Treasures of the Month
“This Book is Chineese Manufacture”
This month Conservator Janet Ashdown explores the notebooks used by Alfred Russel Wallace during his Malay Archipelago expedition (1854-1862), focusing on their unusual construction, materials, and the conservation efforts to preserve them.
14th March 2025
Anything But Commonplace: The Lady Pleasance Smith commonplace books
This month, Assistant Archivist Christina McCulloch brings us into the world of the wife of Linnean Society founder James Edward Smith, Lady Pleasance Smith, through her impressive commonplace books.
7th February 2025
"The Night-mare Life-In-Death was she": Nautical Drawings in the Sketchbook of Richard Owen
This month, Project Archivist Alex Milne dusts off her English Literature degree to examine Richard Owen's sketchbook anew and emerges with an abiding love of the albatross.
2nd January 2025
A Secret Treasure: Anna Atkins’s Cyanotype Impressions of British Algae
This month, independent photographic historian Dr Rose Teanby FRPS, discusses the binding and photographic significance of the Linnean Society's three precious Anna Atkins Cyanotype volumes.
5th December 2024
As Far as the Eye can See | Two Views of Nature
This month our Hon. Curator of Artefacts, Glenn Benson FLS, looks at the depiction of nature through two small landscapes in the Society’s collection.
7th November 2024
The Scott Archive: Sealed Envelopes and…. Bickering Botanists! (Part 2)
In August we discussed the intriguing discovery of a sealed envelope in the papers of Dukinfield Henry and Rina Scott. This month, thanks to our Conservator, Janet Ashdown, we look at how that envelope was opened, and finally reveal its contents!
30th September 2024
