Bon Voyage? 250 Years Exploring the Natural World
SHNH summer meeting and AGM in association with the BOC
World Museum Liverpool
Thursday 14th and Friday 15th June 2018
2018 marks the 250th anniversary of Captain James Cook’s first voyage to the Pacific. A pivotal moment in the history of exploration.Cook’s voyages influenced many areas of science and endeavour - from astronomy and geology to natural history and anthropology.
This international meeting, held in association with the British Ornithologists’ Club,willfocus on the lives, encounters, contributions and legacies of many of those involved in the history of natural history exploration around the world, from land to sea - the risks they took, the discoveriesmade, their contributions to science, and the ingenuity and endeavour involved in the process. It will also examine some of the complexities and controversies surroundingmany centuries of natural history exploration and discovery.
The Society’s AGM will take place at lunchtime of Thursday 14th June.There will also be lunch and atour of Knowsley Hall on the afternoon ofWednesday 13th Junefor those interested (leaving at 12 noon from Liverpool City Centre).
Participants are encouraged to book their own accommodation. A list of hotels close to the World Museumare available on the Society’s website
Provisional Programme
Thursday 14th June
9.00-9.20Registration
9.20-9.30Welcome to World Museum
Morning session: Cook, Banks and beyond…
9.30-10.10Keynote Speaker – Jordan Goodman, Department of Science and Technology Studies, University College London,In the Wake of Cook: Joseph Banks and his ‘Favorite Projects’
10.10-10.35Edwin Rose, University of Cambridge, Joseph Banks, Daniel Solander and the practice of natural history on board HMS Endeavour (1768–71)
10.35-10.55Maureen Lazarus andHeather Pardoe, National Museum Wales, Banks’ Florilegium: the first natural history artists recording the unknown
10.55-11.15Break for tea / coffee
11.15-11.40Jack Ashby, Grant Museum of Zoology, University College London
“Contrary to the general laws of nature”: Europe’s earliest encounters with Australian animals
11.40-12.05Stanislav Strekopytov, Natural History Museum, Instructions for preservation of natural history specimens at the time of Cook’s voyages
12.05-12.30Zoë Varley, University of Sheffield and Natural History Museum, Robert FitzRoy: Captain, Collector and Collaborator
12.30-13.15Lunch and viewing of posters
13.00-13.45SHNH AGM
Afternoon session: Avian adventures
13.45-14.10 Edward Dickinson,Alcide Dessalines D’Orbigny (1802-1857): Voyageur-Explorateur for the Paris Museum – travels in Southern South America 1826 to 1834
14.10-14.35 Robert Prys-Jones,Scientific Associate, Natural History Museum, Wallace’s Sarawak bird collection and the development of his ornithological knowledge
14.35-15.00Jude Philp, Macleay Museum, Sydney University Museums, A. S. Anthony, ‘’a man of colour’’
15.00-15.20Break for tea/coffee
15.20-15.45Henry McGhie,The Manchester Museum, Henry Dresser and ‘self help’
15.45-16.10Lee Raye, Swansea University, Urban ravens, red kites and voyages to Britain
16.10-16.30Further questions and announcements
19.00-21.30 Conference meal at the Ship and Mitre (Pre-booked diners only):
Fixed price of approx. £15 per person with service (10%)
Friday 15th June
9.00-9.15Registration
9.15-9.20Welcome and announcements
Morning session: Collecting and recording
9.20-9.45 Mark Carine, Fred Rumsey, Malcolm Penn, Natural History Museum, From Peckham to Pegu: the assembly and classification of the Sloane herbarium
9.45-10.10Jeanne Robinson and Geoff Hancock, Hunterian Museum, University of Glasgow, Cook, William Hunter’s museum as a paradigm for 18th century collection practices
10.10-10.35 Jacek Wajer1, D.J. Mabberley and D.T. Moore, Natural History Museum1, Piecing together a 200 year-old botanical jigsaw: the search for the specimens of the Australian plants collected by Robert Brown during the Investigator voyage (1801-1805)
10.35-11.00Cam Sharp Jones, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew,Joseph Dalton Hooker’s techniques of collecting and recording the natural world
11.00-11.20Break for tea/coffee
11.20- 11.45Luciana Martins, Birkbeck, University of London, William Milliken and Mark Nesbitt, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, An ethnobotanist avant la lettre: Richard Spruce collecting in South America
11.45-12.10Carlo Bovolo, Fondazione Filippo Burzio, Turin, An Italian Zoologist Around the World: Filippo De Filippi and the Scientific and Diplomatic Voyage of the “Magenta”
12.10-12.35Andreia Salvador, Natural History Museum, The marine mollusca collection at the Natural History Museum: an overview of thelegacy ofoceanographical expeditions [tbc]
12.35-13.00Dr Rosi Crane, Dunedin Museum,Steamship Natural History
13.00-13.25Geraldine Reid, National Museums Liverpool, Exploring the Oceans - Seaweed Collecting Explored
13.25-14.15Lunch and viewing of posters
Afternoon session:
14.15-14.40Leslie Overstreet, Smithsonian Libraries, The (most important) books on the Beagle
14.40-15.05Peter Davidson, National Museums Scotland, What colour is that? Werner’s Nomenclature of Colours and Exploration in the First half of the Nineteenth Century
15.05-15.30Mark Graham, Natural History Museum, The early Fossil Preparators at the British Museum of Natural History and their sons: familial contributions to the field of Earth Sciences
15.30-15.55Deborah Wace, Churchill Fellow 2018,Art and History in the French Garden at Recherche Bay; Labillardiere’s collections explored in contemporary art
15.55-16.00Further questions, thanks and formal closeofmeeting
Posters will be available to view during the course of the meeting (details to follow).
Collection tours also still to be arranged.