(Image from the collections at Plymouth City Museum and Art Gallery)

What  should I read?

Love the posters at this years NatSCA conference? Want to read and admire them in more detail? You can! Read them with pleasure at your leisure, because they are now all available free to look at!

Did you know there were ten different species of mammoth? A long read over your lunch time, spanning 5 million years in fact, visiting some very big and some very small mammoths!

A great piece by Mark Carnall, Life Collections Manager at Oxford University Museum of Natural History , looking at rudely shaped rocks! A fun piece with giants, owls and very early palaeontology.

What do you call woodlice?

Just one of the many species of woodlice. Or is that roly poly, or sow bug, or …. (Image by Franco Filini, Public Domain)

A little map of woodlice names was shared on BBC’s Springwatch blog earlier this week. It has led to dozens more names of woodlice. Jan Freedman (that’s me!) is gathering up names and wants to update the map, so do get in touch if you know of any historic references or names.

What can I see?

The Dinosaurs of China exhibition at Wollaton Hall is on until the end of October. Visit beautiful grounds with deer, and explore some truly magnificent creatures in the exhibition, from the time of the dinosaurs.

The newly refurbished Hintz Hall at the Natural History Museum, London is fully opened, and takes visitors through extraordinary examples of life on Earth, and at the centre of which, is the magnificent Blue Whale skeleton: impressive in itself, but also a symbol of hope for life on our planet.

Training and conferences

If you are interested in putting a little life into your displays and exhibitions, then come along to the next NatSCA seminar: Bringing the Dead to Life. This seminar looks at how you can brighten up your label and panel text, work with partners for exhibitions, display taxidermy, and a lot more. Tickets are just £20 (member) and £40 (non-member), and booking closes on September 21^st. Book here.

The Geological Curators Group annual conference and AGM is on 14^th-15^th November 2017 in Dublin and will focus on best practice examples of store moves. The conference aims to share real life examples with help others.

Jobs

There are several jobs at the Natural History Museum London, which can be found here. Jobs include:

• Digital Project Manager
• 2^ND Line Support Analyst
• Postdoc Researcher (NERC Bees)
• Marketing Executive
• Researcher (Invertebrates and Plants)

The University of Leicester is currently looking for a lecturer in Museums Studies. For more information, click here.

Before You Go…

If you have seen an exhibition, visited a museum, or want to tell us about your work, do get in touch as we are always looking for material from external authors. Email us with your ideas at blog@natsca.org.

Written by Jan Freedman; Curator at Plymouth Museum, and NatSCA Committee Member.