Stephanie Holt

The real treat were some of the absolute treasures of the museum that were brought out for us, including Maria Sybilla Merian’s work on the Insects of Surinam, the Natural History of Brazil from 1648, and some of the Tradescant collection, including this wonderful armadillo!

Last week I was invited to assist with an MSt class for @ox.ac.uk Faculty of History at @morethanadodo.bsky.social to discuss working as a historian with natural history specimens #HistoryOfNaturalHistory #HistoryOfScience #MuseumResearch.

A group of people gather round looking at birds on a lake. Wording to the left of the image reads: New work. Increasing inclusivity in biological recording in the United Kingdom: progress to date and future priorities. www.bto.org/UKInclusivityBiologicalRecording

1/ A research paper involving our Head of Ringing & Nest Recording Ellie Leech looked at the importance of increasing inclusivity in biological recording. Discover more in this thread ⬇️🧵

📖 www.bto.org/UKInclusivit...

#WomenInScience #CitizenScience

Delighted that my first solo history paper has just been published in Archives of Natural History (the journal of @sochistnathist.bsky.social)! It’ll be available online soon at @edinburghup.bsky.social, or you could join the Society and get a print copy of your own! 🙂

Delighted to announce that I have been elected to the board of trustees for Gilbert White’s House & Gardens @gilbertwhites.bsky.social ! #Trusteeship #GilbertWhite #NewRole #HistoryOfNaturalHistory #MuseumLife

Insect collecting with K-12 aged students: Balancing educational value and ethical considerations Insects have long been integral to youth science education both in K-12 classrooms and in informal learning contexts due to their diversity, accessibility, and ecological importance. Collecting and...

A great new paper about pros/cons of collecting insects with K-12 kids! Also, yay open access 😀🪲 www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

David Berry Fellowship in the History of Scotland and the Scottish People - RHS Launched in 2023, the David Berry Fellowship provides an annual award of up to £2,500 to undertake research on the history of Scotland and the Scottish people worldwide. Applications for the 2026 Fell...

The Society currently invites applications for its David Berry Fellowship in the History of Scotland and the Scottish People.

The Fellowship, for up to £2500, supports research by historians of Scotland at any career stage: bit.ly/4ns6LJj

Closing date: Friday 6 March 2026 #Skystorians

New article out today with @andy4040.bsky.social on the Liebig Trading Cards in the collection for the #BritishNaturalistsAssociation Country-Side Magazine #TradingCards #NaturalHistory #Ephemera #NewArticleAlert❗️

A man in a grey jacket points at antique books as a crowd looks on with interest

A large serrated fossil shark's tooth rests on the palm of a hand, almost filling it

A conference report for our exhilarating 'Curious Collections' day at the Natural History Museum (@nhm-london.bsky.social)

curioustravellers.ac.uk/conference-r...

Teaching today in the @morethanadodo.bsky.social seminar room, what better place to teach about natural history & natural history collecting to history undergrads for my first ever class for @ox.ac.uk history faculty! Huge thanks as always to @andy4040.bsky.social for the extra specimen loans!

A huge thank you to everyone who came along and made it such a good day and for such good conversation. Special thanks to the CTP team, and our wonderful curators who brought out some of Pennants specimens from the collections. #HistoryOfNaturalHistory #NHMScience #Museums #HistoryOfScience

I had no chance to post about Friday’s fantastic Curious Collections conference for @curioustravellers.bsky.social, but suffice to say these chairs were full as we welcomed nearly 60 guests to @nhm-london.bsky.social for a packed programme on Thomas Pennant and the work (and future🤞) of the project.

Come meet us (@stephholtnh.bsky.social included!) at the Natural History museum next month for specimens, travels, and digital humanities!

Back to history today and a lecture for the Oxford History Faculty Environmental Humanities group on @curioustravellers.bsky.social and our Curious Minds: Thomas Pennant and Gilbert White exhibition. #HistoricalResearch #DigitalHumanities #ThomasPennanr #GilbertWhite @ox.ac.uk

Yesterdays launch of the 61st Wildlife Photographer of the Year was excellent - I ran a science station on bats celebrating one of the best bat photos I’ve seen, chatting to our guests about bats, photography, and @nhm-london.bsky.social science 🦇 #WPY61

So busy at the Journeys Of Curiosity conference in Liverpool today that this was the only photo I took! But we had excellent talks covering Wales, the Himalayas, Egypt, Brazil discovering natural history, archaeology, and teacher training…you’ll have to take my word for it though! 🤦‍♀️

📣Calling all new research students in history & historical subjects. Do you want to learn how the IHR can help you during your studies?

Join us on the 8 October to find out more.

@royalhistsoc.org @ihrhistorylab.bsky.social @historyandpolicy.bsky.social @chppc.bsky.social

bit.ly/41UPOyG

We are looking for an Environmental Trustee to join our board. 🌱
For full details follow the link: gilbertwhiteshouse.org.uk/opportunities/

@andy4040.bsky.social

Was a great day, glad we could coordinate it to go together!

The Rodrigues parakeet’s last day: what one extinct bird tells us about the role of museums Two specimens at a museum in Cambridge are the only physical evidence this bird ever existed.

150 years ago today, the last known Rodrigues parakeet died.
It - and one other specimen - is now in @zoologymuseum.bsky.social: the only physical evidence the species ever existed.
I wrote about them & the importance of #museums in our knowledge of #extinction:
theconversation.com/the-rodrigue...

Excellent day speaking in The New Dark Aesthetic: The Bats Project at Orleans House Gallery. Nestor Pestana has drawn together such an inspiring project combining art & science for bat conservation, it’s a joy to be a part of it!🦇🦇🦇
#ArtAndScience #ArtOfNature #ArtInConservation

The Bats Project: Conversation on Darkness, Bats, and Poetry – Orleans House Gallery

Myself, the amazing Nestor Pestana, and others are doing this event on Saturday at Orleans House Gallery combining the art, science, and mythology of bats! Come along and join in the conversation! #Bats #ArtAndScience
www.orleanshousegallery.org/events/19055...

#CuriousTravellers #ThomasPennant #GilbertWhite #HistoryOfNaturalHistory #HistoryOfScience #HistoricalResearcher

And thank you also to National Library Wales, Linda Hall Library, Arader Galleries and Royal Museums Greenwich for the use of images throughout the exhibition and exhibition book!

Massive thanks also to @gilbertwhites.bsky.social for hosting us, to @andy4040.bsky.social for loaning us some wonderful specimens from his collection, and to @edwinrose.bsky.social and Mary-Ann Constantine (and me 😂) for loaning books and documents.

HUGE thanks to the CTP team from University of Wales, University of Glasgow and @nhm-london.bsky.social/ @nhmlibraryarchives.bsky.social for the effort that everyone put in to making it a success!

And just like that our exhibition Curious Minds: Thomas Pennant and Gilbert White is over 🥲.
I’ve loved the whole process of exhibition design, installation, and events, and I’m so proud of what we created for @curioustravellers.bsky.social

A woman with long hair in a white shirt speaks at a wooden lectern

Panel 2 begins! Here is @stephholtnh.bsky.social, explaining the differences and similarities between the real letters between Thomas Pennant and Gilbert White, and the edited and polished versions that make up so much of White's classic 'Natural History of Selborne'

I’ve not pulled out the data on it yet, but the data with these specimens is often pretty poor unfortunately. I’m hoping to dig out more information on it soon.