John James Audubon Audubon, Ruthven Highlight 200th Anniversary Of Natural History Museum By Tana Weingartner • Sep 12, 2019 Tana Weingartner / WVXU John James Audubon is famous for his seminal work Birds of America. In Cincinnati, the naturalist, painter and ornithologist is heralded as the first employee of the Western Museum Society, which would later become the Cincinnati Museum Center.