Meet the collectors
Fratercula artica, Atlantic puffin. Plate 213 from John James Audubon's Birds of America, original double elephant folio (1834-35), hand-coloured aquatint.
The Museum Library maintains some fantastic historic collections, including specimens, drawings and associated manuscripts from James Cook’s voyages.
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Hans Sloane
The great collector's exquisite cabinet of curiosity includes a 50,000-volume library.
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Joseph Banks
The Library holds artworks and documents from collectors on board James Cook's voyages.
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The Tring benefactor
Sir Walter Rothschild's vast natural history collection is preserved at the Museum at Tring.
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William Smith
The canal builder's major breakthrough in geological science is represented in our collections.
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Alfred Russel wallace
Two brilliant scientists, a ground-breaking theory, and a publication that would change the face of natural history.
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Dorothea Bate
A passionate and resourceful naturalist, remembered today as the ‘mother’ of archaeozoology.