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W. T. Stearn Student Essay Prize 2020 open for best original, unpublished, essay in the field of history of natural history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

SHNH congratulates its medal winners Professor David Mabberley & Dr Henry Noltie

The Thackray Medal was instituted in 2000 to commemorate the life and work of John Thackray, a past President and Secretary of the Society.  It is awarded for significant achievement in the field of the history and/or bibliography of natural history. The Adjudicators of the Society’s Thackray Medal awarded the prize to David Mabberley for […]

Last chance to register for meeting on #TradingNature in York on 4-5 June 2019

A great deal has been recorded about those collecting and studying the natural world over the past 400 years. Much less is known about those who helped supply them. Often underplayed and viewed as peripheral and sometimes even shady figures, the endeavours, contributions and motivations of these ‘middle-men and women’ are often overlooked. The boundaries […]

Rebecca Jewell Exhibition at the Catto Gallery Thursday 7 – Monday 25 February

Rebecca Jewell grew up in Nigeria and North London and spent a year aged 18 in Papua New Guinea, where she encountered Birds of Paradise, Cockatoos, and Parrots.  This was to have a huge impact on her life as an artist. After studying anthropology at Cambridge, she went on to do her PhD on Feather […]