Last week we put the finishing touches to our new exhibition ‘Going Wild in the Archives.’ With the help of students from the university’s School of Biological and Environmental Science (thanks Lorna and Stuart!) we filled a corridor in the Cottrell Building with butterflies, put bats in the main stairwell of the library and carefully transported the delicate skeleton of a cod from the museum store to a display case in the Pathfoot Building.
The exhibition has allowed us to bring objects out of the museum store which have not been displayed for many years and highlight archives and Victorian illustrated book in our collections which provide valuable information for the study of the natural world. Located in a number of locations across the campus our wildlife trail includes the following displays:
- British mammals: Archives & Special Collections, University Library
- British birds, bats, snakes and amphibians: Library main stairwell
- British sea-life: Pathfoot Building
- British Butterflies: W Corridor, Cottrell Building
- School of Biological & Environmental Science Museum collection: Cottrell Building
It’s worth noting however that the exhibition is not limited to the displays across campus. The generous support of the Stirling Fund allowed us to bring in a professional photographer to document many of the Victorian illustrated books in our special collections which contain beautiful colour illustrations of the natural world. Much of this material can now be viewed on our flickr pages including Himalayan plants, Birds of Paradise and British Sea-anemones.
The exhibition will be on display across campus until June 2012. Over the next few months this blog will highlight many of the items included in the exhibition providing further information on the value of our collections for researching the natural world and highlighting the wildlife featured in our displays.
