iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Reposted by Will Beharrell

The Linnean Society of London @linneansociety.bsky.social · 19/08/2026

Can you be our hero? Some of our rare book holdings that have shaped our understanding of biodiversity and inspired generations of naturalists are at risk. These include some of science's most compelling accounts of travel and exploration. Small or big, everything matters! More here bit.ly/45wG7YG

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The Linnean Society of London @linneansociety.bsky.social · 29/09/2025

“It tires me a great deal to sit to anyone, but I should be the most ungrateful and ungracious dog not to agree” September's Treasure of the Month is our most famous portrait of Charles Darwin, which is now part of UNESCO's Memory of the World. buff.ly/hQkkwPX

Collier's 1881 portrait of Charles Darwin, who stands in a large brown overcoat against a brown background. He is holding a hat and has a white beard and downcast expression.

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Will Beharrell @willbeharrell.bsky.social · 29/08/2025

Look at this beauty, freshly returned from conservation! “Fleurs, fruits et feuillages choisis de la flore et de la pomone de l'Ile de Java” (1863) by Berthe van Nooten is one of my favourite items in the @linneansociety.bsky.social library, with firework fruits and flowers on every page.

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Will Beharrell @willbeharrell.bsky.social · 14/07/2025

Natural history friends! Join SHNH (@sochistnathist.bsky.social) for our annual prize-giving this Wednesday. We’ll zip through the AGM business in the first half, and then have brief talks from our medalists in the second. We would love for you to join us 😊 www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/shnh-annua...

eventbrite.co.uk

SHNH Annual General Meeting and Prizegiving 2025

Please join us for the Society for the History of Natural History's AGM, followed by a presentation of the Society's awards and prizes.

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The Linnean Society of London @linneansociety.bsky.social · 03/05/2025

These subtle drawings of koalas are by John William Lewin (1770 – 1819). #wildkoaladay The pencil drawings are part of a folder in our archives (MS-630), containing a selection of Lewin's sketches and watercolours of Australian wildlife and thought to have been drawn between 1800-1817.

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The Linnean Society of London @linneansociety.bsky.social · 01/05/2025

🌿 It’s Lily of the Valley Day: a French tradition where the flower is given on 1 May for luck. We’re marking it with Gilbert White’s May diary entry noting his first sighting 🌸 and a delicate botanical watercolour from our Naturalists’ Notebooks exhibition.

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The Linnean Society of London @linneansociety.bsky.social · 22/04/2025

Charles Darwin's archive has been recognised on the UNESCO International Memory of the World Register, which protects invaluable records that tell the story of human civilisation. www.linnean.org/news/2025/04...

Charles Darwin's signature on the Linnean Society Roll and Charter

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The Linnean Society of London @linneansociety.bsky.social · 20/04/2025

Birch twigs adorned with colourful feathers are a traditional Swedish Easter decoration, brightening up the dinner table. Illustration by J. Terrier from 'Faune de la Senegambie' by Alphonse Trémeau de Rochebrune, 1883-1884. www.magnoliabox.com/...

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SHNH @sochistnathist.bsky.social · 03/04/2025

In 1694 #OTD the naturalist George Ewards was born. Known by some as the father of British ornithology, Edwards travelled through Europe producing colourful drawings of birds as he went. He finally published A Natural History of Uncommon Birds, which was subsequently referenced by Linnaeus. (📸BHL)

A beautiful historic illustration of a wood duck.

A colourful illustration of a blue-and-yellow macaw.

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SHNH @sochistnathist.bsky.social · 28/03/2025

Frederik Ruysch was born #OTD in 1638. Ruysch was primarily an anatomist, experimenting with and testing new ways to preserve and embalm specimens which could then be further used for study and teaching. But he also studied animals and was the first to describe the vomeronasal organ in snakes.

A page of a book showing the heads and skull structures of lots of different types of Australian snakes.

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RaySocietyBooks @raysocietybooks.bsky.social · 30/03/2025

The Ray Society is now on Bluesky! Most recent publication ‘Biology, evolution and genetic review of the chemosymbiotic Bivalve Family Lucinidae’ by John Taylor and Emily Glover RRP £98 from the Ray Society and NHBS websites.

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The Linnean Society of London @linneansociety.bsky.social · 04/03/2025

How has the humble notebook been an essential tool for celebrated thinkers throughout history? Our upcoming free exhibition, Naturalists' Notebooks, explores how naturalists recorded our world from the 18th century to today. Open Tuesday 11 March until Saturday 20 September 2025. bit.ly/43kBXmC

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Will Beharrell @willbeharrell.bsky.social · 16/02/2025

I wrote a thing about growing up gay in West Berkshire for LGBT+ History Month and Newbury Pride. You can read my shapeless musings below 👇

A newspaper-style graphic with a photo of man in the top right. The text reads:

My name’s Will, I’m Newbury Pride’s Secretary, and I’m so happy to be celebrating LGBT+ History Month here in my hometown.

The landscape for LGBT+ people has changed beyond recognition in my lifetime. Not just the well-publicised victories along the road to legal equality in the age of consent, civil partnerships, adoption, and most recently marriage, but also the widespread acceptance among the general public that LGBT+ people deserve equal treatment and respect (a 2019 poll suggested nearly 86% of Britons believe homosexuality should be accepted by society, about as unanimous a figure as you can hope to achieve on any topic in a free country).

The change, even from my childhood, could not be more profound. I was educated in Newbury, and I’m sorry to say my secondary school environment was virulently homophobic. Sexuality and gender-based bullying was commonplace, and the existence of Section 28—a de facto ban on all discussions of LGBT+ relationships in the classroom—hobbled teachers’ ability to properly support their LGBT+ students. Many people seem surprised when told this piece of legislation—far from being a relic of the 1980s and 90s—remained on the statute books until 2003 in England. I was 15 when it was finally consigned to the dustbin of history, its damage already done.

It wasn’t until university that I felt free to tell the truth about my sexuality; I came out at the relatively late age of 19. I still maintain that coming out was one of the few unambiguously good and sensible decisions I ever made, and the day I came out was one of the happiest of my life.

My hope is that every LGBT+ person gets to experience that happiness, at least once. One of my main motivations for joining Newbury Pride was to create a safe environment for others to experience the happiness and relief I once felt.

LGBT+ History Month is a great time to be thankful for the progress we’ve made, and…

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Will Beharrell @willbeharrell.bsky.social · 23/01/2025

I run some funny errands for the @linneansociety.bsky.social. Today’s was taking Carl Linnaeus’s walking stick to the V&A to be x-rayed (we thought there might be a sword inside it)…

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Katie Birkwood @girlinthe.bsky.social · 23/01/2025

Over the last many months I've been working on two new terms for the RMBS controlled vocabularies thesaurus. They're for use when cataloguing books with plants (or other organic bits and bobs) pressed inside them, and they're currently open for comment. (Links in next post) #GLAMS 📚 #RareBooks

rbms.info

New Term: Pressed plants [CVRMC] | RBMS Controlled Vocabularies Community Discussion

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The Linnean Society of London @linneansociety.bsky.social · 20/01/2025

This #BlueMonday, a few 'blue' pages from one of our most popular books 'Photographs of British Algae: Cyanotype Impressions' (1843) by pioneering photographer Anna Atkins. Also watch our librarian, Will Beharrell's @willbeharrell.bsky.social, talk on the Society’s copy youtu.be/bTK_YU75Wbc

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SHNH @sochistnathist.bsky.social · 16/01/2025

🚨 Registration now open for our Early Career Researcher Symposium on 20 February! 🚨 Join online to listen to talks ranging from the Language of Flowers to the Secret Face of Isaac Newton 🌸🕵️ For more information, including full programme & how to book your FREE ticket 👇 shnh.org.uk/shnh-early-c...

shnh.org.uk

SHNH Early Career Researcher Symposium 2025 - Society for the History of Natural History

For this symposium we have welcomed papers from across the field which speak to any aspects of the history of natural history. The speakers have been drawn from individuals registered for PhD programm...

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Will Beharrell @willbeharrell.bsky.social · 13/01/2025

My proudest professional achievement. Only six boxes of reshelving.

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SHNH @sochistnathist.bsky.social · 22/12/2024

The latest edition of Archives of Natural History is online! 🙌 Just in time for some festive reading, it covers everything from controversial ducks 🦆👀 to the early 20C trading of African wildlife 🦁🦒 Have a peruse for yourself! 👇 www.euppublishing.com/toc/anh/51/2

A greenbackground containing the words "The society for the history of natural history" and "Archives of Natural History, volume 51, part 2, october 2024".

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The Linnean Society of London @linneansociety.bsky.social · 20/12/2024

Let’s end our nature-inspired #Christmas lights trail at our Piccadilly neighbour’s magical woodland window display. Central to the design at #FortnumAndMason is this lovely fox, who can also be found running around our library in Mivart’s ‘Dogs, jackals, wolves, and foxes’ (1890). #London #Nature

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The Linnean Society of London @linneansociety.bsky.social · 16/12/2024

Lots of wonderful nature-based Christmas decorations in #London this year, like this stunning peacock in Berkeley Square…but something looks familiar… Ah yes, this gorgeous plate from D’Orbigny’s ‘Dictionnaire universel d'histoire naturelle’ (1843-49). #ChristmasLights #Nature

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The Linnean Society of London @linneansociety.bsky.social · 13/12/2024

Have the Christmas lights in #London been taking inspiration from our collections? Here’s the stunning underwater display by Dior on Bond Street and our wonderful 'Hippocampus' specimens. #Christmas #Nature

Christmas light display above shop showing seahorses and undersea scene

Two 18th century preserved seahorse specimens

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The Linnean Society of London @linneansociety.bsky.social · 12/12/2024

Our Collected Archives are now on our online archive catalogue! They include the commonplace books of Lady Pleasance Smith, and a draft manuscript of ‘A History of the Fishes of the British Isles’ by ichthyologist Jonathan Couch bit.ly/4g5btZY

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Will Beharrell @willbeharrell.bsky.social · 12/12/2024

I am officially Done With Work for 2024! Look after the library while I’m gone 😁

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The Linnean Society of London @linneansociety.bsky.social · 04/12/2024

Afternoon snack? As well as being delicious, cashews (Anacardium occidentale) are beautiful plants, as drawn here by Berthe Hoola Van Nooten (1863). Van Nooten lived a globetrotting life, travelling to America and Java. Available as a card, poster or print: www.magnoliabox.com/collections/...

Cashew (Anacardium occidentale), Berthe Hoola Van Nooten, from 'Fleurs, fruits et feuillages choisis de la flore…de Java' (1863)

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SHNH @sochistnathist.bsky.social · 03/12/2024

Hello! As everyone else is giving it a go, we thought we'd better dip our toe in too. We're here for all your natural history needs, especially where it intersects with culture, society and history 🌱📖🦋

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Will Beharrell @willbeharrell.bsky.social · 03/12/2024

The Society for the History of Natural History is on Bluesky, hooray! Give them a follow, natural history friends. @sochistnathist.bsky.social

A screen grab of the Society for the History of Natural History’s Bluesky account.

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Cambridge UL Special Collections @theulspeccoll.bsky.social · 03/12/2024

We are now on BlueSky! Here's a cute little angel from our Gutenberg Bible (Inc.1.A.1.1[3761]). Follow us for all the best special collections content!

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The Linnean Society of London @linneansociety.bsky.social · 02/12/2024

We're feeling #Festive here at the Linnean Society! The #Decorations are up in time for our Founders Day talk this evening, and we're considering a #SantaHat for Alfred Russel Wallace...

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The Linnean Society of London @linneansociety.bsky.social · 30/11/2024

For #YourArchive we wanted to highlight our Domestic Archives collection. Containing more than 4000 items and over 200 years of Linnean Society history, this collection is now fully catalogued thanks to the amazing work of our Project Archivist Alex Milne! #EYAYourArchive #EYA

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Will Beharrell @willbeharrell.bsky.social · 02/12/2024

Library rule 1: please bring the whole book back.

An early printed book with half of it’s front cover/board missing

An early printed book with half a cover, held open at the title page

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Will Beharrell @willbeharrell.bsky.social · 29/11/2024

Some people say natural history books are boring but have you considered

A book called “Tomorrow’s Potato”. The front cover features a photograph of a potato field.

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The Linnean Society of London @linneansociety.bsky.social · 29/11/2024

For #EYAAnimal we present these beautiful paintings of South Indian birds. Painted on sheets of mica and mounted into an album, the colours are as vibrant as when they were painted in the 1850s. #EYA #ExploreYourArchives #EYAAnimal #Animal

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The Linnean Society of London @linneansociety.bsky.social · 27/11/2024

For today’s #disco theme a segment entitled ‘Ball Room Scraps’ from the naturalist Richard Owen’s sketchbook. One particular scene depicts a couple who have fallen to the floor, captioned: ‘The gentleman who dances after taking too much Lobster Salad at supper’. #Disco #EYA

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Will Beharrell @willbeharrell.bsky.social · 26/11/2024

Gosh, so many new followers! Hello everyone. Be warned I plan to be just as boring here as I was over there.

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The Linnean Society of London @linneansociety.bsky.social · 26/11/2024

The Paradoxa section in Systema Naturae is all about #mythical creatures, such as the Unicorn, Phoenix and Dragon. Also held in our Linnaeus collections, is this wonderful watercolour drawing of a #mythical dragon by an unknown artist. #EYAMythical #Mythical #ExploreYourArchives

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The Linnean Society of London @linneansociety.bsky.social · 26/11/2024

As the weather turns colder and darker, we'd like to invite you to our library as a welcoming, warm & quiet space for work, reading, or simply some peace in buzzy central London. (No need to buy a coffee)! Book a space: email library@linnean.org for more information. www.linnean.org/research-col...

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The Linnean Society of London @linneansociety.bsky.social · 23/11/2024

This microscope was used by the botanist Robert Brown to observe the ceaseless jostling of microscopic particles in 1827, known as ‘Brownian motion’. Brown also found the cell nucleus of an orchid tissue through his microscope, as seen reproduced in this drawing. #Tiny #EYA

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The Linnean Society of London @linneansociety.bsky.social · 24/11/2024

For #EYAHuge we present one of seven #huge bound volumes of incoming correspondence, part of our Domestic Archives collection. The letters were pasted into these volume as they were received by the Society dating from the 1860s right up until the 1920s. #Huge #EYA

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Will Beharrell @willbeharrell.bsky.social · 23/11/2024

Four albums that serve as an introduction to the fact I’m a gay white man in his late 30s.

The album cover for 69 Love Songs by the Magnetic Fields

The album cover for Remain in Light by Talking Heads

The album cover for Rumours by Fleetwood Mac

The album cover for The Queen is Dead by The Smiths

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The Linnean Society of London @linneansociety.bsky.social · 21/11/2024

The Society's ballot box has played a crucial role in many important #decisions since our foundation, most notably in 1903 for the vote to allow women to become Fellows. With a majority of 54 votes to 17, the admission of female Fellows was finally granted. #EYA #Decisions

A polished wooden box with a drawer split in two. One side is labelled "YES", the other "NO". A handful of lighter wooden balls are spread between the boxes, with some spilling out in front. Above the drawer is a hollow cylindrical protrusion that looks almost like a camera lens.

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The Linnean Society of London @linneansociety.bsky.social · 22/11/2024

Marian Farquharson is one our #heroes for successfully campaigning for the rights of women to become Fellows of the Linnean Society. Despite initially being blackballed, she went onto gain her fellowship in 1908. #Heroes #EYA #ExploreYourArchives

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Andrew Digby @digs.bsky.social · 18/11/2024

Kākāpō 101 No. 1. All 244 #kakapo in the world live in the wild, on 7 island sanctuaries across New Zealand. Three of these are breeding sites; three contain only males. They can't be kept in captivity for long periods because they need a varied diet and lots of space. #conservation #parrots #birds

A front view of a male kākāpō, standing upright on the forest floor in daylight, with head turned to one side. Credit: Andrew Digby.

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The Linnean Society of London @linneansociety.bsky.social · 16/11/2024

Sadly this rhino is not being ridden by a Gladiator, but this 17th Century illustration by Edward Topsell is still worth a visit nonetheless! See it up close in our *free* exhibition Still Life: Depicting Nature from woodblocks to X-Rays. Open every Tues-Fri 10-5pm: buff.ly/3AR4692

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The Linnean Society of London @linneansociety.bsky.social · 17/11/2024

Hello new followers! Rounding off our first week with a very apt Menelaus blue morpho butterfly by Maria Sibylla Merian. Merian revolutionised zoology by understanding how animals metamorphose, emerging as a new form. Love this image? Get it as a print or card: buff.ly/498yGYN

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Scott P. Egan @scottpegan.bsky.social · 15/11/2024

Beetle in the genus Carabus😍

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Will Beharrell @willbeharrell.bsky.social · 11/11/2024

The Linnean Society Library is open to everyone (Tuesday-Friday, 10am-5pm). Gorgeous reading room, five minutes from Piccadilly Circus, fast free WiFi, intermittently friendly librarian. Come keep me company 🙂

A young man sat at a desk, with a laptop, in grand library.

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Will Beharrell @willbeharrell.bsky.social · 09/11/2024

Hoo, lots of new followers. Hello! I’m not very active on here at the moment but if the Other Place gets any worse that could well change. Until then, do swing by the Linnean Society Library if you’re in town 🙂 www.linnean.org/research-col...

Three people smiling in a grand library with white columns and gilt-framed portraits.

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