Tag Archives for World Museum Liverpool

Crispy, Brown and Far Too Delicate – Are Herbarium Specimens Just Too Difficult to Use?

Written by Clare Brown, Leeds Museums and Galleries.

Taking a walk through a forest, running through fields of wheat or even just gazing at trees, all a far-cry from dealing with the sheets of pressed, long-dead dried plants you come across in museum collections. Good taxidermy at least looks like the original animal.

Other problems with plant specimens include their need for low light, extremely careful handling and, occasionally, mercuric chloride. Despite being phenomenally important to researchers, for everything from tracking climate change to curing cancer, plant collections are not at the top of many people’s lists when it comes to exhibitions, events and workshops.

So, what public-facing engagement can you do with herbarium specimens? Here I’ve looked at a few great case studies where creative collections are delivering brilliant botany… Continue reading →

NatSCA Digital Digest – August 2025

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

Welcome to the August 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

Transmitting Science Upcoming Online Courses

Registration is open for a number of online training courses over at Transmitting Science. Upcoming courses include Naturalistic & Scientific Illustration, An Introduction to R, Finite Element Analysis Applied to Life Sciences and Python Machine Learning in Biology.

For a full list of courses, details on timetables, course structure, pricings, academic credits, and registration can be found on the courses open for registration page here.

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NatSCA Digital Digest – August

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

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 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

Registration is now open for the 13th European Bird Curators Meeting, October 2024, in Liverpool.

The European Bird Curators Meetings aim to promote cooperation, dissemination of best practices and new techniques in the curation, management, and use of bird collections. Presenters in the scientific programme often include curators, collection managers, museum historians and ornithological researchers. These are friendly meetings and anyone with an interest is welcome to join us.

The meeting will include plenary and submitted presentations, discussion sessions, collections tour, conference dinner (optional – Tuesday 29th October) and field excursion (optional – Thursday 31st October). 

Please follow the ‘Tickets available here’ link from the event webpage to register. They have single day registration options and have kept costs as low as possible to encourage attendance by local natural history curators. 

If you have any questions, please email vertebratezoology@liverpoolmuseums.org.uk.

Continue reading →

Going ‘Extinct’ for Jewellery

Written by Sonal Mistry (Masters Students in Scientific Illustration, Zuyd University of Applied Sciences, the Netherlands) and Olivia Beavers (Assistant Curator of Vertebrate Zoology at World Museum, National Museums Liverpool).

Last year, Sonal approached the vertebrate zoology team at World Museum Liverpool to see the Nicobar Pigeon taxidermy mounts, study skins, as well as the Liverpool Pigeon study skin and dodo skeleton to use as reference for her work. From the first meeting, it was fascinating to see the detailed nature of her initial sketches and how quickly she worked.

World Museum has received requests from wood carvers and illustrators to access the osteology collection, taxidermy mounts and/or study skins as a reference for their work. The in-person visits help them to create more accurate drawings and carvings compared to using 2D images for reference. 

Collaborating with researchers of a particular species or family broadens our understanding of the collections. For example, Sonal’s explanation of her university assignment shed light on the endangered status of Nicobar Pigeons and the unconventional use of their gizzard stones in jewellery which I was unaware of.

Sonal is currently pursuing a master’s degree in Scientific Illustration, at Zuyd University of Applied Sciences in Maastricht, the Netherlands. Her passion for the sciences and the arts enriches her illustrations with a unique quality that is evident in her diverse projects, showcasing a blend of creativity and scientific accuracy.

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Discovering Treasures in the Depths of the Dagnall.

Written by Ruth Cowlishaw of Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine.

This year marks Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine’s 125th anniversary. The school was the first institute of its kind back in 1898, built to help investigate some of the tropical diseases brought back to the busy port city from shipping expeditions and trade. To celebrate such a major milestone an array of events and activities have been planned by the school, including outreach events and fundraising, whilst also giving us a chance to reflect on our history. One such planned scheme was the distribution of internal funds for exciting projects, proposed by staff members that would make a difference in this very special year.

Mary Kingsley Building, LSTM. ©LSTM

The Dagnall Laboratory situated in the Mary Kingsley Building is the main teaching laboratory for the school. Within its walls it houses many historical pathological and entomological samples, from mosquito wings and blood films to seven-meter-long tapeworms. Throughout the years a selection of these samples has been used to help educate thousands of medical professionals, postgraduate students and armed forces personnel. However, a large part of the collection became forgotten and neglected as specimen preservation skills and staff were lost over time. With news of potential funding myself and the team saw an opportunity to rediscover these “lost” specimens and decided to put together a bid with the aim to reinvigorate our collection. The project not only aligned with the 125 Anniversary theme of Heritage and History but also looked forward to the future.

Continue reading →