Presidential reflections on our jubilee year

I would like to take this opportunity to say a big ‘Thank you’ to all our Officers, Councillors and members who have jointly and individually made 2011 such a memorable jubilee year for the Society.  Julia Bruce produced our first full-colour newsletter before taking a well-earned retirement from its editorship.  Elaine Shaughnessy, public-spiritedly, has taken on that mantle of responsibility and is doing a splendid job in furthering its aims and objectives.  Your continued co-operation is sought in constantly feeding her suitable material for inclusion.  Our much-admired website (also Elaine’s bailiwick) continues to grow in scope and depth. 

   Nils Hellström’s William T. Stearn Prize essay on the ‘Tree as evolutionary icon: TREE in the Natural History Museum, London’ was published this year and became one of the most downloaded of our papers from the SHNH pages on the Edinburgh University Press website. The inaugural Patron’s Review essay was published in Archives and I hope you will all agree that Dr Kusukawa did a splendid job for us in her spectacular paper (embellished with so many colour pictures).

   We have had a series of splendid meetings, managed with charm and efficiency by Gina Douglas.  Our 75th anniversary meeting at Chester Zoo in May was a great success and new members joined the Society.  More recently, the Sherborn meeting in October attracted unexpectedly large interest and will be available soon as a podcast.   Plans to publish the contributions from these meetings are variously in hand and will be announced as soon as possible. 

   Charles Nelson’s compilation of snippets from past newsletters, History & mystery, has attracted much acclaim.  If anyone is still looking for presents suitable for Christmas, problem solved!  Charles is also to be congratulated, as ever, for his brilliant editorship of Archives.  That we have such an immaculate journal is down to him and to Juliet Clutton-Brock as associate editor and Isabelle Charmantier as book reviews editor.  We now have on-line access to the complete Archives of natural history (albeit with a few glitches still in the process of being ironed-out).

   Bill and Lesley Noblett are to be thanked for sorting out the PayPal facility (with Elaine’s collaboration) that enables us to facilitate overseas members’ requirements for paying for History & mystery in their own currency.  Miranda Lowe is now looking after members’ queries (efficiently helped out by Kathie Way in the background) and has facilitated our Council meetings at the Natural History Museum).  Lynda Brooks manages to keep tabs on the Society’s administration with tenacity and verve.

   The Society was recently able to present our Patron, Sir David Attenborough, with his Founders’ Medal (announced at the SHNH AGM in Chester).  His busy filming schedule means that he is a hard man to pin down, but one of our members, Professor Gren Lucas managed to catch up with him at the recent Darwin Lecture on science and medicine in London.

   We have been expanding the outreach of the Society by instituting an overseas representative in South Africa - Professor Francis Thackeray - and are in the process of establishing a new representative in Gibraltar.  Malgosia Nowak-Kemp oversees the overseas considerations and is always enthusiastically looking to expand our influence in the world.

   A good many people work in the background on our behalf  - the Stearn Prize committee, headed by Ann Secord; the Thackray medal committee headed by our Vice-President Hugh Torrens); and our Council members and I would like to thank them for their continued diligence.  I also take this opportunity, on behalf of all members, to say thank you to Les Jessop who has recently stood down as one of our Associate Editors. Les has done a sterling job on the Society's behalf in that capacity and also by serving on Council.The Society relies on volunteers to deliver its message, so thanks to all who have helped make this year such a success.  At the end of the day, however, if we want the Society to thrive, it is down to members to participate.  So, please do get involved whenever you can.  Help us recruit new members.  That way we can be sure that the Society will go from strength to strength for the next 75 years.  Happy Christmas!

Geoff Moore

SHNH President

SHNH Council held its most recent meeting on 7 July 2011 at the Natural History Museum, London, timed nicely to ensure that attendees received a right royal soaking during their walk from the South Kensington Underground Station.  Two of our newest councillors, Professor Hugh Torrens and Mrs Elizabeth Platts, were warmly welcomed and apologies received from Christopher Mills who had pressing engagements that day. Hugh Torrens has also kindly agreed to act as SHNH vice-president until the next AGM. 

The President congratulated Gina Douglas on the splendid joint meeting at Chester Zoo From Royal Gifts to Biodiversity Conservation and was particularly gratified to note that several new members were signed-up.  For more information see reports from the President (President's Report) and Meetings Secretary (Meetings Secretary Report). The papers that were presented at that meeting will be appearing in a book to be published by Chester Zoo under the joint editorship of Gordon McGregor Reid, Geoff Moore and Tim Brown.  Watch this space and the SHNH Newsletter for announcements.

We were delighted to announce a new award in May, The Patron’s Review. A Council initiative and in association with the Society's patron Sir David Attenborough OM CH FRS, an outstanding young scholar, nominated by Council, is invited by the Society’s Patron to write a review that advances the Society's objects, namely “the historical and bibliographical study of the growth of all branches of natural history in all periods and cultures”. The inaugural Patron’s Review entitled “The role of images in the development of Renaissance natural history” by Dr Sachiko Kusakawa of Trinity College, Cambridge has been accepted for publication in the next issue Volume 38.2 of Archives of natural history. Archives of natural history Volume 38.2 has been sent for press.  The contents and abstracts are now available on our website. 

Good news regarding the Newsletter too. Elaine Shaughnessy has agreed to take over its editorship (at least temporarily).  Work is going on now behind the scenes to transfer the necessary electronic wizardry from Julia Bruce, whose retirement from that position after 15 years was acknowledged in my last report.  We will be able to maintain closer links between our news outputs (newsletter, website, Linkedin, Facebook and Twitter feed) thereby.  Do send any contributions and news to Elaine at webmaster[at]shnh.org.uk.

Of especial interest to Council is that of nurturing and expanding our membership.  In that connexion, Miranda Lowe from the Natural History Museum has kindly agreed to be the first port of call for membership queries.  She will be taking over the administration of our general enquiries email info[at]shnh.org.uk.  Anyone wishing to notify changes of address, or experiencing difficulties, for example with subscription issues, is asked to contact Miranda [m.lowe(at)nhm.ac.uk] in the first instance.  We realise that some members have found the Edinburgh University Press contact procedures a little daunting.  We are hoping, in the fullness of time, to be able to establish an electronic register of member’s interests (confidential to the Society) that would help us serve the interests of the membership better. 

Important in that regard are the Society’s overseas representatives, co-ordinated with verve by Malgosia Nowak-Kemp.  Professor Francis Thackeray, a human palaeontologist, from the University of Witwatersrand in South Africa has agreed to act as our South African representative.   We wish him well in that position and hope he will be able to extend the Society’s influence in that continent.

Charles Nelson’s exciting new initiative for our 75^th anniversary – History & Mystery – is taking final form as an anthology of the most interesting, bizarre and entertaining notes and queries from the Society's newsletters. It is approximately 192pp with the cover designed by Dr Rebecca Jewell. We hope to have it available as early in the autumn as possible.  Council has now fixed a retail price of £15 (including postage and packing) for UK members, and £18 for the rest of the world (ROW).  We hope that as many members (and non-members; or “soon-to-be” members?) as possible will avail themselves of this fascinating read (excellent Christmas present material!).  Please do not be shy either about sending a donation as much in excess of the asking price as you feel able to afford!  Proceeds from the sale of this volume will help replenish the Alwynne Wheeler Bursary to support young scholars in attending SHNH conferences and meetings.  We will be advising you soon as to how to place orders for this volume. If you would like to reserve a copy, do contact the Editor at editor[at]shnh.org.uk.

2011 is also the 150th anniversary of the birth of Charles Davies Sherborn (1861-1942), first President of SHNH. SHNH, together with the Linnean Society of London and the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature (ICZN) are collaborating on a meeting to celebrate the life and legacy of Sherborn to be held at the Natural History Museum, London on October 28th 2011. The one-day symposium is entitled "Anchoring Biodiversity Information: From Sherborn to the 21st century and beyond". I look forward to seeing you there. The Society's Publishers Edinburgh University Press have made Sherborn's articles for Archives of natural history freely available online as well as two biographical articles. For more information do visit our webpage  for Charles Davies Sherborn.

There are lots of other exciting things currently in the pipeline.  As ever… watch this space.

Geoff Moore, SHNH President

18th July 2011

SHNH Council met recently (10 February 2011) so it is appropriate to give members an update on the Society’s affairs in this particularly significant year, SHNH's 75th anniversary.  Akin to the beginnings of Lloyds Insurance, 75 years ago, the Society was founded at a meeting in a Lyons coffee house near the British Museum (Natural History). For more information, see a brief history of the Society for the History of Natural History. 

We have lots of projects and events planned to commemorate this landmark in the Society’s affairs (watch out for further announcements); but note particularly our Spring Meeting in Chester (19-20 May).  Our Meetings Secretary is working on some more events, so members please watch this space.

2011 is also the 150^th anniversary of the birth of Charles Davies Sherborn (1861-1942), first President of the Society (when it was founded in 1936 its name was Society for the Bibliography of Natural History). Sherborn compiled the Index Animalium single-handedly over 43 years (1758-1850). This 11 volume, 9,000 page work became the basis for zoological nomenclature. We will celebrate Sherborn's life with a one-day symposium provisionally entitled "Anchoring Biodiversity Information: From Sherborn to the 21st century and beyond" on Friday 28 October 2011 at the Natural History Museum in London.  The Society's Publishers Edinburgh University Press have made Sherborn's articles for the journal freely available online as well as two biographical articles. There is also a new SHNH webpage for Charles Davies Sherborn.

Council approved the nomination of our erstwhile Treasurer, Dr Kees Rookmaaker, as our overseas representative for South East Asia, after his recent translation to Singapore.  If anyone in S. E. Asia wants more information about the Society then please contact Kees directly; his contact email being on the international representatives page of this website.

Julia Bruce will be retiring as Newsletter Editor after the next issue.  Julia has served us fantastically well in that capacity since 1996 but she feels that our 75th anniversary is an appropriate moment to hand the mantle onto someone else.  So, we are looking for a volunteer from our membership to take over this role.  As you know the Newsletter appears three or four times a year and is always something that members look forward to receiving as a source of information and a forum for members’ queries. 

That meeting was the last for Les Jessop and Elaine Shaughnessy in their period in office as Councillors, and we thank them both for their considerable contributions.  Les, however, will remain as Associate Editor of Archives of natural history and Elaine will continue to be in attendance at Council in her capacity as SHNH Webmaster.  Kathie Way has resigned from Council for personal reasons and we thank her for her tremendous help with our membership database records.  

Council wishes to give a real push to membership recruitment.  If each member could recruit a friend then we’d double the membership overnight, so can I make a plea to each of you to do what you can to help here?  We have the Society’s brochure on-line that people can download and use as they see fit.  We are recruiting more and more ‘friends’ on Facebook, but we want to translate these into subscriptions if we can.  

The new issue of Archives of natural history (Volume 38 part 1) is now published.  The complete set of Archives Volumes 1 - 37 are available to all SHNH members online. SHNH Members please note that you will need to activate the 2011 token for continued access even if you have activated a previous token. We have created a new webpage "How to Register for Archives of natural history online" to help guide you through the process.
    
I look forward to seeing many members and friends at our Spring Meeting and AGM on "From Royal Gifts to Biodiversity Conservation: The History and Development of Menageries, Zoos and Aquariums" in May at Chester Zoo.

Geoff Moore

SHNH President

April 2011