Compiled by Glenn Roadley, Curator (Natural Science), The Potteries Museum & Art Gallery.

Welcome to the August edition of NatSCA Digital Digest!

A monthly blog series featuring the latest on where to go, what to see and do in the natural history sector including jobs, exhibitions, conferences and training opportunities. We are really keen to hear more about museum re-openings, exhibition launches, virtual conferences and webinars, and new and interesting online content. If you have any top tips and recommendations for our next Digest please drop an email to blog@natsca.org.

Where Can I Go?

Museums have been steadily reopening since the beginning of July, and August brings a growing list of museums tentatively opening their doors to a limited number of visitors. The Art Fund has put together a list of opening dates, with big names in August including The Natural History Museum, the Science Museum (London), the Museum of Science and Industry (Manchester), National Museum Cardiff and Eureka (Halifax).

What Can I Read?

We’ve got two great posts on the NatSCA blog this month. Yvette Harvey writes about the colonial history of the collecting trips of George Forrest, whose collections still have a huge impact on what is grown in our gardens today. Jan Freedman writes about his experiences in busy museums, and how a calmer, post-Covid environment may benefit the experiences of visitors.

A new post by the Natural History Museum details the discovery of a new dinosaur dubbed ‘Captain Hook’, and a blog at National Museum Wales looks at some inspiration taken from nature in industry.

As we hear about more and more museum collections and staff becoming at risk as funding runs dry, the Museums Association urges the Government to use temporary powers to protect collections.

What Can I Do?

While it will likely be some time yet before many events programmes get wind back into their sails, there’s still plenty of online events and training sessions being put together by organisations across the world. iDigBio is continuing its webinar series with ‘Executing Virtual Events: Lessons learned from Digital Data & SPNHC Conference Planners’, scheduled for August 25th. The South East Museum Development Programme will be hosting ‘Returning to volunteering’, a practical workshop to help you to consider how the nature of volunteering might change in your museum in the coming months.

Through much of lockdown, Manchester Museum have been hosting Frog Friday Live, giving us a closer look at the inhabitants of the museum’s vivariums. Though the series has now ended, you can catch up with every broadcast on their website if you missed out.

The BBC has continued to add to its online catalogue of ‘Culture in Quarantine’, featuring content from from museums, arts organisations and theatres.

Before You Go…

If you have something to say about a current topic, or perhaps you want to tell us what you’ve been working on, we welcome new blog articles so please drop us an email if you have anything you would like to submit.