Thank you, Society for the History of Natural History!

Staff of BHL are humbled to announce that we have been recognized by the Society for the History of Natural History for the past three years of efforts on behalf of our digital repository. The John Thackray Medal is especially rewarding to receive because it appreciates the comprehensive nature of our work. BHL is here to support the work of plant, animal and earth scientists alike and the John Thackray Medal is likewise an advocate for the broadest sense of natural history. We sincerely thank the Society for their work as well.

The Society for the History of Natural History also awards best original, unpublished, essay in the field of history of natural history. The winner of the 2010 essay is Nils Petter Hellström, who has recently completed his M.Phil. in the Department of History and Philosophy of Science at the University of Cambridge. ‘The tree as evolutionary icon: Tania Kovats’s TREE in the Natural History Museum’. It will be published in Archives of natural history volume 38 in 2011.

Previous winners include:

• 2009 Stephanie Pfennigwerth, School of English, Journalism and European Languages, University of Tasmania, Hobart, Australia. ‘The mighty cassowary’: the discovery and demise of the King Island emu. Published in Archives of natural history 37 (1): 74-90. doi 10.3366/E0260954109001661

• 2008 Ross Brooks, Department of History, Oxford Brooks University, Oxford, UK. All too human: responses to same-sex copulation in the common cockchafer (Melolontha melolontha (L.), 1834-1900. Published in Archives of natural history 36 (1): 146-159. doi: 10.3366/E0260954108000703

• 2007 Heather Brink-Roby, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA. Siren canora: the mermaid and the mythical in late nineteenth-century science. Published in Archives of natural history 35 (1): 1-14. doi: 10.3366/E0260954108000041

Additionally, The Society for the History of Natural History publishes an informal Newsletter that is produced three times a year and distributed free to members. It contains details of forthcoming meetings, news of other events, a lively Notes & Queries section, members’ news and new publications.