The Library & Archives will be closed to visitors during Monday 14th - Friday 18th November 2011.
The staff will be working away behind the scenes, conducting a stock audit.
The NaturePlus Forums will be offline from mid August 2018. The content has been saved and it will always be possible to see and refer to archived posts, but not to post new items. This decision has been made in light of technical problems with the forum, which cannot be fixed or upgraded.
We'd like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who has contributed to the very great success of the forums and to the community spirit there. We plan to create new community features and services in the future so please watch this space for developments in this area. In the meantime if you have any questions then please email:
Fossil enquiries: esid@nhm.ac.uk
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Annual closure 14th - 18th November 2011
Posted by Hellen Pethers - Library and Archives Sep 29, 2011
Professor Kapil Raj of the L'École des hautes études en sciences sociales (EHESS),
is an eminent historian of intercultural encounters and the making of modern science. He has been conducting a three month review of South Asian natural history drawing collections held at the Natural History Museum, London, (NHM), the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (RBGK) and the British Library (BL) as part of The World Collections Programme (WCP) funded project, Wallich and Indian Natural History.
Judith Magee (Special Collections Curator), Prof. Kapil Raj and Julie Harvey (Centre Manager, CAHR)
Wallich and Indian Natural History focuses on the dispersed collections of Nathaniel Wallich (1785–1854), Superintendent of the Calcutta Botanical Garden for the East India Company from 1817 to 1846. Through research and digitisation, the project reunites Wallich’s dispersed collections from the holdings of the project partners. A significant strand of project activity is the survey of collateral South Asian natural history drawing collections held at the partner institutions.
Hosted by the Centre for Arts and Humanities Research (CAHR) Kapil has worked with the Library Special Collections Curator and Library staff to study key botanical and zoological watercolour collections from 1690-1900. Assessing and quantifying the richness and inter-connectivity of these historically and scientifically important collections, Kapil has identified many individual artworks and collections for further research.
These works represent the desire of private individuals and of the East India Company to collect, classify and exploit the natural resources of the region.
The South Asian natural history collections housed in the NHM Library are rich and diverse in content. Each collection has a unique and fascinating history which encompasses its creation, the artists and their methodologies, subsequent ownership, use and exploitation, curatorial methods and conservation.
Through the survey, Kapil has been fascinated to discover the range of subjects depicted: not only flora and fauna, but insects and fish - a very comprehensive natural history of South Asia, dating from the eighteenth to the twentieth century. This is important not only for the history of science and art, but also of cultural encounters.
Hortus Malabaricus
A significant highlight is a Banksian manuscript containing 228 watercolour drawings: Hortus Malabaricus. A beautiful eighteenth century Portuguese text depicting Indian plants and their medicinal properties with recipes for curing various ailments. It was given the title Hortus Malabaricus by museum curators; the true title, ‘Declaracao da aruores...Plantas’ and the rest of the text will be translated from Portuguese to enable a better understanding of this intriguing manuscript.
A volume from the Sykes collection
The William Sykes material discovered in the Library Special Collections contains beautiful illustrations and fascinating insights into the history of agriculture in India.
An exxample of two pages from the Sykes collection
William Sykes (1790-1872) had a successful career in the East India Company army: arriving in India in 1804, and rising to Lieutenant Colonel by 1831. In 1824 he was appointed statistical reporter for the Bombay Government, and charged with conducting a statistical survey of the Decan region. Sykes spent seven years travelling through India, observing and collecting information which resulted in a report including information on the flora and fauna of the region, as well as agricultural implements and practices. Travelling with Sykes was a young Bombardier from the Bombay Artillery, Llewellyn Fidlor, who had been assigned to Sykes as his draughtsman and artist. Fidlor produced some beautiful drawings to accompany the report.
These twenty one volumes of text and illustrations form the perfect collection for further work.
Friday night (23rd) was a roaring success for the Museum.
The Science Uncovered event saw the Museum filled with people of all ages up until 11pm. Both our South
Kensington and Tring sites took part. This was part of the European Researchers' Night 2011.
The Library & Archives staff had the opportunity to play their role this year, and what fun we had!
Our team of staff ran tours behind the scenes, in the Central Hall, and in our Images of Nature art gallery at South Kensington. We had a wonderful response from those members of the public who visited both the South Kensington and Tring sites.
Special collections behind the scenes
Every half an hour between4pm and 9.30pm we gave tours behind the scenes, with a display of nineteen items from our special collections, including the first edition of Darwin's 'On the origin of species' (1859), watercolours by Ferdinand Bauer, an early printed herbal (1491), ephemera relating to travelling menagerie's, and William Hamilton's 'Campi Phlegræi' (1779).
Visitors were given an overview of the items on display, and then our Assistant Librarians picked some of their personal favourites. There was a chance to look closer at the collection and ask lots of questions!
All relaxed in the art gallery
A team of Library staff were ready and waiting for visitors passing through the newest gallery in the NHM, Images of Nature, which opened in January 2011. They mingled with visitors who came with different levels of interest in art, including some who started with no interest in spending time in an art gallery, but who ended up staying and listening intently! There was a really relaxed atmosphere, with people circulating with drinks and nibbles.
Getting to know illustration at Tring
Our Assistant Librarian at Tring ran six sessions on the theme of natural history Illustration from Gutenberg to the end of the 19th century, featuring material from the extensive Library of Lionel Walter Rothschild, and using the literature of ornithology as examples.
Bringing the building alive
The Archives team gave eight guided tours starting at Dippy's tail at the main entrance, up the stairs past Darwin, along to the Mineralogy Gallery, and finally stopping the giant sequoia at the heady height of the Central Hall. The staff brought the architecture of our fantastic building alive, telling tales about the Museum's history to around eighty people.
Some of the comments from staff involved:
"...I spoke to a couple who were very interested in digitisation, which lead on to BHL, and a discussion about copyright and the unknown future of digital preservation."
"...it was nice to talk about what we are up to, and many of the visitors said they really appreciated the opportunity."
"...really interesting to hear the different things that the visitors found appealing. For some it was the colours of the Bauer watercolours. Someone else was curious about the reconstructions of the 1950's Parker illustrations of dinosaurs compared to today’s."
" ...it was great to be involved with, but completely exhausting!"
"...lots of my tour attendees said how interesting they found the information I gave them. Many of them were clearly making the most of the event by booking on several tours."
"...one young couple said the Library visit was 'more interesting than they expected!'"
"...after my talk I was asked by a lady what an average day for me was like in the Library, because it sounded really interesting! I was rather chuffed."
All for free, now there's a bargain! Great work everyone, and thank you all for coming and taking part.
Hooke's microscope.
Although you may not know it, whether walking the streets of London, closing a window in Aberdeen, or sleeping on mattress in Berlin, Robert Hooke (1635-1703) has made your life a little easier. A geometrist, physicist, biologist, artist, inventor and architect, Hooke was a man with considerable talents. In fact, many have called him “England’s Leonardo”.
Born on the Isle of Wight in 1635, Hooke was originally destined to follow his father (a curate) into the church. However, his ongoing ill health led to a change in career plans, and Hooke was able to apply himself more fully to science. Educated at Westminster School and Oxford University, his abilities were soon recognised by a key natural philosopher of the day, Robert Boyle.
A louse holding a human hair.
It was through Boyle’s influence that in 1662 Hooke found a position to both utilise and develop his many talents, as the first Curator of Experiments at the Royal Society of London. In this role, and a very similar position at Gresham College, Hooke was responsible not just for devising and performing not just experiments, but also any equipment and tests required--keeping a dog alive by blowing through its lungs with bellows or proving the motion of
the Earth were all in a day’s work.
The first person to recognise and explore cells, Hooke’s interest in the unseen was to lead to the publication of
his book Micrographia in 1665. Micrographia, or the Physiological Descriptions of Minute Bodies, made by
Magnifying Glasses had an enormous impact both within and beyond the scientific community. Although microscopes and telescopes were used prior to Hooke’s time, his refinements of the compound microscope opened up a whole new world to the scientific eye.
Micrographia explored these discoveries, in both words and pictures. Hooke’s exceptionally detailed engravings of cell-life were accompanied by a close-up of a fly’s eye, the point of a needle, a flea, and many other tiny life-forms never seen in such detail.
Mould under the microscope.
Samuel Pepys described it in his diary as “the most ingenious book that ever I read in my life”[2]; The Royal Society states that the observations published “cannot but exceedingly please the curious reader[3]”; even 350 years later it is described as “the most important work on microscopy ever published[4]”.
After the Great Fire of London in 1666 Hooke was made one of the three official surveyors for rebuilding the city, working closely with Sir Christopher Wren to map and redesign damaged areas. The two also worked together in creating the 202ft column (known as the Monument) which doesn’t just commemorate the fire but is also designed to lend itself to a number of scientific experiments.
Hooke’s ability for original thinking was remarkable—his inventions include the sash window, the marine barometer, mattress springs, watch coils, the universal joint. However, it was his pioneering work in microscopy which perhaps stands as his greatest triumph.
A close-up of a blue fly.
By Sharon Touzel (Assistant Librarian)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[1] Pepys, S. (1665) http://www.pepysdiary.com/archive/1665/01/21/index.php (accessed 18/9/11)
[2] [Anon]. (1665) Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society. No.2, 1665. pp.27-32. Royal Society of London:
London.
[3] Watson, W.P. (2011) [Catalogue 17: Science, Medicine, Natural History], pp.50-52. W.P. Watson :London.
[4] Hooke, R. (1665) Micrographia. Jo. Martin & Ja. Allestry : London.
Very exciting news.
The Natural History Museum's first book for the iPad, the 19th-century masterpiece The Birds of America by John James Audubon, is launched today.
Visitors to our main reading room, can now access wifi during their visit. Please ask staff on arrival.
For information about researching the Library & Archive collections at the NHM please visit the Library & Archives webpage.
Eleanor Russell joined the Library & Archives team as our new Paper Conservator, on the 1st August.
She was previously at the British Library specialising in art on paper. Prior to this she worked at the British Museum, the National Archives and the St. Paul's Cathedral architectural archives. Eleanor originally trained at Camberwell College of Art, gaining a BA Hons in Organic Conservation (e.g. paper, wood, leather).
One month in Eleanor is thoroughly enjoying her new role. As many of us did, she remembers her visits to the Natural History Museum as a child and now loves the feeling of playing a part behind the scenes. Originally from Cornwall, as a youngster she developed an interest in collecting and the natural world, which led to an interest in the history of art.
She feels her new role is her 'dream job', and is particularly enjoying the mixture of interaction with different museum departments and staff, and is starting to get her head round the size and variety of the collections in the Library & Archives.
It has already been a busy month for Eleanor: visiting the Tate Britain to de-install NHM items loaned for their watercolour exhibition; and more recently installing an NHM item at the Royal Academy for their forthcoming exhibition 'Degas and the Ballet: Picturing Movement'.
Eleanor will next be concentrating on the forthcoming rotation of artwork in the NHM Images of Nature Gallery, and preparing a book handling course.
We look forward to Eleanor blogging in the future about the work she is involved in.
