SHNH Summer Meeting by Josephine Koopman, Researcher (Department of History, European University Institute) “The senses,” Michel de Montaigne wrote in 1588, “are the beginning and the end of human knowledge”. In true Renaissance spirit, the French essayist thus gave words to the growing importance attached to empirical observation in extending natural knowledge. His dual emphasis […]
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by Joyce Dixon, Postdoctoral researcher The 2024 SHNH International Summer Meeting took place over two days at the National Museum Cardiff. It proved to be a vibrant exploration of the colours of nature, exploring their myriad representations in print and paint. Spanning six centuries, the meeting’s sixteen papers approached the subject of natural-historical colour using […]
Read more Paintings, Pigments and Preserved specimens: capturing colour in natural history by Zoë Varley, Doctoral Researcher (Wellcome Collection & University of Leeds) and Curator For me, one of the most striking aspects of working with zoological specimens is the day-to-day opening of cabinets to be confronted, amongst many layers of history and meaning, with colour. From the […]
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by Robert McCraken Peck, Curator of Art and Artifacts and Senior Fellow of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA 19103. “Water shrews” by Edward Lear (1812–1888). Courtesy of Guy Peppiatt. Although Edward Lear (1812–1888) is best remembered today for his humorous limericks and nonsense poetry, he made his […]
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by E. Charles Nelson, VMM FLS, Senior Research Director, The Catesby Centre, The University of South Carolina; Associate Editor, Archives of Natural History of Society for the History of Natural History Mark Catesby (1683-1749), famous for his magnificent publication The natural history of Carolina, Florida and the Bahama Islands (1729-1747) is 337 years old today […]
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Archives of natural history is the journal of the Society for the History of Natural History, providing an avenue for the publication of research on the history and bibliography of natural history in its broadest sense. Published since 1943, articles cover topics such as botany, general biology, geology, palaeontology and zoology, the lives and […]
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Was the Federated Malay States Museums expedition the first to reach the summit of Mount Tahan, the highest peak in Peninsular Malaysia? And what happened to the expeditions’ bird collection? By John-James Wilson, Curator of Vertebrate Zoology, World Museum, National Museums Liverpool Intrepid explorer, Isabella Lucy Bird, traversed the western coast of the Malay […]
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March 2019 celebrates women in natural history with the aim of increasing awareness of, and information about, women in the biodiversity sciences. #HerNaturalHistory month has seen the sharing of stories, collections, publications, artworks, archival materials, exhibits, and other resources highlighting women and their contributions to natural history. For more information see Her Natural History: A […]
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A free exhibition at Two Temple Place, London, 26 Jan – 22 April, celebrating the cultural and social heritage of the Victorian polymath John Ruskin (1819–1900). To mark the bicentenary of his birth, a new exhibition produced by Two Temple Place, Museums Sheffield and the Guild of St George, celebrates the legacy and enduring relevance […]
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