Message from the President August 2010

Council had a good meeting on 29th July, at which we welcomed four new councillors – Professor John Edgington, Ms Miranda Lowe, Dr Isabelle Charmantier and Mr Julian Wilson.  In order to obtain a new, and younger, perspective on the business of recruitment and retention of members to the Society, Julian, Isabelle and Miranda were given the task as a small sub-committee, in liaison with Kathie Way (our Council member overseeing membership issues), of reporting to Council how best to take these issues forwards, particularly among younger people.  We are aware that, for the most part, young people interact electronically these days and the Society needs to take this into account.

In that connexion, Council is also investigating how best to introduce an electronic submission process for MSS to Archives of natural history (not as a substitute for hard-copy submission but as an alternative option).  The Honorary Editor Dr Charles Nelson will be providing details soon.

Members should be alert to the fact that back numbers of the Society’s journals are gradually being up-loaded onto the Edinburgh University Press website (http://www.euppublishing.com/journal/anh).  There are a few gaps at present (volumes 6, 7, 8 & 9) where glitches have occurred in processing but we expect these to be available shortly.  We would welcome feedback from members who avail themselves of this magnificent resource and we hope to make a different paper available each month to encourage people who are not yet members to join the Society.

Council was also delighted to appoint Dr Margarita Hernández Laille as our new Representative for Spain. Margarita is the author of the book Darwinism and textbooks in Spain and England in the nineteenth century (1870-1902).

Geoff Moore
President
August 2010