Tag Archives for natural science collections

It’s Getting Better

Written by Dr Amy Geraghty, Assistant Keeper/Curator of aquatic zoology collections with responsibility for fluid collection management.

The National Museum of Ireland (NMI) Natural History Division (NHD) holds about 2 million specimens in its collection. The collection is ordinarily split between three locations: the museum and two off-site storage buildings. However, at the time of writing, nearly all specimens are in one of the two storage buildings. The museum galleries are being emptied to facilitate investigative works on and the refurbishment of building itself.

One of the National Museum of Ireland’s two storage buildings in 2006. It is an old British army barracks that now stores the fluid collection, some of the dry zoology, mineralogical and paleontological collections. (Image courtesy of Nigel Monaghan)

One of the storage buildings is a mid-nineteenth century British army barracks that came to NMI in the mid-1990s and now stores NHD collections. Retrofitting the building for collection storage has involved the installation of plasterboard ceilings, internal doors, and security and fire alarm systems. Toilets, telephones, a tearoom, shelving, and internet facilities were later installed in the 2000s.

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65 Million Years in the Making, Five Seconds to Explain

Written by Callum Smart, a natural history volunteer at Bolton Museum. He works both in the stores, documenting the collections, and in the gallery engaging with visitors using the objects to start conversations. Here he shares his experience of one afternoon with a school group.

It’s Wednesday afternoon at Bolton Museum and I have just finished setting up the fossil touch tray, a selection of ancient artefacts for visitors to get hands on with. A school trip marches through the atrium, passing the gift shop with furtive glances, heading towards the wonderful Egyptian exhibits. The children clutch their worksheets, a scavenger hunt checklist filled with items from around the museum’s galleries. They whisper to each other, checking if they’ve missed anything in the Bolton’s History gallery and making bold claims over what they’ll find in the next room.

Callum at the object handling table with the fossil touch tray speaking to visitors. © Bolton Museum

A few of them spot the fossils on my trolley and start to stop, blurting out questions, weighing up whether to reach out and touch the strange rocks. I’d love for kids to interact with the fossils, it’s why I’m there. But I also don’t want to distract them from their trip, so I’m grateful when the teacher steers them on. Their teacher asks if I would be able to talk to the children about the fossils when they finish in the Egypt gallery. “Of course,” I say, “I’d be happy to.”

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NatSCA Digital Digest – February 2025

Compiled by Ellie Clark, Collections Moves Team Leader at the Natural History Museum

Welcome to the February edition of NatSCA Digital Digest.

Digital Digest is 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 keen to hear from you if you have any top tips and recommendations for our next Digest, please drop an email to blog@natsca.org.

Sector News

Save the Date: SPPC, June 26th – 27th 2025

The 30th Symposium on Palaeontological Preparation and Conservation will be held in the Netherlands this year on 26-27th June.

The theme will be From Excavation to Exhibition including aspects of the story of how geological collections end up on display in our museums, as well as their conservation and preparation. A call for abstracts and registration is coming soon. For more details visit: https://www.geocurator.org/events/97-sppc

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Top NatSCA Blogs of 2024

Compiled by Jen Gallichan, NatSCA Blog Editor.

2024 was a great year for the NatSCA blog and we have seen increases in both the number of readers and number of articles submitted. We are now reaching well over 2000 views per month. I want to take this opportunity to thank everyone who contributed an article. The NatSCA blog is driven solely by your contributions, and it is stands as a testament to all the hard work you are doing. I am pleased to say that the 2025 blog calendar is open for business, so drop me a line if you would like to contribute!

To celebrate all your wonderfulness, I am taking this opportunity to highlight the top 10 most read posts from 2024. This year’s line-up feels more diverse that ever, featuring a coelacanth, live dissections, radiocarbon dating, and fluid collections!

In descending order…

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Collecting Coventry, a Temporary Exhibition at the Herbert Art Gallery & Museum

Written by Ali Wells, Curator (Herbert Collections), Herbert Art Gallery & Museum.

This blog post details a temporary exhibition at the Herbert, how it was presented, how decolonisation and feedback were integrated into the show. This is an overview, please get in touch if you would like more information on any aspect of the exhibition.

In May 2024 the Herbert launched its latest major temporary exhibition, Collecting Coventry. The display focuses on the history of collecting in Coventry museums and showcasing the breadth of the collections.

The main aims were to

  • Present the Herbert’s collections after several years of external or predominately loan-based temporary exhibitions.
  • Get out visitor favourites like the Lowry and display stored objects for the first time.
  • Look like a museum store.
  • Give visitors the opportunity to comment on aspects of museum work and ask questions relating to collections and displays. For example, Collections Development policy, display of human remains, use of technology, future exhibitions, representation.
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