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(See the International Meetings page for details of meetings held outside the UK)
There are details of several past meetings on this site:
Despite the last minute loss, due to illness, of the keynote speaker, Dr van Wyhe, the Spring Meeting and AGM at the National Museum of Wales, Cardiff, participants gained a greater understanding of how Charles Darwin’s early field work in Wales provided essential training for the HMS Beagle “naturalist” . Other speakers told us about Galapagos insects, the reception of Darwin’s work by Ferdinand von Mueller in Australia, Darwin’s relationship with a female scientist in the United States, the introduction of Darwinism into school text books in the UK and some of the lessons to be learnt from biological recording methodology. Enthusiastic discussion and excellent timekeeping by all speakers meant that there was plenty of opportunity for informal discussion and exchange of ideas.
The Society’s business meeting was conducted with his usual efficiency, by the outgoing President, Professor Arthur Lucas, all nominated being elected. A vote of thanks to retiring Councillors and to the retiring President concluded the meeting, with special thanks to Mrs Maureen Lazarus for her help in finding speakers and putting everything in place for a successful meeting.
Despite the presence of an intense depression, bringing constant heavy rain and winds, 32 delegates and 10 speakers (15 being SHNH members and 17 being NHSN members) gathered at Henderson Hall, Newcastle, for this joint meeting with the Natural History Society of Northumbria. Presentations alternated between Turner and Hancock, with coverage of other NE Naturalists. High points in the meeting included displays of Turner’s Herball and other books as well as Hancock artwork, all retrieved from the stored treasures of the NHSN by David Gardner-Medwin. Eric Morton brought out of storage a superb example of Hancock taxidermy for us to admire.
A planned visit to the Chantry Museum at Morpeth was cancelled at short notice when news came that Morpeth residents were being evacuated due to flooding. Instead, our local organisers diverted the coach to Cherryburn, home of Thomas Bewick, despite flooded roads and rivers in spate. A session at the Mining Institute gave us a chance to see their Library and experience the historic lecture theatre but an evening event in the Lit and Phil Soc. prevented us from viewing the Library there.
Friendly and helpful staff at Henderson Hall and support from the local “team” of David Gardner-Medwin, Les Jessop and Peter Davis (including Lucy Thompson in the University) ensured that everything went smoothly despite the weather. We are most grateful for the support of the NHSN in making this a memorable meeting and regret that we were not able to enjoy the promised delights in Morpeth.
Log books, ledgers and field notebooks: what historical records can reveal.
The SHNH Spring meeting was held in Edinburgh on Friday 16th and Saturday 17th May, with the EGM and AGM taking place on Friday afternoon after an excellent tour of the museum at Surgeon’s Hall under the informed guidance of John Chalmers, who not only had a personal acquaintance with some of the pathology specimens on display but who also gave us a most interesting presentation on J. J. Audubon’s links with the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh. We are most grateful to the Royal College for their hospitality and to Kaisey Baillie who made sure everything was in place. The AGM was followed by a reception hosted by our Publishers, Edinburgh University Press, which enabled some of us to meet those now concerned with the production of Archives of Natural History. A number of us then had dinner together before going our various ways to prepare for the following day.
On Saturday morning we gathered at the Balfour Building where the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh was our host. A series of interesting presentations began with Dr Pat Morris presenting a fascinating story which took us from big game hunting in India to ways of preserving the results though taxidermy. This combined a family saga and trade secrets with tales of their perseverance in order to preserve some of the invaluable records for posterity. We then moved on to questions such as to what the apparently exotic birds served up at Court banquets might really be and, if not as exotic as first appears, how were they supplied in the recorded quantities and are these in turn accurate or embellished for “spin”. It seems that Tudor bookkeeping was very thorough and can help in opening up a window into the past. A brief review of recent Linnean Society acquisitions was followed by an abundant and delicious lunch, with newcomers to Scotland meeting “stovies” to warm them before venturing out to explore the delights of the Garden as the weather brightened.
In the afternoon we learnt about the eternal pessimism of fishermen and how the historic records can be used to prove that it was not always “better in the past”, with Dr Ronald Campbell of the Tweed Fisheries Foundation. This was followed by Nigel Monaghan outlining the history of the Irish Caves Excavation Committee of the Royal Irish Academy in the first quarter of the 20th century. He explained how their 'bone books' have proved essential to the unravelling of the story of the Irish Quaternary mammalian fauna, providing the key resource in unlocking funding to document and date the collection. Before the emergence of tea and extremely tempting scones, Pat Morris delighted us with the unscheduled saga of Walter Potter’s taxidermy, some of which is now in his possession.
Jane Hutcheon, Head of Library Services, with archivist Leonie Paterson and Graham Hardy from the library provided constant assistance and Leonie mounted a most interesting display of photographs of some of the “log books” and field notebooks in the Edinburgh collections. We are most grateful for all their support and help in making this meeting possible keeping it running so smoothly.
Gina Douglas, Meetings Secretary
A small SHNH group of 10 members gathered at the Gallery on Saturday 13 October for an introductory talk by Derek Adlam and a chance to see the exhibition. The talk was a tour de force, taking us from Bess of Hardwick and Elizabethan power games through the dynastic marriages of her offspring to the life of Margaret Hollis Harvey, Duchess of Portland and the eventual dispersal of her collection, some returning from the saleroom to the family and on show in the exhibition.
Further details of the gallery can be found at http://www.harleygallery.co.uk/
Those of us able to attend the recent joint MGHG/SHNH meeting Nature Behind Glass, held at the Manchester Museum from 6 – 8 September and hosted by the Manchester Museum and the University of Manchester will have returned home with memories of sunny skies and warm weather as well as notes, contacts, sources, web sites and business cards to be followed up, all the hallmarks of a memorable and successful meeting. |
Above: Elaine Shaughnessy at the meeting, Nature Behind Glass |
The pocket-size Conference programme managed to pack in a clearly displayed programme, abstracts, delegates contact list and details of special events, as well as advice on eating and drinking in and around the city and University, with key location maps and all appropriate credits. The “eco-cotton” practical conference bags will be in use as an enduring legacy, as will be the messages we all brought home from the meeting on different approaches and ways of interpreting, using and presenting our collections, museums and knowledge related to the history of natural history.
Over 100 delegates from UK addresses as far-flung as Cornwall and Dundee as well as overseas participants from Canada, France, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, South Africa, and the USA got to know each other and exchange ideas over the three packed days of the meeting, as well as benefiting from a series of Keynote presentations providing a starting point for each session.
The contribution of the many poster papers was recognised in a prize for the one with the most “innovative content”, awarded at the Conference dinner to Merle Patchett and Kate Foster for their poster “Lively geographies of dead animals”. Dr Sam Alberti and his team of helpers, Hanna Chalk, Rob McCombe, Jane T.Meredith and Chris Plumb managed to keep the IT systems working and provided those chairing session with comprehensive notes and guidelines so that everything ran to time.
Thanks must go to everyone involved in planning the programme and on the ground, but especially to Sam, who somehow also managed to keep the skies clear in a city known for its rain!
Jodrell Laboratory, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
The Spring Meeting and AGM at Kew coincided with the perfect late Spring day and, considering the beauty of the surroundings, it was gratifying to find over 30 members and their guests prepared to forsake the gardens for the Bennett room of the Jodrell Laboratory. The hospitality and efficiency of Dr Mark Nesbitt and his team from the Economic Botany Collections helped in making this a memorable day for all.
The account by Dr Jim Endersby “J.D.Hooker, the making of a modern botanist” brought home to his audience both the development of Botany as a profession and the personal difficulties experienced by Hooker. This was followed by the SGM and AGM, culminating in the presentation of the 2006 John Thackray Medal to Peter Marren for the publication of the second edition of his “The New Naturalists” by the President. Prof. Arthur Lucas expressed his thanks to outgoing Councillors, especially to Dr Jim Endersby for his services as Treasurer.
In the afternoon we visited the Economic Botany store in the Banks Building where we learnt much on just how versatile plant products are, as well as having the special pleasure of seeing artefacts and objects associated with plant collectors such as Hooker himself and Richard Spruce.
The Society would like to express its gratitude to the Director of the Jodrell Laboratory, Dr Mark Chase, for his hospitality, and to Mark Nesbitt, Naomi Rumball, Jill Turner and Judith Seidell for all their efforts in making the meeting a success and opening the treasures of the Economic Botany Collections to us.
Linnean Society of London, Burlington House, Piccadilly, London W1J 0BF
Graham Jefcoate (MA FRSA MCLIP, Directeur, Universiteitsbibliotheek
Radboud Universiteit Nijmegen) "
Discovering the Forsters: locating and mapping the evidence from John Adam Street to the Pacific"
The RSA archive contains interesting evidence for J. R. Forster's activities in England before he and his son George Forster accompanied James Cook on his second circumnavigation of the world in the Resolution, 1772-1775. The collections created on their voyage, and other collections they made after returning to Europe, contain important source material on a wide range of topics but especially relating to Pacific Studies and natural history.
Spring Meeting & AGM in London 2005Despite being organised at short notice after our Vienna plans fell through, the Spring Meeting was an unqualified success. Simon Chaplin welcomed the 36 participants and gave a fascinating presentation on the history of the Hunterian collections as an introduction to a visit to the newly refurbished displays, focused on the stunning “crystal room” at the heart of the collection. Thanks to Stephen Massil and his colleagues, members and guests then had an opportunity to visit a display of natural history books in the library of Sir John Soane on the opposite side of Lincoln’s Inn Fields. |
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The AGM dealt with the necessary business of the Society, culminating in the awarding of the 2005 Thackray Medal to Dr David Allen and Gabrielle Hatfield for their book, Medicinal plants in folk tradition: an ethnobotany of Britain and Ireland (Cambridge: Timber Press, 2005). |
Above: Simon Chaplin telling the meeting about the history of the Hunterian Museum. |
After lunch all made their way to the Grant Museum at University College, London where Helen Chatterjee, the curator, introduced the collection and encouraged us to explore its variety. |
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After tea the participants gathered in the lecture theatre to hear
Kees Rookmaaker on “Explorers, collectors and artists, the pleasures
of investigating the history of Natural History”. Dr Rookmaaker had been
presented with the 26/3/07 |
Above: Members of the Society gathered for the AGM and (below), Elaine Shaughnessy and Simon Chaplin at the evening dinner. |
Those who were able to stay on attended a most convivial conference dinner at Zamzama restaurant in nearby Drummond Street. |
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