Compiled by Milo Phillips, Assistant Curator of Entomology for Leeds Museums and Galleries.
Welcome to the April 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. If you have any top tips and recommendations for our next Digest please drop an email to blog@natsca.org.
Sector News
SPNHC / BHL / NatSCA Conference 2022
This summer will see the return of the physical NatSCA Conference – a partnership with the Society for the Preservation of Natural History Collections and the Biodiversity Heritage Library. Early Rate registration has now closed but a Late Rate registration fee is still available, with NatSCA members eligible for the Standard Member rate. The programme of events is now available to view.
NatSCA Lunchtime Chats
The new lunchtime chats are for members only and run on the last Thursday of every month. In our last session we heard from Mike Rutherford, Curator of Zoology and Anatomy at the Hunterian in Glasgow all about their investigation of a sperm whale that washed up in Thailand.
In this month’s talk we’ll be having a discussion about upcoming openings on the board of trustees for NatSCA (i.e. the committee), so please join us if you’d like to learn more about what we all do. There will be specific roles opening up so departing trustees will be explaining in more detail what those involve, but there will also be general positions available. Any NatSCA member is eligible to become a trustee; no previous experience or length of time as a member is a requirement, just an enthusiasm for supporting the work of the association. We welcome and encourage all applicants and we are particularly keen to receive nominations that help us represent the diversity of our membership, at trustee level.
This series is supposed to be informal, no fancy equipment is needed, it will be put out over the NatSCA Zoom platform and there is no fixed format. There will be shaky walks through stores by mobile, demos, plain pieces to camera or traditional PowerPoints if that’s the best way to share images and info. For those who want to take part please email training@natsca.org to put forward your idea; if a stable internet connection for what you want to achieve is tricky we can put up a pre-recorded video and then speakers can jump in at the end for the discussion.
Bring your sandwiches and a cuppa and we hope to see you on the day! All members will have received a link to join via Zoom (the same link works for all sessions) – if you haven’t, get in touch with membership@natsca.org.
Upcoming NFBR conference
The National Forum for Biological Recording has an upcoming conference for members to attend: ‘Curating the Past, Creating the Future: Legacies in Biological Recording’. It will take place Thursday 5th May – Saturday 7th May 2022 at Oxford University Museum of Natural History as well as online via Zoom. The conference costs £20 in person or £10 online. You can book your space here.
The theme this year is the legacies created by biological recording. From safeguarding historic specimen collections to dealing with personal photographs, they aim to cover various aspects of usefully preserving biological recording outputs for present and future generations. On Saturday 7th May there is a field trip to Wytham Woods, a species rich site which has been maintained and researched by Oxford University for 80 years. Find out more about the conference here, including the event programme.
Where to Visit
The National Museum of Scotland currently has a fascinating exhibition showcasing a bound copy of Audubon’s Birds of America and several original, unbound prints from the National Museums of Scotland’s Library collection. This is a great chance to learn about the making of the rarest and most renowned natural science books and the exhibition considers both Audubon’s complex and problematic story, as well as the conservation lessons we can learn from his unprecedented publication. The exhibition will run until May 8th this year, and tickets can be booked here.
There’s also still time to visit Titus: T. rex is King at Wollaton Hall in Nottingham. This exhibition hosts the first, real Tyrannosaurus rex to be displayed in England for over a century. Tickets and more information can be found here and the exhibit is set to run until the end of August this year.
What to Read
Cambridge University Library saw two notebooks, originally belonging to Charles Darwin, anonymously returned after more than 20 years after they were first reported missing. Read more about the work of Dr Jessica Gardner and Dr Katrina Dean and their work to recover and verify the notebooks here.
We have another wonderful NatSCA blog all about developing remote volunteering roles and promoting opportunities during and post-Covid, written by John-James Wilson, Curator of Vertebrate Zoology, World Museum, National Museums Liverpool. ‘Wikipedia, Museum Volunteers And The New Normal‘ is available to read here now.
If you prefer reading with your ears, there is an upcoming online talk from Sam Turvey, conservation biologist for the Institute of Zoology in London, all about how the historical animal collections at Bristol Museum are helping conservation efforts for critically endangered species. The talk is at 12pm on Thursday 21st April,. Registration is free and can be found here.
Where to Work
Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew are looking for a Specimen Preparer (full time, permanent, £22,097). Closing date is Friday, 29th April at midnight. [https://careers.kew.org/vacancy/specimen-preparer-482106.html]
If you’re feeling brave and don’t mind the cold, the UK Antarctic Heritage Trust is recruiting a new seasonal team for their Port Lockroy base. Duties include caring for the historical collection at the museum, running the post office, and counting lots of Gentoo penguins. More info on the various roles can be found here.
Before You Go…
If you have any top tips and recommendations for our next Digest please drop an email to blog@natsca.org. Similarly, 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 Jen an email if you have anything you would like to submit.
NatSCA 
