet as well. Sometimes it looks as if they are wearing mittens because they appear to have a thumb on their paw.

Ernest Hemingway was given a six-toed cat by a ship's captain and some of the cats who live on the museum grounds are descendants of that original cat. Key West is a small island and it is possible that many of the cats on the island are related. Our cats are not a particular breed, but appear to be a combination of various breeds-sort of "Heinz 57" if you will. They are all shapes, sizes, colors and personalities. (From the Ernest Hemingway Home and Museum website.)

Click on the pussy portraits on the website for a biography of each of the furry residents. Featured above are (left to right) the namesakes of Emily Dickinson, Spencer Tracy, and Simone de Beauvoir. Check out the museum giftshop for cat-themed souvenirs. The House Special Cat-nip anyone?!

Next week...the Moscow Cat Museum!

Comments

Ceri said…
Hmm what a bizarre notion for a museum! But it is interesting to see a living collection rather than a 'dead' stuffed cat which is the usual experience at a museum. I wonder what the Museums handbook would say about that!
The Attic said…
Well, I don't think it's just cats. They're incidental, but clearly still important. :)

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