This post is part of BHL at 20: Treasures from the Biodiversity Heritage Library, a series contributed by members of the BHL community, highlighting remarkable works from across the collection in celebration of its 20th anniversary.

As the Cataloging and Digital Resources Librarian for the Academy of Natural Sciences (Academy) of Drexel University, I get to work with a lot of different materials including periodicals, rare books, archival manuscripts, and more. I recently had the joy of working with scientists’ handwritten notebooks and field journals while completing a project to have 83 of them digitized and transcribed for BHL.

One of the selected notebooks stood out to me: A notebook containing an entomological essay by Carrie Aaron, in part because it highlights a common problem encountered when researching women in the natural sciences. Before uploading the notebook to BHL, the original finding aid record described Carrie as “Mrs. Aaron” and did not provide any additional information about her. Thankfully, Academy Archivist Jessica Lydon noticed the issue and provided more details for me to add to the record, leading me to build a BHL Creator ID for Carrie Aaron that links to her Wikidata identifier. This might sound like a small detail only librarians would notice, but it’s a huge step in building recognition for an author.

Page 1 of A notebook containing an entomological essay by Carrie Aaron, 1889, 1890, 1901, Small Collections and Individual Manuscripts Box 4, ANSP-Coll-0156, Carrie Baily Aaron Papers, Library and Archives, Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

The updated catalog record provides more context around Aaron’s essay, which she submitted to a contest aimed at gathering information on how to eradicate mosquitoes. In Aaron’s written biographical notice about contest-holder Robert Henry Lamborn, she said, “While engaged in building the Lake Superior Railroad, Dr. Lamborn suffered so from the attacks of countless mosquitos, that he became interested in extermination of the insect, and later offered prizes for the three best essays on the subject.” I wonder if this was the motivation behind her essay submission.

With the help of dedicated Drexel University student digitization assistants, the Academy Library and Archives was happy to contribute the beautifully handwritten notebook to BHL, which showcases Aaron’s extensive entomological knowledge. Included are analyses of potential methods to reduce mosquito populations, including the use of dragonflies, which Aaron called “the hawks of the minuter insect world.”

A page from Carrie Aaron’s notebook on BHL in which she refers to hammer-headed dragonflies as “the hawks of the minuter insect world”. (A notebook containing an entomological essay by Carrie Aaron, 1889, 1890, 1901, Small Collections and Individual Manuscripts Box 4, ANSP-Coll-0156, Carrie Baily Aaron Papers, Library and Archives, Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.)

Aaron and her researchers apparently even attempted to inoculate themselves with what was then described as poisonous droplets from mosquitoes, but the attempt was “not successful, owing probably to the inferiority of the needle as an injector, compared with the delicate hypopharynx.” The essay was later published with other submissions in Dragon Flies vs. Mosquitoes: Can the Mosquito Pest be Mitigated? under the title “The Dipterous Enemies of Man.”

In addition to the essay, Aaron’s notebook in the Academy’s collection contains a letter from Henry Skinner congratulating Aaron on her prize-winning essay and confirming that her entomological reputation would “now be well established.” Ten years after receiving the congratulatory letter, Aaron wrote to Skinner in 1900 asking that her name be removed from the list of associate members of the American Entomological Society: “During the ten years of my membership I have attended only two meetings; this has not been from lack of interest as much as from the fact that lady members are too greatly in the minority, and also that I care so little for the classification of insects.” This is not to say that Aaron was not grateful to Skinner for their “more than thirty year sympathetic friendship,” for which she thanked him in a letter she wrote in 1923.

Carrie Aaron asking that her name be removed from the list of associate members of the American Entomological Society. (Carrie Aaron letter to Henry Skinner, January 11, 1900, Box 1, Folder 1, ANSP-Coll-0150, American Entomological Society correspondence, Library and Archives, Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.)

When given the opportunity to write a blog post in celebration of BHL’s 20th anniversary, it was an easy choice among the Academy Library and Archives staff to write about Carrie Aaron. The timing couldn’t have been better; shortly after choosing our blog post topic, we welcomed intern Will Le, who is currently digitizing our entire American Entomological Society (AES) correspondence collection, including letters written by Aaron, and uploading it to PA Photos and Documents. Funding for this project was generously provided by Dr. William Day and the American Entomological Society. Shout-out to Will Le, Jessica Lydon, Greg Cowper, and the American Entomological Society for making this happen!

Thanks to our intern and the AES digitization project, I was able to read Carrie Aaron’s letters on my laptop and learn about her travels in Santa Monica, a place she describes as “the land of perpetual bloom and uninterrupted sounds of birds and insects.” Later in this letter, Aaron describes a meaningful experience while visiting museums:

At Avalon we met the only woman curator of marine objects in the world and because she noticed how interested I was, also inquisitive, she shared a willingness to dissect and classify me; her museum contained many natural curiosities found in the waters of that locality. The most interesting museum I have ever seen is in Los Angeles, Exposition Park (of 130 acres) owned by the state, the resources and industries of California are shown in most attractive scenic effects. The exhibit of fossil remains of prehistoric animals really is wonderful, and made me regret not being healthy enough to make our Academy of Nat. Sci. a competitor in ownership of such a valuable contribution to scientific knowledge.

Aaron describes meeting “the only woman curator of marine objects in the world.” (Carrie Aaron letter to Henry Skinner, March 8, 1926, Box 1, Folder 1, ANSP-Coll-0150, American Entomological Society correspondence, Library and Archives, Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.)

Now I have a new research topic: who was the “only woman curator of marine objects in the world” Aaron was so excited to meet? To be continued!

After working with archival notebooks and reading Carrie Aaron’s letters, I’m thrilled to see how digitization and public access to collections spur research into lesser-known individuals and uncover more potential research subjects! I don’t consider myself a historian, but it’s difficult to resist historical research when presented with easily accessible primary sources and when given the tools to link subjects across different platforms. I hope to continue this energizing work at the Academy of Natural Sciences in collaboration with BHL for years to come.

From the Biodiversity Heritage Library

For 20 years, BHL has helped uncover the people and stories hidden within biodiversity literature and archives, making them freely available for new generations to discover. Your support helps us continue digitizing, connecting, and sharing collections like Carrie Aaron’s notebook—and ensures that more overlooked voices and histories can be found.

This post is part of BHL at 20: Treasures from the Biodiversity Heritage Library, a series contributed by members of the BHL community, highlighting remarkable works from across the collection in celebration of its 20th anniversary.

We are now exactly halfway through our 20th Anniversary blog post series. Coordinating this celebration of treasures chosen by our BHL community has been one of the most rewarding projects in my time as BHL’s Communications Director. It is an absolute honor to share mine now.

My favorite treasures in BHL are the very first scientific descriptions of new species. I like to think of these descriptions as a species’ international debut in the literature.

The now-extinct Eastern Hare-wallaby, (Lagorchestes leporides), illustrated by Henry Constantine Richter in John Gould’s A Monograph of the Macropodidae, or Family of Kangaroos (1841), Plate 12. Gould formally described the species earlier that year in the Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London.

As the Manager of BHL Australia, the descriptions I love the most are those of Australian species. Australia was one of the last continents to be encountered and documented by European naturalists. British colonization did not begin until 1788, but from the late eighteenth century onward, descriptions of Australia’s bizarre marsupials and monotremes began appearing in European literature thick and fast, accompanied by a buzz of excitement and wonder.

I find it fascinating to read the awe and curiosity of those early naturalists as they tried to fit Australia’s truly perplexing creatures into their existing understanding of the natural world. One of my absolute favorites is George Shaw’s 1799 description of the platypus: “Of all the Mammalia yet known,” he wrote, “it seems the most extraordinary…” I encourage you to read the full description. It’s wonderful.

But today – on Australia’s National Threatened Species Day – I want to talk about the most precious of these treasures: the descriptions of species that disappeared from the living world a devastatingly short time after making their debut in the scientific literature.

European colonization had devastating consequences for Australia’s native biodiversity. Australia’s long isolation as an island continent meant that many of its endemic animals were exceptionally vulnerable to the onslaught of introduced placental predators and competitors. The introduction of foxes and cats in particular, combined with the unprecedented destruction of the natural environment, has resulted in Australia having the highest rate of mammal extinctions in the world.

Tragically, many of Australia’s introduced species were deliberately released in attempts to make Australia more like Europe, a history I explored in an earlier BHL blog post, Exploring the Acclimatisation Society of Victoria’s Role in Australia’s Ecological History).

BHL: a treasure trove of lost species

While museum specimens may continue to reveal information about the anatomy, genetics and diet of extinct species, the literature preserves precious details from observations of living animals: their behavior, abundance, habitats, interactions, and how they were understood and perceived over time.

Scattered throughout BHL are descriptions, field observations, and illustrations of Australian species that have since disappeared: the Pig-footed Bandicoot, Lesser Bilby and Crescent Nail-tail Wallaby, and so many more. These depictions of once-living animals are now invaluable records of species that will never be observed again.

Henry Constantine Richter’s beautiful illustration of the now-extinct Pig-footed Bandicoot, from John Gould’s The Mammals of Australia 1863. Contributed by Smithsonian Libraries and Archives. View in BHL

It is our hope that by making this historic literature accessible and discoverable, we may learn from the past, and help prevent more species from becoming records of what has been lost.

The Thylacine: “an animal of the past”

Australia’s most well-known extinct species is the thylacine, or Tasmanian tiger. This dog-like marsupial carnivore was relentlessly persecuted as a threat to livestock, with private and government bounties placing a price on its head. Hunting and trapping, along with habitat destruction and fragmentation, drove it into rapid decline. The last known thylacine died in captivity at Beaumaris Zoo in Hobart on September 7, 1936. The species had been granted legal protection only two months earlier.

Australia’s National Threatened Species Day marks the anniversary of that tragic death: 90 years ago today.

BHL preserves a sobering scientific trail of the thylacine, documenting the brief period within which this beautiful species was observed, named, misunderstood, persecuted and, ultimately, lost. The first published scientific description and illustration of the thylacine appeared in the Transactions of the Linnean Society of London in 1808. Its author, George Prideaux Robert Harris, gave it the name Didelphis cynocephala (the “dog-headed opossum”). Harris wrote that its large black eyes gave it “a savage and malicious appearance” and compared it to the wolf or hyena.

The first published illustration of the Thylacine, accompanying George Prideaux Robert Harris’s 1808 description in “Description of Two New Species of Didelphis from Van Diemen’s Land,” Transactions of the Linnean Society of London 9: 174–178. Contributed by Missouri Botanical Garden, Peter H. Raven Library. View in BHL

These negative words would echo through subsequent accounts. In 1838, Tasmanian naturalist Ronald Campbell Gunn reported that thylacines attacked sheep at night and were “so very large and powerful, that a number of dogs will not face one”. More than three decades later, Johan Ludwig Gerhard Krefft described the thylacine as “a dangerous creature” and “the largest and most ferocious of the whole Mammalian Fauna in Australia”. Modern research, however, suggests that the thylacine was probably poorly equipped to take down an adult sheep, making its reputation as a formidable livestock killer all the more tragic.

Yet, among these hostile accounts are warnings of the thylacine’s diminishing numbers. Joseph Wolf, one of the nineteenth century’s most celebrated zoological artists, depicted thylacines for the Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London (1850) and later for his magnificent Zoological Sketches (1861). His drawings were based on observations of a living pair of juvenile thylacines at London Zoo, the first thylacines ever to be exhibited in a zoological garden. In the accompanying text, zoologist Philip Lutley Sclater warned:

“The thylacine originally preyed on the Kangaroos and Bandicoots, but since the introduction of sheep into the colony, it has become more addicted to attack sheep folds. Perpetual war is therefore waged against it by the Tasmanian shepherds, whose determined persecution must eventually lead to its extinction.”

Joseph Wolf’s illustration of the two living thylacines on display at London Zoo, from the Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London (1850). Contributed by Harvard University, Museum of Comparative Zoology, Ernst Mayr Library. View in BHL

And then, in 1863, alongside one of the most famous illustrations of the thylacine, by Henry Constantine Richter for John Gould’s The Mammals of Australia, Gould gave an even more chilling prediction:

“When the comparatively small island of Tasmania becomes more densely populated, and its primitive forests are intersected with roads from the eastern to the western coast, the numbers of this singular animal will speedily diminish, extermination will have its full sway, and it will then, like the Wolf in England and Scotland, be recorded as an animal of the past: although this will be a source of much regret, neither the shepherd nor the farmer can be blamed for wishing to rid the island of so troublesome a creature. A price is already put upon the head of the native Tiger, as it is called; but the fastnesses of the Tasmanian rocky gullies, clothed with impenetrable forests, will, for the present, preserve it from destruction.”

John Gould was right: Tasmania’s gullies and forests protected the thylacine for the present – for his present. Seventy-three years later, the last known thylacine was dead.

The thylacine, illustrated by Henry Constantine Richter, from John Gould’s “The mammals of Australia” (1863). Contributed by Smithsonian Libraries and Archives. View in BHL

Treasures lost, then found

Thankfully, not every story ends with extinction. One species in BHL is particularly close to my heart: the Leadbeater’s possum.

Also known as the fairy possum, the Leadbeater’s possum entered the scientific literature in 1867, when Frederick McCoy described it as both a new species and a new genus. McCoy was the first Director of the National Museum of Victoria, the institution now known as Museums Victoria, where I have worked for the past 23 years.

McCoy was renowned for spending substantial sums on books, an extravagance I will forever be grateful for. He ordered the latest scientific publications from Europe to be shipped to Australia at great expense, building what would become one of Australia’s largest and most significant natural history library collections. More than 150 years later, many of these nineteenth-century treasures are freely accessible on BHL, thanks to my wonderful team at BHL Australia.

McCoy named the new species Gymnobelideus leadbeateri, after John Leadbeater, the Museum’s first taxidermist. His original description includes a black-and-white illustration drawn from this specimen by Arthur Bartholomew. The image was later reworked by artist and lithographer Dr. John J. Wild, into the beautiful full-color plate that was published in McCoy’s Prodromus of the Zoology of Victoria (1885).

Left: Arthur Bartholomew’s original illustration of the Leadbeater’s possum, accompanying McCoy’s first published description, On a new genus of Phalanger (1867). Right: Plate 91 by Dr. John J. Wild for McCoy’s Prodromus of the Zoology of Victoria (1885).

Only a handful of Leadbeater’s possums were recorded over the next few decades, and when no sightings were made across a period of 50 years, the species was presumed extinct. Then, in 1961, a small colony was rediscovered near Marysville. In 1971, the Leadbeater’s possum was chosen as the faunal emblem of my home state of Victoria. Sadly, despite decades of conservation efforts, the future of our treasured fairy possum is far from secure. The species remains Critically Endangered, threatened by habitat loss and fragmentation, bushfires, climate change, and predation by feral cats.

Protecting our remaining treasures

When I first envisioned this 20th Anniversary series, I imagined it as a celebration of the rare books, exquisite artworks, and unique archives in BHL. Yet, the treasures I find most precious are the species themselves.

BHL provides a window into the point in history when each species entered the scientific record. It also preserves observations of animals that have since vanished: where they lived, how they behaved, how people perceived them, and, occasionally, the warnings that they were disappearing.

The thylacine reminds us what happens when those warnings are ignored. The Leadbeater’s possum is an urgent reminder that sometimes we have a second chance.

For 20 years, BHL has helped preserve the record of life on Earth and make it freely accessible to everyone. My greatest hope for the next 20 is that we use the knowledge preserved across our 64+ million pages not only to understand what we have lost, but to help protect what we still have.

From the Biodiversity Heritage Library

By supporting BHL, you help preserve the knowledge of species past and present and keep it freely available to researchers, conservationists, and policymakers around the world.

This post is part of BHL at 20: Treasures from the Biodiversity Heritage Library, a series contributed by members of the BHL community, highlighting remarkable works from across the collection in celebration of its 20th anniversary.

The Field Museum’s Marie Louise Rosenthal Library is fortunate to have a small fund dedicated to the purchase of rare books. As a result, Library staff are often on the lookout for titles that fall within our natural history collecting scope while also meeting the criteria of being both historically valuable and scientifically significant.

In March, I came across an interesting zoological title for sale: Geographische Geschichte des Menschen, und der allgemein verbreiteten vierfüßigen Thiere, nebst einer hieher gehörigen Zoologischen Weltcharte, a three-volume work on biogeography published between 1778 and 1783 by Eberhard August Wilhelm von Zimmermann, a German geographer, zoologist, and mathematician. The work also includes a fold-out map, Tabula Mundi Geographico Zoologica sistens Quadrupedes hucusque notos sedibus suis adscriptos edidit, which has been described as the first world map of zoological geography, illustrating late-eighteenth-century understandings of the global distribution of mammals.

Before purchasing a title for the rare book collection, I evaluate whether it fits the Library’s collecting scope, whether it is scientifically valuable, which institutions hold copies, and whether a digital version is already available in BHL. As I looked into Geographische Geschichte des Menschen und der allgemein verbreiteten vierfüßigen Thiere, I learned that Zimmermann had published an earlier edition in Latin in 1777 under a different title: Specimen zoologiae geographicae, quadrupedum domicilia et migrationes sistens, which is available in BHL.

A subsequent search led me to another BHL resource: Opinions and Declarations Rendered by the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature (1954). In Opinion 257, the Commission rejected Specimen zoologiae geographicae, quadrupedum domicilia et migrationes sistens for “nomenclatorial purposes.” In short, the 1777 edition did not satisfy the requirements of Article 25 of the Règles internationales de la nomenclature zoologique, the predecessor of today’s International Code of Zoological Nomenclature. The work was consequently placed on the “Official Index of Rejected and Invalid Works in Zoological Nomenclature.”

The International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature’s 1954 opinion rejecting E.A.W. Zimmermann’s Specimen zoologiae geographicae, quadrupedum domicilia et migrationes sistens (1777) and accepting his later work Geographische Geschichte des Menschen, und der allgemein verbreiteten vierfüßigen Thiere, nebst einer hieher gehörigen Zoologischen Weltcharte (1778–1783).

Even more interestingly, further reading revealed that this opinion had a connection to the Field Museum. The Commission’s ruling stemmed in part from correspondence between Francis Hemming, Secretary of the Commission, and Wilfred H. Osgood of the Field Museum, who advocated for the recognition of Geographische Geschichte. Hemming also consulted Philip Hershkovitz, then Curator of Mammals at the Field Museum, who supported Osgood’s position. (This correspondence is summarized in the published statement of the case.)

Fortunately, the Commission confirmed that binomial nomenclature was applied in Zimmermann’s later publication, and therefore declared Geographische Geschichte des Menschen, und der allgemein verbreiteten vierfüßigen Thiere, nebst einer hieher gehörigen Zoologischen Weltcharte to be included on the “Official List of Works Approved as Available for Zoological Nomenclature.”

It is clear that Zimmermann greatly revised and improved his work in the German edition. Notably, Geographische Geschichte debuted several binomial names that are still attributed to Zimmermann, including Cervus muntjak, Lutra minima (known today as Chironectes minimus), and Canis zerda (known today as Vulpes zerda).

In his 1777 edition, Zimmermann failed to consistently apply binomial nomenclature, instead using a combination of generic or descriptive names. For example, in Specimen zoologiae geographicae, Zimmermann refers to a species of dormouse as Glis seu Rattus somnolentus (Left). However, in volume 2 (1780) of Geographische Geschichte, Zimmermann uses the binomial Myoxus glis (right). Today, the species is known as Glis glis.

In addition to the improved nomenclature, Geographische Geschichte also features an updated version of the Tabula mundi geographico zoologica, which incorporates new geographical information derived largely from recent travelers’ reports, including those from Captain James Cook and his crew. For example, the 1783 map reflects Cook’s “discovery” of the Sandwich Islands (Hawaii) and provides a more complete rendering of the western coast of North America. The Seychelles is also named east of mainland Africa, where the French established their colonial settlement just thirteen years prior.

On the fold-out map, names of quadrupeds are plotted directly onto their geographic ranges. Zimmermann’s use of nomenclature varies here. In some instances, he uses the genus alone; in others, the species epithet or full binomen; and, occasionally, a common name. Castor (beaver), for example, appears across northern North America, as does Bison; Tigris (tiger) can be found in Asia; and Kanguro (kangaroo) appears in New Holland (Australia), where the animal was first recorded for European science by Daniel Solander, a botanist aboard Cook’s ship, the HMS Endeavour.

Tabula mundi geographico zoologica sistens quadrupedes(1783) from Zimmermann, Eberhard August Wilhelm von. 1778. Geographische Geschichte des Menschen, und der allgemein verbreiteten vierfüssigen Thiere : nebst einer hieher gehörigen zoologischen Weltcharte. Leipzig: In der Weygandschen Buchhandlung. https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/bibliography/221536.

Finding the work to be historically important to mammalian biogeography, not widely held nor digitized in BHL, and connected to the Field Museum through its role in securing the work’s recognition for zoological nomenclature, I considered this acquisition an obvious choice.

I’m happy to report that Geographische Geschichte des Menschen, und der allgemein verbreiteten vierfüßigen Thiere, nebst einer hieher gehörigen Zoologischen Weltcharte is now available in BHL. Having access to both this three-volume edition and the rejected 1777 title, alongside the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature’s ruling, provides a compelling case study in the development of zoological nomenclature, the changing standards by which scientific works are evaluated, and the ways in which new evidence can reshape our understanding of the natural world. As the 1954 ICZN opinion suggests, a work published in the 18th century can continue to have a life in the scientific record and be actively reassessed centuries later.

Further reading

In addition to the sources linked above, I also referred to the following:

Allen, J. A. (1902). Zimmermann’s ‘Zoologiae Geographicae’ and ‘Geographische Geschichte’ considered in relation to their zoological nomenclature. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History, 16, 13–22. https://digitallibrary.amnh.org/items/22a3b549-b2a3-4e28-b2aa-7758c85641fe

American Society of Mammalogists. (n.d.). Glis glis (Linnaeus, 1766): European fat dormouse. Mammal Diversity Database. https://www.mammaldiversity.org/taxon/1001506

Delaney, J. (2012). First X, then Y, now Z: Landmark thematic maps. Princeton University Library. https://static-prod.lib.princeton.edu/visual_materials/maps/websites/thematic-maps/contents.html

Lotzof, K. (n.d.). Endeavour 250: Natural history through colonial encounter. Natural History Museum. https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/hms-endeavour-250.html

From the Biodiversity Heritage Library

For 20 years, BHL has helped bring works like Zimmermann’s out of rare book collections and into the hands of researchers and readers around the world. With your support, we can continue to preserve, connect, and provide open access to the scientific record – including works whose significance is still being rediscovered centuries later.

The Biodiversity Heritage Library is pleased to welcome Amanda Boczar and Leora Siegel to two newly created positions on the Executive Committee of the BHL Members’ Council.

Amanda Boczar has been appointed as BHL’s inaugural Strategic Development Officer, while Leora Siegel joins the Executive Committee as its first Member-at-Large. Both appointments strengthen the Committee’s capacity as BHL enters a new era as an independent, community-governed global consortium.

Expanding BHL’s governance capacity

In June 2026, BHL Members approved the creation of the two new positions to provide additional capacity in areas of growing importance to the consortium, including financial sustainability, fundraising, strategic development, and broader representation across the BHL community.

These appointments come at a pivotal time for BHL. Following its transition to a new distributed operational model and administrative home with the Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR), the consortium is developing its next strategic plan and building the partnerships, resources, and governance structures needed to support its future.

Because amendments to the BHL Bylaws can only be formally adopted at an Annual Meeting, the two positions are provisional and will be presented for ratification at the 2027 BHL Annual Meeting.

Amanda Boczar, Strategic Development Officer

As Strategic Development Officer, Amanda will provide additional financial oversight and help lead fundraising and development activities on behalf of the Executive Committee. She will work closely with the BHL Secretariat and relevant committees to identify, assess, and respond to grant and funding opportunities.

The position will increase BHL’s capacity to pursue new sources of support and coordinate development priorities as the consortium works towards long-term operational sustainability.

Amanda Boczar at the Natural History Museum, London, with the Giant Squid, during the 2026 BHL Annual Meeting. Selfie by Amanda Boczar.

Amanda is Associate Director of Digital Initiatives at the University of South Florida Libraries, one of BHL’s newest Member institutions. She is already playing an active role in the consortium, co-leading the Collection Development and Discovery strategic planning writing group alongside Emily Benton, Prairie Research Institute Librarian at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.

I have been working with digital collections related to Florida’s environment and natural history since 2020 and have always looked to BHL as a model for global outreach and community. After USF joined BHL as both a member and a strategic partner for its technical infrastructure in January 2026, I knew I wanted to really dive in and make the most of the opportunity. It has been such a privilege to engage with the other members and affiliates, and I am very honored to have been selected for this new role to help sustain the organization for many more years to come.

– Amanda Boczar, Associate Director of Digital Initiatives, University of South Florida Libraries

Leora Siegel, Member-at-Large

The Member-at-Large provides additional support across the Executive Committee’s activities, assists with special projects, and fills gaps where needed.

As the only Executive Committee position open to staff from both BHL Member and Affiliate institutions, this new role creates an important pathway for wider participation in BHL governance. It also provides an opportunity to gain experience on the Executive Committee and potentially move into another elected position in the future.

Leora Siegel in the Chicago Botanic Garden’s Lenhardt Library. Photo by Donna Herendeen.

Leora is Senior Director of the Lenhardt Library at the Chicago Botanic Garden, a long-standing BHL Affiliate. She brings extensive experience in library leadership, collaborative digital initiatives, and the stewardship of botanical and biodiversity information. In 2024, Leora co-hosted the BHL Annual Meeting in Chicago, welcoming the BHL community to the Chicago Botanic Garden and contributing extensively to the meeting’s program. Leora is also contributing to BHL’s strategic planning as a member of the Operational Sustainability writing group.

Through collaborations with BHL colleagues over the past 10 years as an Affiliate member, and witnessing BHL’s amazing growth and development, I’m honored to serve on the Executive Committee and contribute as BHL becomes fully independent.

– Leora Siegel, Senior Director, Lenhardt Library, Chicago Botanic Garden

Strengthening BHL for its next chapter

Amanda and Leora officially joined the BHL Executive Committee in July. Their appointments expand the range of skills, experience, and perspectives represented on the Executive Committee at this important stage in BHL’s development.

We are delighted to welcome Amanda and Leora to the Executive Committee. Leora will be well known to many in the BHL community and, coming from an Affiliate institution, brings both extensive experience and new perspectives to the Committee. Amanda joins us with a wealth of ideas and previous successes in a role that is vital to BHL’s long-term sustainability. With the expansion of the Executive Committee complete, and the addition of two such capable colleagues, we are now well placed to secure a bright and stable future for BHL.

– Richard Wragg, Vice Chair, BHL Executive Committee and Head of Library and Archives at the Natural History Museum, London

Please join us in welcoming Amanda and Leora to the BHL Executive Committee. We look forward to working with them as BHL builds a strong, sustainable, and collaborative future for open biodiversity knowledge.

This post is part of BHL at 20: Treasures from the Biodiversity Heritage Library, a series contributed by members of the BHL community, highlighting remarkable works from across the collection in celebration of its 20th anniversary.

Introduction

Stephen A. Forbes and Charles Robertson were pioneering scientists whose groundbreaking research continues to influence our understanding of the natural world. Forbes advanced the fields of biology and ecology, while Robertson explored bees and their relationships with flowers and other insects. Their careful observations and influential publications laid important foundations for modern biological and entomological research. Their enduring insights remain valuable to researchers, students, educators, and nature fans alike, connecting historical discoveries with contemporary scientific knowledge of biodiversity and ecological interactions. The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Library’s contributions of rare archival materials and publications by Forbes and Robertson are valuable additions to the Biodiversity Heritage Library (BHL), improving access to these records for scientists and historians alike.

Stephen A. Forbes

Stephen Alfred Forbes was born on 29 May 1844. He was a professor of zoology and entomology and a leader in the natural sciences at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. His studies included insects, crustaceans, fishes, and birds – and their relationships to the environment. In 1886, he received the first-class medal of the Société d’Acclimation de France for scientific publications. He was appointed director of the Natural History Survey Division in 1917 and led the organization until his death on 13 March 1930 in Urbana, Illinois.

Portrait of Stephen A Forbes from the foreword to “Forbes Biological Station: the past and the promise,” in Illinois Natural History Survey special publication 10 (1989).

Among Forbes’ most influential works is The Fishes of Illinois, which documents over 150 fish species represented by more than 200,000 specimens collected from 102 Illinois counties. These fish are depicted in richly detailed color paintings by illustrators Lydia M. (Hart) Green and Charlotte M. Pinkerton. You can read more about the lives and work of these women in our previous blog post, written by Susan Braxton. The publication also includes detailed distribution maps, making it a valuable reference for aquatic biodiversity and fisheries research.

Illustration of Chrosomus featured in The Fishes of Illinois (1908).

In 1894, he established the Forbes Biological Station and, in 1896, directed the construction of a 48-foot floating biological laboratory at the site on the Illinois River in Havana, Illinois. The Station was specifically created to support continuous scientific investigation. It is no wonder that the Illinois Natural History Survey (INHS) celebrated the 150th anniversary of Forbes’ birth on 26 May 1994.

Image of a cabin boat from “Forbes Biological Station: the past and the promise”, in Illinois Natural History Survey Special Publication 10, p. 17 (1989).

Today, Forbes Station is used to advance science and policy in the Illinois River Valley and beyond. It houses the Frank C. Bellrose Waterfowl Research Center, whose research focuses on wetlands, waterfowl, and marsh birds. Today, the Illinois Natural History Survey operates six other field stations: Great Rivers Field Station, Illinois River Biological Station, Kaskaskia Biological Station, Lake Michigan Biological Station, Ridge Lake Biological Station, and Sam Parr Biological Station – all serving researchers from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and across the state. BHL has an extensive collection of these and related publications, chronicling Forbes’ contributions to the understanding of ecology and the foundation of aquatic ecosystem science.

Forbes’ Memorial captures the impact he had on his contemporaries, the University of Illinois, and the state. The University Senate put forth a resolution acknowledging Forbes’ significant contributions:

The Senate knew him as Professor of Zoology and Entomology and Dean of the College of Science; it admired his sagacity and patience as chairman of its Committee on Educational Policy; its members loved him for his simplicity, sincerity and broad human interests. The University and the State are immeasurably indebted to him as one of their most useful and eminent laborers for the common good.

Charles Robertson

Charles Robertson was born on 12 June 1858 in Carlinville, Illinois. He began his academic education at Blackburn College in his hometown and continued his studies in botany and zoology at Harvard University. He returned to Blackburn College as a professor of biology and Greek. His research centered on investigating interactions of insects and flowering plants. Over more than 20 years, Robertson recorded visits by 1,429 pollinating insects (including flies, beetles, butterflies, and bees) to 456 plant species. He was collecting insects in Florida just a few months before his death on 1 June 1935 in Carlinville. His book, Flowers and Insects, published in 1928, presents an intensive study of flower-visiting insects from the city of Carlinville and remains one of the most comprehensive studies conducted in a single locality. Each insect he recorded was associated with the plant on which it was collected.

Portrait of Charles Robertson from History of Macoupin County, Illinois: Biographical and Pictorial, vol. 2 (1911), edited by Charles A. Walker. Image enhanced using Adobe Photoshop by T. C. McElrath. Source: Wikipedia

His personal life mirrored his work: he was born and died in the same small town, kept few but lasting friendships, and brought the same steady, unhurried patience to his acquaintances that he brought to a lifetime of observing flowers and their visitors.

Charles Robertson’s specimen collection logs document insect specimens and include information such as the specimen number, scientific name, sex, date and locality of collection, insect order, and scientific name of the host plant. His collections and correspondence have proved invaluable to researchers. His work was essential to an investigation of species decline in Carlinville, published in Ecology & Society and conducted by John Marlin, a research affiliate with the Illinois Sustainable Technology Center and INHS. A quantitative analysis published in July 2026 in the Data Science Journal highlights the wealth of knowledge contained in his correspondence and collection logs. The logs and most of Robertson’s papers from 1877 to 1935, including correspondence, reprints, five ledgers, and a data book on bee research, are preserved in the University Archives at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. The seminal work Flowers and Insects, as well as his specimen collection logs, is readily available through BHL.

Side-by-side images of page 5 of the handwritten Specimen Collection Logs of Charles Robertson, vol. 1, 1884-1886. Images assembled by Kelli Trei.

Conclusion

These collections preserve the irreplaceable life’s work of two Illinois scientists. Forbes’ work remains important today. His holistic view of ecology, examining the relationships between organisms, the environment, and natural-resource industries, has helped shape our current understanding of applied ecology. Robertson’s correspondence and specimen logs represent an irreplaceable record of an ecosystem that can no longer be observed firsthand.

Archival documents such as these reveal the values, culture, and identity that shaped the Illinois Natural History Survey and science in Illinois. Being able to trace the legacy of scientific research and lives of those behind these discoveries provides richer context and understanding for future scientific research. BHL provides a unique juxtaposition between the human experience of doing science, revealed through archival documents, and the official scientific record preserved in books and journal articles. Together, these materials provide a fuller and more inclusive account of the history of science here in Illinois.

From the Biodiversity Heritage Library

For 20 years, BHL has helped preserve and share the scientific record, from landmark publications to the archival materials that illuminate the people, places, and observations behind them. With your support, we can keep treasures like these freely accessible, connecting past research with the scientists, historians, and communities who continue to learn from it today.

Last year, our community gave BHL wings.

In 2025, the Biodiversity Heritage Library faced a real threat to its existence: the sudden loss of the institutional support on which it had depended, with no guarantee that it could continue. After nearly two decades of support from the Smithsonian Institution, BHL needed to establish a new independent and globally governed future. Staff, services, technical systems, partnerships, governance and funding all had to be secured so that the world’s largest open-access digital library for biodiversity literature and archives could remain free and available to everyone.

Thank you for helping secure BHL’s future

Since BHL launched public fundraising for the transition on 17 October 2025, supporters from 46 countries have contributed more than USD $113,000 to help support BHL’s independent future.

USD $51,000 of that support was given during our #GiveBHLWings campaign, held during the final seven weeks before BHL’s transition to independence on 1 January 2026.

We are profoundly grateful.

Because our community rallied around BHL, staff were retained, services continued, and more than 64 million pages of biodiversity literature and archives remain freely accessible online.

At the end of June 2026, BHL’s formal transition period concluded. The final major piece of the transition was completed in July: moving BHL’s servers and core technical infrastructure from the Smithsonian Institution to the Field Museum in Chicago. BHL now operates through a distributed, partner-supported model, with a new administrative and technical foundation for the future.

Together, we saved BHL. Now we need to sustain it.

Why monthly support matters

Like these baby kingfishers, BHL needs dependable ongoing support to sustain staff and services, modernize our technical infrastructure, improve access and discoverability, grow and connect collections, and keep biodiversity knowledge open to everyone.

Kingfisher and young, from Pycraft, W. P., and Roland Green. Birds in Flight. London: Gay & Hancock Limited, 1922. https://doi.org/10.5962/bhl.title.14815. Contributed to BHL by Smithsonian Libraries and Archives.

Monthly gifts are especially valuable because they provide predictable income that keeps BHL running month after month. A monthly gift does not need to be large to make a difference. Regular gifts of every size combine to create a stronger and more stable foundation for BHL.

Become a BHL Sustainer

This month, we are inviting our community to become BHL Sustainers by making a monthly gift.

Eggs, from Kearton, Richard. Birds’ Nests, Eggs and Egg-Collecting. London: Cassell, 1896. https://doi.org/10.5962/bhl.title.56067. Contributed to BHL by Smithsonian Libraries and Archives.

Like the eggs illustrated in this historic plate from BHL’s own collections, monthly gifts come in many sizes, and every size matters.

• USD $5/month – Yellow Hammer-sized: small, but part of something that adds up fast.
• USD $10/month – Puffin-sized: steady, dependable support, month after month.
• USD $20/month – Chough-sized: a stronger, ongoing contribution.
• USD $50/month – Falcon-sized: substantial, sustaining support for the long haul.

These examples are shown in USD, but donations can be made in more than 135 currencies and in whatever amount works for you.

Every gift helps. Every month matters.

For 20 years, BHL has opened biodiversity literature to the world. It exists because of a global community committed to open access, shared infrastructure, and the belief that biodiversity knowledge should be available to everyone.

Last year, that community gave BHL wings. Now we’re asking you to help us keep flying.

If BHL matters to your work, your collections, your teaching, your research, your art, your writing, or your love of the natural world, please consider becoming a monthly donor today.

You can also support BHL through major gifts, wire transfers, bequests, or other legacy gifts: Ways to Give.

Donations are processed through BHL’s fiscal sponsor, the Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR). Tax deductibility depends on your country of residence and individual circumstances.

This post is part of BHL at 20: Treasures from the Biodiversity Heritage Library, a series contributed by members of the BHL community, highlighting remarkable works from across the collection in celebration of its 20th anniversary.

In 1849, the first volume of the Papers and Proceedings of the Royal Society of Van Diemen’s Land launched a tradition of advancing knowledge that continues to this day. Established in 1843, the Society is Australia’s oldest Royal Society, and for more than 180 years its prestigious journal of scientific and cultural history has captured the changing face of Tasmania, initially called Van Diemen’s Land by British colonists.

Cover of the first volume of the Papers and Proceedings of the Royal Society of Van Diemen’s Land, 1849.

Window to colonial Tasmania

Volume One, published in three parts from 1849 to 1851, is a weighty mix of scientific papers, meeting reports and miscellaneous records. It sets the scene with a detailed analysis of the colony’s diverse population and weather, extending to nearly fifty pages of charts, tables and data. Papers on new building techniques, coal exploration, agriculture and manufacturing provide a fascinating snapshot of colonial enterprise as settlers sought to understand this new land and what it had to offer. In the natural sciences, contributions from a veritable ‘Who’s Who’, including John Edward Gray, John Gould and Frederick M’Coy, helped unravel the mysteries of ancient fossils and remarkable living creatures such as the platypus.

Plate XI from Frederick McCoy’s paper on fossil zoology and botany, V.1, Papers and Proceedings of the Royal Society of Van Diemen’s Land, 1849.

These early volumes document many of the human-driven changes that typically occur when new lands are seized and colonized. They also contain an invaluable timeline of just how quickly Tasmania’s Indigenous-managed landscape would change and it is the seemingly incidental reports presented at Society meetings that offer the richest insights.

In 1849, Mr Hull described a gigantic blue gum about six miles from Hobart Town, measuring 28 yards (25.6 metres) in circumference and estimated to be 330 feet (100.5 metres) high. Mr Champ donated a small spotted fish preserved in spirits that appeared to possess four legs with finger-like appendages, and Mr Milligan reported that two live thylacines sent to London the previous year had now arrived safely.

Specimens of the fungus known as ‘native bread‘ (Mylitta sp.), eaten by Tasmanian Aboriginal people, were presented for examination, with notes that, when grated and made into a pudding with milk, they were ‘very palatable’. A sample of white resin from the Oyster Bay pine was described as coming from a tree with an extremely restricted distribution, yet one highly suitable for local building and carpentry purposes. Today, the South Esk Pine Nature Reserve protects one of the few remaining stands of this endangered species.

Another insightful paper is by renowned naturalist Ronald Campbell Gunn, who explains how the ‘flying squirrel’ (the sugar glider) became naturalised in Tasmania after first being imported as a pet during the 1830s, quickly escaping and then establishing in the wild. Few at the time could have imagined that this pocket-sized pet would one day threaten Tasmania’s endangered swift parrot by preying on nesting females, eggs and chicks.

Perhaps read with the keenest interest was Captain Charles Stanley’s paper on the practicalities of introducing trout into Tasmania’s waterways. When live fish ova were eventually transported to the Salmon Ponds at New Norfolk and later released, Tasmania’s river systems would forever contain an introduced predator.

Beyond the science

Beyond the scientific papers, early journals also recorded the Society’s own activities: its office-bearers, donations, acquisitions and financial accounts — the administrative details most of us tend to ignore. Yet these records reveal the people who helped shape nineteenth-century Tasmania. The Society’s office-bearers were among the colony’s most influential figures, and meetings regularly attracted generous donations of books, artworks, natural and geological specimens, artefacts and more.

These gifts formed the foundation of collections that are today internationally recognised and housed in the Royal Tasmanian Botanical Gardens, the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, and the Royal Society of Tasmania’s own Art and Library Collections. The journal documents not only the birth of these important institutions but also the determination, debate and politics involved in establishing them.

Within forty years of British settlement, Van Diemen’s Land was no longer merely a colonial outpost at the edge of the world. It had grown into an increasingly connected, resourceful and enterprising community pursuing scientific knowledge, economic opportunity and civic benefit. The Papers and Proceedings chronicle that remarkable transformation.

However, journals produced by colonial administrators inevitably reflect privilege and European perspectives and overlook Indigenous voices and other harsh injustices. It is often what is absent from the record, or now challenges contemporary values, that makes these volumes so compelling yet at times uncomfortable, to read.

Illustrations of Lerp and Psyllids associated with eucalypts, from Dobson’s paper, V.1, Papers and Proceedings of the Royal Society of Van Diemen’s Land, 1849.

Where to now?

Today’s Papers and Proceedings continue to focus on Tasmanian and Antarctic natural science but also encourage broader social and cultural themes. Recent volumes have contributed to truth-telling and historical accountability, including the publication of the Royal Society of Tasmania’s joint Apology to Tasmanian Aboriginal people in 2021 and papers arising from the Society’s annual Tasmanian Aboriginal Lecture.

Through the amazing Biodiversity Heritage Library’s open-access repository, researchers can apply computational tools to journals spanning more than 175 years, unlocking hidden insights that manual reading can miss. The complete digitised collection of thePapers and Proceedings of the Royal Society of Tasmania is freely available through BHL.

In an era increasingly dominated by artificial intelligence and social media, this journal remains as relevant as ever and is one of the Royal Society of Tasmania’s greatest legacies. More than simply words on a page, the Papers and Proceedings is a window into the environments, cultures and politics that continue to shape this unique island.

From the Biodiversity Heritage Library

For 20 years, BHL has made journals such as the Papers and Proceedings of the Royal Society of Tasmania freely accessible to researchers and readers around the world. With your support, we can continue preserving these irreplaceable records for generations to come.