Leonora C. "Nora" Hering (1898-1983) collected poultry art, artifacts, and publications. The scarcity of fresh eggs during the Second World War prompted Hering to begin breeding poultry. She voraciously read books and articles on the topic, frequently contacting land grant university librarians in order to track down elusive publications. She subscribed to poultry journals and amassed a sizable collection of books on the subject. Her acquisitions included books from the estate of Cornish poultry breeder Godfrey Trevelyan Williams. She also collected taxidermy specimens and depictions of poultry in art and on postage stamps.
By 1950, she had become an authority on the topic of poultry. James W Gwin, poultry marketing specialist at the University of Maryland, lauded her as the "poultry historian." Hering expressed a commitment to donating her various poultry-related collections to Kansas State College and coordinated her efforts with Department of Poultry Husbandry chairperson Loyal F. Payne.
In January 1953, Stanford University's Main Library displayed some of her books, drawings, and prints. In August 1955, she presented on the topic, "The Chicken in Art and Literature" at the 44th annual meeting of the National Poultry Science Association at Michigan State University in East Lansing, and later published an article of the same name in Cackle and Crow. She spoke to the Grolier Society on the topic of the Araucana breed in May 1959, and later developed an article on the topic for Poultry Press.
Over a twenty-five year period, Hering accumulated a collection of nearly 1000 poultry publications. Her international contacts included poultry specialists in New Zealand and Japan, and she was frequently recommended to those who sought historical information about the poultry trade, the origins of poultry breeding in the San Francisco Bay region, and other related topics.