2004

    * Curious in our way: The culture of nature in Philadelphia, 1740 to 1840. Philadelphia, November 2004. Hosted at the Philadelphia Museum of Art and co-sponsored by an impressive array of institutions – the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, the American Philosophical Society, Bartram’s Garden, the Huntington Library, and the Yale Center for British Art – the “Curious” symposium examined the visual culture of North American natural history and the role of drawings, specimens, and books in the trans-Atlantic exchange that was centred in Philadelphia during the 18th century and into the 19th. About 200 people from the U.S., Canada, and Britain gathered for the opportunity to discuss and learn about this fascinating topic over a long weekend, November 18–21, 2004.

    * Natural History in Cambridge. Spring Meeting & AGM, 2004, Cambridge, UK. A joint meeting arranged by the SHNH in association with Cambridge University’s Cabinet of Natural History.

    * Maggs Brothers and John Murray Publishers tours. 11 March 2004. A group visit for 20 members was arranged to two Mayfair “town houses”: 50 Berkeley Square, home of the antiquarian book sellers Maggs Bros. and to John Murray, publishers, 50 Albemarle Street.  A smaller group met for dinner afterwards. The Meeting Secretary presented decorated ceramic mugs to John Collins and Julian Wilson and to John and Ginny Murray afterwards as tokens of our appreciation.