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Welcome to the Library and Archives on NaturePlus

Blue morpho butterfly

 

Here you can keep up to date with our latest acquisitions, unearth some amazing Library treasures and take part in discussions about our collections.

 

Fancy a visit? Use our Library catalogue and Archives catalogue to find what you need. When you're ready, contact us to make an appointment.

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John Benjamin Stone, known as Benjamin, was born in Birmingham on 9 February 1838. He was the son of a local glass manufacturer and took over the business after his father's death. He was a staunch conservative and soon entered local politics, eventually serving as MP for Birmingham East from 1895 to 1909. He was knighted in 1892.

 

Stone was also keenly interested in anthropology and science. He was a member of many learned societies. He wanted to make a record of his life and times and so collected photographs and postcards. Then he decided to learn to take photographs for himself, employing two men full-time to develop and print his plates. Stone was one of the first photographers to switch from wet to dry plates.

 

This meant the plates no longer needed to be developed on the spot, as soon as they had been exposed. It made photography much easier, and the equipment lighter to carry around. Stone went on to make 26,000 photographs documenting daily life, local customs and his travels throughout the British Isles, Spain, Norway, Japan and Brazil.

 

Stone's interest in science means it's no surprise that he visited the Natural History Museum and photographed both the galleries and the staff.

 

http://www.nhm.ac.uk/resources/natureplus/images/library/20150325/PH_2_1_3_13_AS%20Woodward.jpg

 

The museum wardens - all men - are pictured outside the museum wearing smart military-style uniforms complete with peaked caps. In the nineteenth century similar uniforms were common in many large museums. Nowadays visitors to the NHM recognise the front of house staff by their purple shirts emblazoned with the museum's logo.

 

http://www.nhm.ac.uk/resources/natureplus/images/library/20150325/PH_2_1_3_17_AJ%20Jones messenger.jpg

 

Stone's photos show the curators and scientists dressed in frock coats and top hats as if for a smart dinner party. Today these staff are indistinguishable from the visitors except for the all-important security pass, and perhaps a white coat for laboratory work.

 

http://www.nhm.ac.uk/resources/natureplus/images/library/20150325/PH_2_1_3_6_EA%20Smith.jpg

Meanwhile, some of the galleries are completely different, but some have hardly changed.

 

http://www.nhm.ac.uk/resources/natureplus/images/library/20150325/PH_3_2_3_8_central-hall.jpg

This is the Hintze Hall in 1907 - the statue of Darwin is in the same place now, but the elephant display has been replaced by Dippy the Diplodocus.

 

http://www.nhm.ac.uk/resources/natureplus/images/library/20150325/PH_3_2_3_24_dippy.jpg

 

Here's Dippy as he appeared in the reptile gallery in 1907.

 

Stone reached the peak of his photographic career when he acted as official photographer for the coronation of King George V in 1911. Stone died a few years later, on 2 July 1914.

 

The majority of Stone's photographs are housed at the Library of Birmingham, and you can browse many of them online. His photographs are also in the collections of the V&A, the National Portrait Gallery, and the British Library.

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Cover_Evolve22.jpg

 

 

 

 

The latest edition of Evolve is out (Issue 22) and the Library and Archive collections (and staff) feature in many of the articles:

 

Dorothea Bate rediscovered map

 

Interview with our Special Collections Librarian, Paul Cooper

A first for the Library and Archives team!

 

Magnificent Monsters: The Crystal Palace Dinosaurs by Karolyn Shindler

 

Snapshot of war: the 100th anniversary of World War One by Karolyn Shindler

 

Cousins across the centuries: the pigeon and the dodo, a strange family tale

 

Evolve is available from the Museum shop or free when you become a member.

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We are pleased to announce that the Library and Archives team recently installed the 3rd rotation of natural history artworks into the Images of Nature Gallery. This new rotation features the wonderful artworks of a further eighteen women artists whose artworks are represented in the Musuem's collections.

 

The featured artists in this penultimate rotation are :

 

Norma Gregory (b.1942) - Bergenia cordifolia, elephant-eared saxifrage

Elizabeth Cameron (1915-2008) - Rhododendron eclecteum, Rhododendron

Jean Webb (b.1943) - Piseum sativum, pea 'Commander'

Angela Gladwell (b.1945) - Strigops habroptilus, kakapo or owl parrot

Claire Dalby (b.1944) - Caloplaca verruculifera and Lecanora poliophaea, lichen

Barbara Nicholson (1906-1978) - Meadow flowers

Beatrice Corfe (1866-1947) - Juniperus communis, Juniper ; Quercus robur, English oak ; Sorbus torminalis, Wild service orange tree ; Castenea sativa, sweet chestnut

Augusta Withers (c.1791/2-1876) - Cone of Encephalartos longifolius

Mary Grierson (1912-2012) - Orobanche crenata Forsk.

Guilelma Lister (1860-1949) - Trichia affinis, slime mould

Mary Eaton (1873-1961) - Phallus impudicus, veiled stickhorn

Sarah Stone (c.1760-1844) - Goura cristata, western crowned-pigeon ; Rupicola rupicola, Guianan Cock-of-the-rock

Harriet Moseley (fl.1836-1867) - Rubus macrophyllus, large leaved bramble ; Iris foetidissima, stinking iris

Janet Dwek (b.1944) - Bellis perennis L., common daisy ; Rosa canina L., dog rose

Lilian Medland (1880-1955) - Parotia lawessi, Bird of paradise

E. Getrude Norrie (fl.1900s) - Parribacus antarcticus, slipper lobster ; Anampses cuvier, pearl wrasse

Joan Procter (d.1953) - watercolour drawings of frogs and toads

Olive Tassart (d.1953) - Spodoptera litura

 

 

Lilian Medland
Mary Grierson
E. Gertrude Norrie
Guilelma Lister
Medlandsmall.jpgGriesensmall.jpgnorrie 1small.jpgLister 1.jpg

 

 

For more highlights of the gallery please see here.

 

The artworks will remain on display in the Images of Nature Gallery until the end of February 2015.     

 

Entry to the Gallery is free.    

 

For more information on the Women Artists in our collections, the book Women Artists features examples of the artworks of over 100 women artists held by the Library and explores their various influences and motivations in the creation of some of the most visually stunning natural history illustrations of the past four centuries.

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Evolve-21.jpg

 

 

 

The latest edition of the Museum glossy magazine Evolve (issue 21 Autumn 2014) is now out!

 

The Library and Archives collections features in a number of articles:

 

Tring: The Walter Rothschild legacy by Graham Smith

 

Get stuffed: Taxidermy through the ages by Amy Freeborn

 

Snap of war by Karolyn Shindler

 

A key to understanding human evolution: the beautiful collections of Dorothy Garrod by Karolyn Shindler

 

 

Evolve is available from the Museum shop or free when you become a member.

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The Library and Archives team (20+ of us!) will be keeping busy at this year’s Science Uncovered event. You can come and find us at various spots around the Museum on the evening of the 26th September.

 

Why not let us know if you have seen us via twitter @NHM_Library using the tag for the evening #SU2014

 

Gallery-artist.jpgIMG_3508.jpg

 

Origins and evolution with unique special collections

 

We’ll be offering behind the scenes tours and showcasing some of our most beautiful and important library collections in the Earth Sciences Library  - come and spend half an hour with us as library staff talk about books, manuscripts and amazing artwork all relating to the theme of Origins and Evolution and take the very rare opportunity for a close up look . Tours are on the half hour and run from 6.00pm till 9.30pm. You can sign up on the evening outside the Library.

 

Women Artists and our art on paper collections

 

Staff will also be in the Images of Nature Gallery between 6.00pm and 10.00pm, allowing you the opportunity to stop in for a chat and find out more about the very special artwork we have on display, and  chance to learn more about the Library’s art collections. Explore the latest display of watercolours from the 18th to the 21st centuries, all completed by women artists, and discover how we look after the collections and preserve them for future generations. You can also have a go at drawing something from the collections yourself!

 

IMG_3488.jpg

 

Behind the scenes with our Paper Conservator

 

At 5.00pm, join us in the Attenborough Studio for a very special Nature Live talk, where you can enjoy a rare behind the scenes glimpse into the Library’s Conservation Studio and see our Paper Conservator talking about and working on our collections via a live link.

 

Piltdown forgery

 

The Archives team will be out in the thick of things, sharing a table in the Origins and Evolution section with NHM scientists, showcasing some of the Museum’s amazing specimens relating to the great Piltdown forgery, and the letters, papers and images associated with it. Get a valuable insight into the  work of the Archives in collecting some of our most important treasures and documenting events in the world of natural history.

 

IMG_3559.jpg

 

Soapboxes

 

Library staff will also be on their Soapboxes!  Join them and other researchers as they stand on their soapboxes to discuss issues that relate to their work and have your say in a dynamic exchange of opinions. You’ll have the chance to debate a variety of topics, in a style similar to Speaker’s Corner in Hyde Park on a Sunday afternoon. Keep an eye out for the Soapboxes throughout the Museum and join the event at any time. Library staff will also be in the Science Bar, where you stop by for a drink and discuss some of the burning scientific issues of the day.

 

Tring (Hertfordshire)

 

As part of a wider array of talks and tours on the night, the Walter Rothschild Museum, our sister Museum in Tring, will feature a talk at 8.45pm by our librarian Alison Harding entitled The Rothschild Library: yesterday, today and tomorrow. Discover the treasures of our library collections housed here and find out how this internationally important library is used by curators, scientists, and researchers from all over the world.

 

So keep an eye out for us at Science uncovered and come and say hello and find out more about our work…

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