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Member Talk: Unwrapping the Origins of the Hidden Collection with Richard Sabin

A photograph of a scientist with a very large skull

Event information

Member & Patron Virtual Event

Free, online event - no ticket required

Monday 13 December 2021, 17.30-18.30

Join Principal Curator of Mammals, Richard Sabin, as he takes us through the locked doors and secret corridors of the off-site collection to reveal a treasure trove of natural history.

With whales, elephants, giraffes and a famous dog to name but a few, the site is full of hidden treasures with curious stories just waiting to be uncovered.

In addition to finding out what weird and wonderful things live within the walls of the secret storeroom, you will also hear first-hand about the upcoming Natural History Museum at Harwell project.

A planetary emergency demands an unprecedented response. Our new science and digitisation centre at Harwell campus, Oxfordshire will secure the future of the collection to deliver innovative solutions for the natural world.

  • Speaker biography

    Richard Sabin

    Richard Sabin has been working at the Museum for nearly 30 years where he is part of a team of curators that manage the Mammals collection.

    As a child, Richard was fascinated by bones. He used to collect roadkill from a main road near where he grew up in North Birmingham and bring it home. His 'very understanding parents' let him have a little patch of ground at the bottom of the garden to bury the carcasses, 'so I could rot away the flesh and look at the bones', he explains. 'I wanted to know what was inside these animals. I wanted to know how they moved and how they supported themselves.'

How to watch

This talk is free to attend and will be available to view via a private web link accessible to all our supporters on The Hive.

Members and Patrons will also receive an email with the private web link on the day of the talk.

Please ensure you are opted in to receive our e-newsletters. If you have not received an e-newsletter recently, please contact us to confirm your email address.

Got a burning question?  

You can ask questions in real-time while the talk is happening. Head to the video on YouTube and type your question into the chat box.  

An exclusive event

This event is part of a series of unique talks, tours and viewings  for our Members, Patrons, Supporters and Corporate Members only.

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