Harry Alphonso Moorman was born on September 21, 1889 in Jenison, Michigan and later moved to Grand Rapids where he lived for most of his life. He had been a taxidermist for the former Kent Scientific Museum for 10 years and had owned the Kent Taxidermy studios at Madison Square. He served with the 126th infantry, Michigan National Guard in War War I and continued with his service through WWII and was released in 1946 with the rank of Captain.

His work in taxidermy started at an early age while he attended Central High School, Grand Rapids. While a student he performed taxidermy and laboratory work for the Kent Scientific under the leadership of E. Sargent. A significant contribution to the museum was his 1913 work reconstructing a mastodon comprised of two skeletons, a Ravenna (Michigan) specimen that had been unearthed in a swamp in 1904 and the Kost specimen, named for the donor, which was discovered in Florida.

He died on July 27, 1947 in Grand Rapids, Kent, Michigan and was buried in the Grand Rapids Veterans Home Cemetery.