Archives of the Natural History Society of Northumbria

The archives of the Natural History Society of Northumbria are an important resource for the study of the history of natural history, local social history, and the history of art in the North East.

They cover all aspects of natural history, zoology, botany and geology and include internationally important material, particularly the original watercolours, pencil drawings and proof engravings by Thomas Bewick, the Northumbrian born naturalist and wood engraver.

The collections contain many photographs, manuscript letters, diaries, notebooks and other autograph material relating to renowned northern naturalists such as Thomas Bewick, Abel Chapman, George Bolam, John Hancock, William Hewitson, Thomas Bold, Thomas Atthey and others. In addition, the Society’s own records, dating from its foundation in 1829, form one of the most complete accounts of the history of a natural history society and its museum collections in existence.

Among the many watercolour illustrations held by the Society are those by marine biologist Albany Hancock of nudibranchs (sea slugs). They were produced for the The Monograph of the British Nudibranchiate Mollusca, which Hancock co-wrote with Joshua Alder, and was published between 1844 and 1855 by the Ray Society in London. This brought them a worldwide reputation for marine research which still stands today.

There are beautiful watercolour drawings of British and foreign shells by local artist George Gibsone, William Hewitson’s detailed watercolour drawings of butterflies and the delicate botanical illustrations of British flowering plants by a Victorian lady artist, Margaret Rebecca Dickinson.

One of our most popular archives relates to the story of Sparkie the famous budgerigar and his owner Mattie Williams.

The Society is committed to expanding its important archive holdings and continues to actively collect scientific and personal material relating to local naturalists. Newly acquired material includes research notes by much admired artist James Alder, drawings and notebooks from the estate of David Green, a Darlington herpetologist and microscope photographs of insects by local shipyard owner William Pinkney.

A programme of archival research and cataloguing has been in progress for a number of years, assisted by a small team of dedicated volunteers. Work in progress at the moment includes the cataloguing and transcribing of John Hancock letter books and the transcription of the journals of Thomas John Bold.

More Archives…….

Exploring the Archives

The archives may be consulted by prior arrangement with the Society’s Honorary Archivist, June Holmes, in the library of the Great North Museum: Hancock.

The archives are available by appointment on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday 10am-3.30pm.

Contact: June Holmes, Honorary Archivist, Natural History Society of Northumbria, Great North Museum: Hancock, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE2 4PT.

Tel No: 0191 232 6386                      E-Mail: nhsn@ncl.ac.uk