SHNH Stearn Essay Prize 2020 awarded to Amelia Urry (Cambridge) for her essay ‘Hearsay, Gossip, Misapprehension: Alfred Newton’s secondhand histories of extinction’

Amelia is a PhD student (History and Philosophy of Science) at the University of Cambridge, where she studies the ‘deep uncertainty’ of Antarctic climate science. As a writer, she has explored themes of extinction and apocalypse, moving across histories of science and literature. Of winning the award, Amelia says “It is an honour and a […]

SHNH Society for the History of Natural History launches its 2021 Awards: President’s Award 2021, Founders’ Medal, Thackray Medal for best book on natural history and Stearn Student Essay Prize

  I am delighted to announce that we will be making Awards once again at our AGM in 2021. We had a break in 2020 as a result of Council’s detailed review of all our SHNH Awards, when we considered their scope and the criteria used for them as part of our strategic review. Our […]

New blog: The 1905 ascent of Mount Tahan (Malaysia) and fate of the bird collection by John James Wilson

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 Read the full story here.                 […]

The Society for the History of Natural History is delighted to announce that Charles Nelson has been elected an Honorary Member of the Society

SHNH Virtual AGM 2020, 26 June 2020, 2pm: Message from the President

Owing to the developing situation relating to Covid-19, the SHNH Council has taken the decision to reschedule our annual meeting & AGM which was planned for 25-26 June 2020. ‘Pioneer Naturalists: Champions of Conservation & Environmental Engagement’ will now be held in 2021

W. T. Stearn Student Essay Prize 2020 open for best original, unpublished, essay in the field of history of natural history

The William T. Stearn Student Essay Prize has been instituted in honour of the late William T. Stearn, a scholar whose work contributed much to the field and to this Society. William T. Stearn, CBE, was born in Chesterton, Cambridge, and developed an early interest in books and natural history.  He became an outstanding botanical […]

CfP now closed: Pioneer Naturalists: Champions of Conservation and Environmental Engagement, Cambridge, June 2020

SHNH international summer meeting and AGM Museum of Zoology, University of Cambridge, UK Thursday 25th and Friday 26th June 2020 This two-day international meeting will explore the history and role of naturalists (and others) as pioneers in biological, geological and landscape conservation, protection, environmental advocacy and engagement in its broadest sense. Environmental awareness is not […]

**Nominate someone for the SHNH Founders Medal** awarded for making a substantial contribution to the study of the history or bibliography of #NaturalHistory

Please help our Society in its continued effort to celebrate excellence in the study of the history of natural history by nominating a deserving recipient by 19 January 2020.

SHNH William T. Stearn Essay Prize 2019 awarded to Nathan Smith (Cambridge)

We are delighted to announce that the 2019 Society for the History of Natural History’s William T. Stearn Essay prize has been awarded to Nathan Smith  for his entry ‘It takes a village: The life of Henry Thomas Soppitt and the attempts by provincial mycologists to navigate their scientific legacy’ which focuses on the discovery […]