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.
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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 […]
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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 […]
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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 […]
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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 […]
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SHNH summer meeting and AGM in association with the Geological Curators Group The King’s Manor, University of York Tuesday 4th and Wednesday 5th June 2019 This two day international meeting held in association with the Geological Curators’ Group will examine the role of agents, dealers and commercial enterprises in the history of natural history. A […]
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The year is 1768, and Britain is in the throes of the Age of Enlightenment. As a group of artists agrees to found the Royal Academy, Captain James Cook sets sail on a voyage of discovery to track the transit of Venus and search for terra australis incognita – the unknown southern continent, as Europeans […]
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Editor: Arthur MacGregor Interposed between the natural world in all its diversity and the edited form in which we encounter it in literature, imagery and the museum, lie the multiple practices of the naturalists in selecting, recording and preserving the specimens from which our world view is to be reconstituted. The factors that weigh at […]
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The Antiquarian Booksellers’ Association are delighted that Sir David Attenborough will open the 61st edition of ABA Rare Book Fair London on 24 May 2018 at Battersea Evolution. Over 170 leading booksellers from around the world will gather for the 61st edition of ABA Rare Book Fair London from 24 – 26 May which will […]
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SHNH summer meeting and AGM in association with the British Ornithologists’ Club World Museum Liverpool Thursday 14th and Friday 15th June 2018 (Lunch and tour of Knowsley Hall, Wednesday 13th June) Booking Form Programme Abstracts 2018 marks the 250th anniversary of Captain James Cook’s first voyage to the Pacific. A pivotal moment in the history […]
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