A naturalist in the tradition of Henry David Thoreau, J. Warren Jacobs exercised many talents in his long, productive career. A superb artist, Jacobs spent hours of patient observation to produce a series of pen and ink drawings of various birds.
Many of these drawings, some completed when he was only nineteen or twenty years old, still exist. A prolific essayist, he also wrote poetry, most of which, like the haunting Sequel to the Death of a Wandering Snowy Owl, " centers around themes involving nature.
A versatile man, he used his woodworking skills to fashion cabinets, display cases, and furniture for his library and the J. Warren Jacobs Museum of Applied Oology. Housed in two rooms on the second floor of the family residence at 404 South Washington Street in Waynesburg, the museum was advertised as "an institution for the study of behavior and relationship of birds."
Although the local townspeople rarely appreciated it, it became a major attraction in ornithological and oological circles. Housing the award-winning egg collection, the museum was visited by countless prominent people from around the country.
