NHM Library and Archives

A Cathedral to Nature: The Archives of the Natural History Museum — Explore Your Archive An overview of the collections of The Natural History Museum Archive, providing insights into a range of fascinating topics.

💫New Blog Post!💫

Our last blog for July's theme #EYANature explores the archives of the Natural History Museum. Check it out to discover more about their fascinating collections 🌱

@nhmlibraryarchives.bsky.social #ExploreYourArchive

www.exploreyourarchive.org/a-cathedral-...

It's super fun to see people sketching in the museum! I'd add suggestions for the mineral gallery and the marine invertebrates gallery for less-commonly sketched specimens and less-crowded places to go!

if you decide to sketch a mollusc, post it and tag me, i'd love to see it!

Looking over the shoulder of a person who is standing in a gallery sketching in a notebook from items in a glass case in front of them.

Our suggestions for places to head for:
✔️ Images of Nature Gallery
✔️ Bird Gallery
✔️ Hintze Hall (1st and 2nd floors)
✔️ Treasures Gallery

#NaturalHistoryMuseum #SpecialCollections#MuseumArchives #SciArt #NatureInArt #ZoologicalArt #Audubon #Waterhouse #Art #Drawing #Artist #Sketching #Observation

Looking over the shoulder of a person who is standing in a gallery sketching from a framed image of owls on the wall in front of them.

Do you or someone you know, love to draw?

We love to see visitors immersed in sketching and drawing especially in the school holidays. You can find many opportunities to be inspired and engage with the Library and Archives collections in the public galleries. Get your sketchbook out!

An early-19th century portrait in ink of a young woman in a fur-trimmed dress.

A watercolour side view of a multicoloured bird. The bird is facing to the right of the image.

Four watercolour side views of colourful birds.

Very little is known of Lady Mary Acheson (1787?-1843), later Lady Bentinck, but her excellent taste in art has left us with 61 finely executed watercolours of Himalayan birds.

#NaturalHistoryMuseum #SpecialCollections #SciArt #NatureInArt #ZoologicalArt #Himalayas #BookSky #DigitisedCollections

Reverend J. G. Wood, born #OTD in 1827, published dozens of popular books on natural history. To celebrate his 198th birthday, here are a few of our favourites... #Bookbindings, #IllustratedBindings, #Victorian, #SpecialBooks, #TradeBindings

Alt text: Reel of Victorian bookbindings [has audio]

You can also now see it as part of the Richard Owen: A Natural Legacy display in the @nhm-london.bsky.social ‘s free Images of Nature gallery alongside other original #illustrations from Owen’s fascinating drawings collection #naturalhistory #art #gallery #echidna #anatomy

Some birthday facts and faces of Sir Richard Owen, founder of the Natural History Museum, London who was born #OTD in 1804. A very Happy Birthday to anyone else with a birthday today! #NaturalHistoryMuseum #Palaeontology

Alt text: Reel of portraits of Professor Richard Owen [has sound]

It's #WorldEchidnaDay so here's a drawing by Joseph Wolf (1820-1899) of this extraordinary egg laying mammal. It was published by Richard Owen in the Philosophical Transactions (Pl.39, 1865). If you look closely, you can see a young baby in the pouch and a small outline sketch of it! buff.ly/8ErERyK

The book 'Interesting bird nests and eggs'.

The book 'Metamorphosis: how insects are changing our world' on display.

The book 'Interesting shells' on display.

The book 'In the name of plants' on display.

Need a new holiday read? Do you love art, the natural world or science?

Here are some great suggestions for you, written by our Museum science colleagues, and featuring our Library and Archive collections.

For sale in the Museum shop, online, and in wonderful bookshops.
#NaturalHistoryMuseum

🔎Learn about how the Museum coped during World War Two.
🔎Discover what the Archives can tell us about how the Museum has adapted to make provisions for blind people and people with visual impairments since 1927.

#NaturalHistoryMuseum #MuseumArchives #Special Collections #ExploreYourArchives

Pile of magazines on display surrounded by books.

Out now! The Summer issue of the Museum's Magazine, free to Museum members, and to subscribers of Apple News+ and Readly. Also available to buy in the Museum shop.

L&A highlights:
🔎Find out about the new display celebrating Sir Richard Owen in our free Images of Nature gallery, opening 18th July.

Eight modern books displayed on a table.

A peek on the returns shelf to see some of the items Museum staff have been returning recently... 🔎📚

#NaturalHistoryMuseum #Shelfie #ModernCollections #Geology #Australia #Bournemouth #Tibet #Himalayas #Alps #Karakoram #Darwin #Fossils #CoralReefs #LibrariesOfInstagram #Bookstagram #InstaBooks

Person sitting at a reading room table. In front of them is a bound volume of newspaper cuttings and a mounted artwork.

Item reference: DF/PAL/100/113/15.

⬆️To search our Archives Catalogue or learn more about visiting us, see the link in our bio.

#NaturalHistoryMuseum #MuseumArchives #Archives #Ephemera #Suffrage #Suffragettes #VotesForWomen #ExploreYourArchives

Handwritten notes on the back of a printed flyer.

Approximately 40,000 women from across the British Isles marched on the streets of London demanding votes for Women.

Curiously, the letter was written in 1925, over a decade later. His daughter Hilda was an active suffragette and may have played a role in this protest literature becoming stationery

A printed flyer advertising a march on the 17 June 1911.

The archive is full of unexpected encounters. Whilst we read letters for their contents, in some cases the reverse is just as compelling.

This letter sent by geologist Arthur F Bather to model-maker Vernon Edwards, was scribbled on the back of a flyer advertising a demonstration held #OTD in 1911.

Made from 100% endpapers and artworks from @nhmlibraryarchives.bsky.social collections.

Pride flag composed of patterns from NHM Library items

Because nature, libraries, and people are diverse. Happy Pride month! #pride #PrideMonth #LGBTQ

Take a look yourself this National Pigeon day on BHL here: buff.ly/1GnoL6r

Illustration of Columba Turtur pigeon perched on branch full page in open book

Illustration of Columba Francix, white red and black feathers perching on a branch full page in open book

Illustration of Columba Vinacea pigeon perching on a branch looking down on full page of open book

Illustration of Colombe Jounud pigeon perching on a branch full page in open book

Coenraad Temminck's (1778-1858) Les Pigeons text was accompanied by illustrations by French artist Pauline Knip (1781-1851). Giving her full control over the engraving and printing process, she controversially re-titled the work “Les Pigeons par Madame Knip”, crediting him by misspelling his name!

A smidgen of pigeon for National Pigeon Day.

⬆️Learn more about our collections and how to visit us via the link in our bio.

#NaturalHistoryMuseum #SpecialCollections #Birds #NationalPigeonDay #NaturalHistoryIllustration #NatureInArt #SciArt

Some more recent additions to our library book and journal collections 🎉

⬆️ Use the link in our bio to learn more about our collections and to arrange a visit.

#NaturalHistoryMuseum #NewAdditions #Entomology #Botany #Plants #Insects #LibrariesOnInstagram #Science

Hi Matt, the plates are changed regularly through the year every few months, on this occasion it is 2 months.

A photograph of a museum gallery, nearest to the camera is large glass case displaying a large artwork depicting two birds.

Plate 196: Labrador falcon / Falco labradora, depicting a male and female of the species.
(Current scientific name: Gyrfalcon / Falco rusticolus.)

This plate will be on display for two months.

#NaturalHistoryMuseum #SciArt #NatureInArt #TreasuresGallery

A large piece of artwork showing two birds is placed into a glass cabinet by a member of staff wearing gloves.

New original Audubon plate on display 🎉

If you are visiting the Museum, here is an extra reason to head over to the Treasures Gallery (free).

On view is the latest plate from our 'Birds of America' (1827-1838) by John James Audubon (1785-1851).

#NaturalHistoryMuseum

We're hiring!
The deadline is fast approaching - 8 June 2025!

#NaturalHistoryMuseum #GLAMJobs
#LibraryJobs #ArchiveJobs

Not from a quick page-through, but only a couple of the volumes have the life cycle/food plant drawings. There are many more in his published Insects of Georgia, which can be viewed online thanks to the Biodiversity Heritage Library (tinyurl.com/4mm99fzn). Or come see us! #BHL

Hi David, we think they're lovely too! Abbott drew (so to speak) inspiration from Maria Sibylla Merian and Eleazar Albin, among others, in depicting the full life cycle and the food plant. All three bred insects themselves to capture every element.

We've digitised our John Abbot (1751-1840) paintings of the birds of Georgia (1827). Abbot was born on May 31 (parish records)/June 1 (Abbot's choice) -- see yesterday's post for his insects! #SpecialBooks #NaturalHistoryMuseum #DigitalHumanities

Alt text: Reel of drawings of birds from Georgia.

John Abbot (1751-1840) spent most of his life collecting and drawing the #birds and #insects of Georgia. He was born on either May 31 (parish records) or June 1 (Abbot's choice). See his birds tomorrow! #SpecialBooks #NaturalHistoryMuseum #otd

Alt text: A reel showing drawings of insects