Join us – we are looking for a co-editor for ‘Archives of Natural History’ & a new Meetings Secretary
Jack Ashby, SHNH President writes …
Dear friends
I’m alerting you to three exciting developments relating to our fantastic journal, Archives of Natural History, and a further opportunity to join the Society for the History of Natural History Council. Please read to the end, as there’s some big news in here.
New Editor
It was wonderful to see many of you at our Summer meeting at London Zoo celebrating SHNH’s 90th anniversary and 200 years of the Zoological Society of London. For those that weren’t there, I’m delighted to introduce our new Editor, Professor Dolly Jørgensen, who was elected at our AGM.
Dolly is an environmental historian whose current research agenda focuses on cultural histories of animals, including the implications of extinction for cultural heritage and museum practices. She is Professor of History at University of Stavanger, Norway, where she also co-directs the Greenhouse Center for Environmental Humanities. She was co-editor-in-chief of the journal Environmental Humanities for six years, 2020–25. She has published widely, including three monographs: Ghosts Behind Glass: Encountering Extinction in Museums (University of Chicago Press, 2025), The Medieval Pig (Boydell, 2024) and Recovering Lost Species in the Modern Age: Histories of Longing and Belonging (MIT Press, 2019).
I would like to repeat my enormous gratitude to Dr Anne Secord, whom Dolly succeeds, for all her efforts and successes as ANH Editor. Under Anne’s watch the journal continued to grow from strength to strength, and in particular her work on special themed issues and collaboration with likeminded institutions to produce joint issues, brought Archives to a broader audience. Likewise, I would like to thank Elaine Shaughnessy for her many contributions to the journal over the years, including as Copy Editor, as she steps back from these roles (though remains on Council as Website and Newsletter Editor).
New Submission System
Dolly has already undertaken a major piece of work with our publishers, Edinburgh University Press, to develop a new online article submission system for Archives of Natural History. This new web-portal is intended to make managing articles simpler for authors, editors and reviewers – lightening the administrative load on all concerned. You can find more details about submitting articles, including guidelines for authors and a link where you can register to use the new submissions portal here: https://www.euppublishing.com/journal/anh/submit
Join the editorial team!
As announced at this year’s AGM, we have decided that it would be more manageable for those involved if the Editorial role was shared between two co-editors. If you are interested in this exciting opportunity to work alongside Dolly as co-editor on our subject’s leading journal, please do drop me a line at president@shnh.org.uk, ideally before 18th September 2026 to learn more.
Are you our new Meetings Secretary?
We are looking for a new Meetings Secretary to join Council. Dr Elle Larsson stepped down from this important role at the AGM. She went out with a bang with the incredible meeting at ZSL as her final event after a wonderful tenure that will have a long-lasting legacy, particularly in the way that she integrated opportunities for Early Career Researchers into our programme. Thank you so much for all you have done forSHNH, Elle!
The primary task of the Meeting Secretary is to take the lead role in planning and delivering Society conferences and events. Our current calendar revolves around the in-person summer meeting, and the online Early Career Researcher Symposium, with scope for new ideas and approaches. You can read more about the role in our Portfolios of Council document.
If you are interested in becoming our next Meetings Secretary, please email me at president@shnh.org.uk, ideally before 18th September 2026.
New email address
Finally, we have a new email address for contacting us about events: please use events@shnh.org.uk from now on (we will be closing meetings@shnh.org.uk).
With all the very best
Jack Ashby