Reawakening
Durham University's Bioscience Collection
The Collection
Durham University's Bioscience Collection highlights an incredible variety of natural history specimens, providing a window into the wonders of nature from our local surroundings and across the globe.
Over the last 18 months, the curator and intern for Archaeology and Bioscience have been working to improve how we care for and manage the collection. The goal is to make the collection a valuable resource for researchers and academics, while also making it accessible to the wider community.
This online exhibition highlights some of the objects in the collection and the fascinating stories they tell. Take a behind-the-scenes look at the curatorial process, recent discoveries, and objects that have never been seen before.
While the curatorial work continues, we hope you enjoy exploring the collection and discovering something new!
You are now exploring our efforts to Reawaken the Bioscience Collection.
Image: A collection of photographs showing behind-the-scenes curatorial and management work with the collection.
Image: A collection of photographs showing behind-the-scenes curatorial and management work with the collection.
The Collection
Durham University's Bioscience Collection highlights an incredible variety of natural history specimens, providing a window into the wonders of nature from our local surroundings and across the globe.
Over the last 18 months, the curator and intern for Archaeology and Bioscience have been working to improve how we care for and manage the collection. The goal is to make the collection a valuable resource for researchers and academics, while also making it accessible to the wider community.
Image: A collection of photographs showing behind-the-scenes curatorial and management work with the collection.
Image: A collection of photographs showing behind-the-scenes curatorial and management work with the collection.
This online exhibition highlight some of the objects in the collection and the fascinating stories they tell. Take a behind-the-scenes look at the curatorial process, recent discoveries, and objects that have never been seen before.
While the curatorial work continue, we hope you enjoy exploring the collection and discovering something new!
You are now exploring our efforts to Reawaken the Bioscience Collection.
History of the collection
The first Durham University Museum
Durham University established a museum in 1833, just one year after the university itself was founded, making it England's second university museum. Like many Victorian institutions of the time, it resembled a classic "cabinet of curiosities", with archaeology and natural history at its heart.
The museum’s first sub-curator, William Proctor (1798–1877), a carpenter-turned-taxidermist, was appointed in 1834. Proctor held the position for 43 years, gaining a strong reputation as a naturalist and regularly undertaking expeditions to collect new specimens. He was supported by other honorary curators such as George Townsend Fox (1781-1848) and Henry Baker Tristram (1822–1906).
Townsend Fox donated a significant collection of natural history to the Newcastle Literary and Philosophical Society. This collection became one of the founding collections owned by the Natural History Society of Northumbria and is now displayed in the Great North Museum.
In 1840, the Victorian naturalist and clergyman Henry Baker Tristram spent time with Proctor, learning the art of taxidermy. As another honorary curator of the University Museum, he greatly contributed to the prominence of natural history specimens, as he frequently added new items to the collection.
Joseph Cullingford, a taxidermist from the British Museum succeeded Proctor, and along with Cullingford's widow and brother, they developed the collections for the next 50 years with support from honorary curators.
The collection in the museum included: prehistoric flint tools, a Chinese slipper, roman artefacts, a polar bear's foot and stuffed birds including the infamous Great Auk! A visitor in 19th century even remarked about:
“the strange juxtapositions to be seen in the Museum” (Harding 1982:39)
In the early 20th-century the museum closed and the collections were disposed of or dispersed to departments and colleges.
The collections in the 20th-century
In 1924, Durham University opened the Dawson Building, it was the first dedicated science building. It later became home to the Botany and Zoology Departments, who later merged to form the Bioscience Department. Both departments were involved in significant research and teaching, they collected thousands of specimens from the across the world.
The collection includes:
- Herbaria
- Plant and seed specimens
- Taxidermy
- Antlers and game heads
- Animal skeletons
- Wet collection
- Fossils (plants, ammonites, fish)
- Entomology (insects)
- Oology (eggs)
- Shells and molluscs
Over the next 80 years, the Bioscience Department's changed its research focus from the macro to micro to molecular, gradually phasing out the use of the collection.
In 2016, the unused collection was moved out of the department to increase teaching and laboratory space, with the exception of the Herbarium which is still housed in the Bioscience Department.
In 2017, the collection was moved to its own dedicated storage space by specialist natural history conservators and an inventory was created to enable use of the material. In 2022, for the first time, a curator and intern were given one day a week to begin to manage and develop the collection. One of the first actions the team carried out were to redisplay a key specimen in the Bioscience Department.
From 2022, work was carried out in the Bioscience Department's atrium space to safeguard and showcase the collection.
Since 2016, the Bioscience Collection has undergone significant improvements, all aimed at developing the collection so that it can be used and loved once again. We have:
- Carried out a conservation audit
- Carried out a storage audit
- Introduced environmental and pest monitoring
- Designed and manufactured new mirror plates to allow specimens such as our antler collection to be hung in the collection store
- Begun to repack areas of the collections
- Started to answer enquires and give researchers access
Image: View of the Dawson Building on Upper Mountjoy campus site (Durham University Special Collections)
Image: View of the Dawson Building on Upper Mountjoy campus site (Durham University Special Collections)
Image: Antler and game head collection in their current store, now hung up on metal racking and their horns protected.
Image: Antler and game head collection in their current store, now hung up on metal racking and their horns protected.
Image: Original collections management index card system.
Image: Original collections management index card system.
Image: Recent collections management project of repacking our small skull collection using personalised boxes created by our preservation technician.
Image: Recent collections management project of repacking our small skull collection using personalised boxes created by our preservation technician.
Warning
This exhibition contains imagery relating to deceased animals that some may find challenging.
Let's explore!
Click on a button below to explore the collection.
Image: Herbarium specimens of Trifolium procumbens (Hop clovers), collected by D.H. Valentine in Seaton Sluice in 1946.
Image: Herbarium specimens of Trifolium procumbens (Hop clovers), collected by D.H. Valentine in Seaton Sluice in 1946.
The herbarium is our plant archive which contains mosses, flowers, foliage, wood samples, and seeds.
Image: Mounted specimen of a Galago demidovii (Dwarf or Demidoff's bush baby).
Image: Mounted specimen of a Galago demidovii (Dwarf or Demidoff's bush baby).
The collection holds significant zoology specimens. They come in a variety of preservation forms, including taxidermy, spirit preserved, mounted skeletons and mounted antlers.
Image: A pinned specimen of a Papilio memnon (Great Mormon butterfly).
Image: A pinned specimen of a Papilio memnon (Great Mormon butterfly).
We also have fossils, mainly plants, and insects which have been pinned for the scientific study of entomology.
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