Natural History in the Age of Revolutions, 1776-1848

Lead Research Organisation: UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE
Department Name: History and Philosophy Of Science

Abstract

Historians describe the period from the mid-eighteenth to the mid-nineteenth century as 'the age of revolutions' and are increasingly realizing that people around the world were caught up in its tumultuous developments. Based in the Department of History and Philosophy of Science at the University of Cambridge, and working with project partners from the museum sector, this project will investigate how the working practices of naturalists adapted to political agendas of imperial expansion, nation state formation, and revolutionary movements during this period, and how their visions of natural and human diversity supported or resisted these agendas in turn.

Specifically, we will examine how naturalists used printed books, manuscripts, illustrations and specimens to manage information flows in a world torn between imperial expansion and revolutionary ambitions and involving diverse groups across the British Empire ranging from missionaries and military surgeons to entrepreneurs and Polynesian elders. The project thus also responds to the current need to address the colonial past by exploring hidden histories of the legacies of empire and by unlocking contributions of so-called subalterns to what too often is considered a uniquely Western heritage.

Encouraging scholars, students, policy makers, institutions and the public to think beyond narratives of the global spread of Western science, the project will reframe ideas about the information economy of natural history around 1800 and how it shaped modern perspectives of nature. Ideas of deep time, 'natural' affinities connecting all forms of life, and an economy of nature characterised by a 'struggle for life,' all took root during the age of revolutions. Initiating the examination and reinterpretation of collections through working with our project partners- the Natural History Museum, London, the Linnaean Society of London, the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, State Library of New South Wales, the University of Otago, and the University of Cambridge Museums and collections- we will concentrate on the legacy of lesser-known naturalists in curatorial positions in formulating these ideas.

Recent research has established that global networks provided frameworks for new imperial initiatives but also means to coordinate resistance against these. Our research will complement these insights by showing how a new class of naturalists managed global information flows between indigenous knowledge sources and a variety of 'knowledge brokers' and 'go-betweens' on the one hand, and wealthy patrons, state bureaucracies and reading publics on the other. Our guiding hypothesis is that this new-found role of facilitating global communication defined an ethos of public service as well as distinct forms of expertise that survive to this day.

Research and engagement will be facilitated by concentrating on collections related to specific naturalists. Examples include the manuscripts, illustrations and specimens compiled by Alexander Anderson, whose collection includes botanical artworks produced by indigenous and enslaved West Indian artists. Similarly, Robert Brown relied on indigenous informants when circumnavigating Australia, compiling a vast natural history collection at the British Museum that he used to develop new approaches in biogeography and systematics. The project will facilitate future research and exhibitions by integrating information on provenance into institutional catalogues and databases. Connecting natural history collections to the colonial past, we will disseminate a new understanding of this period through public exhibitions and a series of public talks, an accessible illustrated edited book and article, a project website and social media. We will also advise on and participate in project partners' outreach events to engage different audiences with new visions of how natural history contributed to the rise of the modern world.
 
Description The award 'Natural History in the Age of Revolutions, 1776-1848' has achieved several results. Crucially, the numerous outputs have brought a new understanding of knowledge exchange to light for both public and academic audiences, showing how knowledge on nature and the systems devised to organise this were not singular production of western thought but embedded fundamental contributions from Indigenous groups across the world. A particular concentration of this research has been the islands of the South Pacific and especially Aotearoa New Zealand. Aspects of this have been circulated by the PI, Dr Edwin Rose's new book 'Reading the World, 1760-1820', coverage in the national and international press such as The Guardian and The Observer in addition to a public day conference at the Linnean Society of London. The latter included talks covering a global geographic scope that are going towards producing a special issue for the journal History of Science. Through sharing this research with public audiences in Aotearoa New Zealand, we have developed connections that have proved essential in our successful application for an AHRC/University of Cambridge Impact Acceleration account grant of £10,000 for the project 'Naming Species in the South Pacific: Revising a Past Endeavour to Develop New Digital and Culture Collaborations.' This is designed to see some of the earliest written accounts of the flora of Aotearoa New Zealand produced during James Cook's first voyage of exploration to the Pacific (1768-71) digitally available for a broad global audience. This is just the first stage in the digitisation of this unique collection and we intend for this to act as seed funding that will see the complete digitisation, transcription and translation of this collection.

Links to outputs are:
Dr Rose's book: USA link: https://upittpress.org/books/9780822948513/ UK Link: https://www.pen-and-sword.co.uk/Reading-the-World-Hardback/p/52258
Exhibition at the Linnean Society: https://www.linnean.org/research-collections/on-display/revolution-nature-in-the-time-of-change-1776-1848#:~:text=An%20exhibition%20on%20the%20changing,social%2C%20political%20and%20economic%20change.
Conference at the Linnean Society: https://members.linnean.org/events/66265a5076035a00089ae6d0/description
Follow on Funding/IAA Grant: https://www.hps.cam.ac.uk/research/projects/naming-species
Main Project Website: https://www.hps.cam.ac.uk/research/projects/natural-history-revolutions
Exploitation Route This research is providing a series of frameworks for our approaches to understanding different groups' contributions to practices of understanding the natural world. It is currently being used by several of our collaborators in the UK and Aotearoa New Zealand. In the UK these include the museums sector while in Aotearoa New Zealand we are working with anthropologists and the Manuka Charitable Trust who have great interest in gaining an historic understanding of the flora of Aotearoa New Zealand to better understand climatic and environmental changes over the last 250 years in addition to ongoing questions surrounding the intellectual property of certain species, names and the products derived from them.
Sectors Agriculture

Food and Drink

Education

Environment

Leisure Activities

including Sports

Recreation and Tourism

Culture

Heritage

Museums and Collections

 
Description The various talks, exhibitions and publications emanating from this project has led onto significant future research partnerships, as emphasised by the Impact Acceleration Award grant we were awarded for the project 'Naming Species in the South Pacific: Revising a past Endeavour to Develop new Digital and Cultural Collaborations': https://www.hps.cam.ac.uk/research/projects/naming-species This has resulted in several interdisciplinary partnerships with partners in industry, anthropology and the museums and cultural sector. Recent Press coverage in The Guardian and The Observer has also resulted in extensive public engagement with this research.
Sector Agriculture, Food and Drink,Education,Environment,Leisure Activities, including Sports, Recreation and Tourism,Culture, Heritage, Museums and Collections
Impact Types Cultural

Societal

Economic

 
Description IAA Grant: Naming Species in the South Pacific: Revising a Past Endeavour to Develop New Digital and Culture Collaborations
Amount £10,000 (GBP)
Funding ID AHRC IAA Award G116767. 
Organisation Arts & Humanities Research Council (AHRC) 
Sector Public
Country United Kingdom
Start 01/2025 
End 06/2025
 
Description Collaboration with the Linnean Society of London 
Organisation Linnean Society of London
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Charity/Non Profit 
PI Contribution We have advised on historic materials held by the Linnean Society. We have presented for Linnean Society events.
Collaborator Contribution In July 2024 the Linnean Society is hosting a conference entitled 'Natural History in the Age of Revolutions'. This is a main output of the project.
Impact (Forthcoming) Linnean Society Confernece Book chapters co-authored by Isabelle Charmanter and Staffan Müller-Wille.
Start Year 2022
 
Description Collaboration with the Natural History Museum, London 
Organisation Natural History Museum
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Public 
PI Contribution We have undertaken analysis of several important manuscripts and specimens for the NHM, uncovering their provenance and identifying thier significance.
Collaborator Contribution Supplying access to these materials, offering expert advice and participating in project events, e.g the panel sessions on the Cambridge University Herbarium.
Impact Public Panel session talks.
Start Year 2023
 
Description Collaboration with the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew 
Organisation Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Charity/Non Profit 
PI Contribution We have undertaken extensive research on manuscripts and specimens held by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.
Collaborator Contribution Our partners have given us the opportunity to display these manuscripts in an exhibition while offering us professional advice in locating them within their vast collections.
Impact Forthcoming: exhibition at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.
Start Year 2022
 
Description Collaboration with the State Library of New South Wales 
Organisation State Library of New South Wales
Country Australia 
Sector Public 
PI Contribution The State library of New South Wales have been a generous collaborator during the time of the grant. they have assisted with providing access to their unique research collections and hosted a public talk for the project in Sydney in November 2023.
Collaborator Contribution Assisted with arranging a public talk in November 2024. Advertised the project's research to the general public. Proved instrumental in locating previously unknown manuscript sources from the State Library's collections that are foundational for the project.
Impact Public talk at the State Library of New South Wales.
Start Year 2022
 
Description Collaboration with the University of Otago 
Organisation University of Otago
Country New Zealand 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution A Talk at the Otago Museum A talk at the International Congress for the History of Science, Technology and Medicine
Collaborator Contribution The primary collaboration is with Prof. Hamish Spencer and Prof. Hugh Slotten at the University of Otago. This has proved invaluable in advising on ow to introduce this research to the people of New Zealand and communicating with Maori. Advice given by Spencer has proved invaluable in ensuring the success of our lecture tour (November 2023) around New Zealand.
Impact Talks, listed in the main documents. 1 book chapter by Dr Edwin Rose, forthcoming.
Start Year 2022
 
Description Exhibition Contribution, 'The Black Atlantic: Power, People, Resistance,' Fitzwilliam Museum 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an open day or visit at my research institution
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact I contributed my expertise and advice to the curators of the Fitzwilliam Museum's exhibition 'The Black Atlantic: Power, People, Resistance' that ran between 8 September 2023 and 7 January 2024. My research on the historical botany collection of the university has uncovered the roles of black and often enslaved individuals in botany in the eighteenth century. This formed a short chapter for the book 'The Black Atlantic: Power, People, Resistance,' published by PWP/Bloomsbury in 2023 that accompanied this exhibition.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2023,2024
URL https://fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/plan-your-visit/exhibitions/black-atlantic-power-people-resistance
 
Description Exhibition: 200 Years of Scientific Publishing at the Cambridge Philosophical Society, Whipple library, Cambridge 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an open day or visit at my research institution
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Postgraduate students
Results and Impact Exhibition: 200 Years of Scientific Publishing at the Cambridge Philosophical Society, Whipple Library, Cambridge, 22 January 2024-24 April 2024.
This exhibition is designed to uncover the processes of printing scientific journals in Cambridge over the last 200 years through examining a selection of rare materials generously donated to the Whipple Library by the Cambridge Philosophical Society.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2024
URL https://www.whipplelib.hps.cam.ac.uk/special/exhibitions-and-displays/200-years-scientific-publishin...
 
Description Exhibition: Revolution: Nature in a time of Change 1776-1848 
Form Of Engagement Activity Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact This public exhibition based in the library of the Linnean Society of London, Burlington House, Piccadilly, London, W1J 0BD, 'Revolution: Nature in the Time of Change, 1776-1848' ran from 10th July-30th August 2024 and attracted 564 visitors.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2024
URL https://www.linnean.org/research-collections/on-display/revolution-nature-in-the-time-of-change-1776...
 
Description Interview for Channel 5 Documentary 'Susan Calman's Great British Cities' 
Form Of Engagement Activity A broadcast e.g. TV/radio/film/podcast (other than news/press)
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact To be boradcast, 9pm, 22 march 2024, Channel 5
Dr Edwin Rose, PI on this grant, was interviewed by Susan Calman for the new Channel 5 series 'Susan Calman's Great British Cities' for an episode on Cambridge.
The subject of the interview was some of Dr Rose's work on John Stevens Henslow's tuition of Charles Darwin and the practices Darwin used to collect specimens during his voyage on HMS Beagle (1831-36).
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2024
URL https://www.channel5.com/show/great-british-cities-with-susan-calman-5ca95db0-f108-49e2-a869-7a58f92...
 
Description Interview for National News 
Form Of Engagement Activity A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact This was an interview for The Guardian published on 16th March 2024. The full reference is:
Donna Fergusson, Darwin's Plant specimens stored for 200 years to go on public display', The Guardian, 15th March 2024, p. 9.
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2024/mar/15/plant-specimens-collected-by-charles-darwin-to-be-unveiled-to-the-public?CMP=twt_b-gdnnews
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2024
URL https://www.theguardian.com/science/2024/mar/15/plant-specimens-collected-by-charles-darwin-to-be-un...
 
Description Interview for National News 
Form Of Engagement Activity A magazine, newsletter or online publication
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact Dr Edwin Rose, PI on the 'Natural History in the Age of Revolutions, 1776-1848' project was quoted in an article that discusses his new book 'Reading the World: British Practices of Natural History 1760-1820' in The Observer.
Full article reference: Donna Fergusson, 'Revealed: Indigenous roots of plants named by Cook's botanists', The Observer, 09 February 2025, p. 3. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/feb/08/groundbreaking-botanical-discoveries-on-captain-cook-voyage-were-thanks-to-indigenous-people
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2025
URL https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/feb/08/groundbreaking-botanical-discoveries-on-captain-cook-v...
 
Description Public Talk - Otago Museum, Dunedin 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Local
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact 19/11/23, Otago Museum, Dunedin
Title: Information, Empire and a Revolution in the Natural History of the Pacific
Presenters: Müller-Wille
This talk gives an account of some of our research on the botany of New Zealand and the practices of collecting, recording, naming and classifying new species from the time of James Cook's voyages in 1769 to the 1830s. It analyses the involvement of Maori in the collecting process and the active integration of information supplied by Maori into knowledge systems previously believed to have a singular 'western' heritage.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2023
 
Description Public Talk and Collections Show - State Library of New South Wales 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact 14/12/2023, Public Lecture and Collections Showing, allowing attendees to engage with original materials from the State Library of New South Wales's Collections
Talk by Edwin Rose and Staffan Müller-Wille
Title: Exploration, Empire and a Revolution in the Natural History of the Pacific
Abstract:
Natural history collecting formed an important part of voyages to the Pacific from the time of James Cook in the 1760s. Cook had been instructed to observe, collect and take note of the uses of 'Trees, Fruits & Grains' while reporting on 'the Genius, Temper, Disposition & Number of the Natives'. For European naturalists, many of the species they encountered were entirely new. For the indigenous people they encountered, plants and animals had been central to their societies for thousands of years.

This talk explores the processes of collecting, recording, and classifying information on the natural world. It uncovers the processes thorough which the knowledge of indigenous people was inserted into standardised systems of classifying and ordering from the time of Cook's voyages through to the 1830s. After introducing our main research project, 'Natural History in the Age of Revolutions, 1776-1848', we outline the emergence of Linnaean botany and its integration with exploration. We then explore the development of these practices during a series of voyages to the South Pacific and the settlement of new colonies, starting with the work of Joseph Banks and Daniel Solander during James Cook's first voyage before moving through to later figures including the first settlers of New South Wales and the botanist Allan Cunningham who undertook numerous journeys in Australia, Tasmania and New Zealand. Exploring the original manuscripts, this talk uncovers the active contributions of indigenous people in these collecting enterprises, processes that revolutionised studies of the natural world in the decades around 1800
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2023
 
Description Public Talk, Department of History, University of Auckland 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Other audiences
Results and Impact 26/11/2023, Department of History, University of Auckland

Title: Information, Empire and a Revolution in the Natural History of the Pacific

Presenters: Edwin Rose and Staffan Müller-Wille

This talk gives an account of some of our research on the botany of New Zealand and the practices of collecting, recording, naming and classifying new species from the time of James Cook's voyages in 1769 to the 1830s. It analyses the involvement of Maori in the collecting process and the active integration of information supplied by Maori into knowledge systems previously believed to have a singular 'western' heritage. This talk was of special importance for our ongoing research and has formed close collaborative connections with academics who are willing to work on future research projects.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2023
 
Description Public Talk, Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga, Gisborne 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Regional
Primary Audience Other audiences
Results and Impact 24/11/2023, Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga, Gisborne
Title: Information, Empire and a Revolution in the Natural History of the Pacific Presenters: Müller-Wille This talk gives an account of some of our research on the botany of New Zealand and the practices of collecting, recording, naming and classifying new species from the time of James Cook's voyages in 1769 to the 1830s. It analyses the involvement of Maori in the collecting process and the active integration of information supplied by Maori into knowledge systems previously believed to have a singular 'western' heritage.

This talk was of special importance for our ongoing research and has formed close collaborative connections with communities in the lace where James Cook first landed in New Zealand in 1769. It was also reported in the local media. The contacts made in this talk have been instrumental in putting together a significant future funding application.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2023
URL https://www.gisborneherald.co.nz/news/cambridge-uni-pair-here-for-natural-history-talk
 
Description Public Talk, Nelson Musuem, Nelson 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Regional
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact 22/11/2023, Nelson Provincial Museum, Pupuri Taonga o Te Tai Ao
Title: Information, Empire and a Revolution in the Natural History of the Pacific
Presenters: Müller-Wille
This talk gives an account of some of our research on the botany of New Zealand and the practices of collecting, recording, naming and classifying new species from the time of James Cook's voyages in 1769 to the 1830s. It analyses the involvement of Maori in the collecting process and the active integration of information supplied by Maori into knowledge systems previously believed to have a singular 'western' heritage. The talk is aimed at a public audience.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2023
URL https://www.instagram.com/nelsonmuse/p/CznlZpdLAu7/
 
Description Public conference organised: Natural History in the Age of Revolutions 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Regional
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact This was a one day public conference meeting at the Linnean Society of London entitled 'Natural History in the Age of Revolutions, 1776-1848' held on 15th July 2024.

The decades around 1800 are commonly known as the 'Age of Revolutions', witnessing momentous changes in politics, economics and the sciences on a global scale. This conference - part of the ongoing research project 'Natural History in the Age of Revolutions' - seeks to understand the role of natural history in these changes.

Natural history stimulated the emergence of new concepts such as evolution, deep time, and the so-called 'natural' system of classification, but their connection with political discourses and events is poorly understood.

This day-long conference (full agenda below, and also here) will explore themes connected broadly to the revolution in nature that began to be witnessed on a global scale in the decades around 1800. Papers will discuss ideas that look beyond European institutions in an age that witnessed the recording of more new species than ever before or since, especially the connections between what are often considered 'Western' concepts in natural history, Indigenous knowledge systems, and the multiple political agendas that shaped the age of revolutions on a global scale.

The agenda included:

9.15 am: Arrival and Registrations
9.30 to 10 am: Introductions and Conference Opening

10 to 11 am: Collecting, Displaying and the Circulation of Nature
Chair: Gordon McOuat, University of Kings' College/Dalhousie University
10.00-10.30: Clare Tonks, Cold Spring Harbour Laboratory | William Bullock: A Natural History Showman
10.30-11.00: Léonie Boissière, University Côte d'Azur | From Private to Public: A Transformation in Collecting Practices through the Baudin and Flinders Collections in Europe (1800-1825)

11 to 11.30 am: Break

11:30 to 13:00 | Natural History in the Americas
11.30-12.00: Thomas C. Anderson, Yale University, Rage in the Air: Climate, Medical Topography, and Colonialism in France's Eighteenth-Century Empire
12.00-12.30: Salomé Ketabi, EHESS Paris, From Natural History to Post-Revolutionary Politics? A Scientific Expedition for the New Republic of Bolivia (1830-1833)
12.30-13.00: Jordan Thomas Mursinna, University of California, Berkeley, Abolitionary Quinarianism: William Sharp Macleay in Cuba, 1825-1836

13:00 to 14:00: Lunch

14:00 to 15:30 | Images of Nature
Chair: Fiona Ainsworth, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
14.00-14.30: Cam Sharp Jones, British Library, Richard Wellesley (1760-1842) and 'The Institution for Promoting the Natural History of India'
14.30-15.00: Katherine Enright, University of Cambridge, Natural History in and out of the Tropics: Assembling and Circulating the Farquhar Collection of Natural History Drawings
15.00-15.30: Xingyu Chen, City University of Hong Kong, and Tsi Cong Han, University of Warwick, Reconstructed Nature and the Imagined Prosperity of the Qianlong Era: The Lemur and Political Metaphors in Guiseppe Castiglione's Jiazhi guoran

15:30 to 16:00: Break

16:00 to 17:30 | Revolutions in Knowledge
Chair: Staffan Müller-Wille
16.00-16.30: Mary-Ann Constantine, University of Wales, Saint Winifred's Bloody Moss
16.30-17.00: Gianamar Giovannetti-Singh, University of Cambridge, Stars and Strata in Southern Africa: Colonial Entanglements of Natural, Earth, Cosmic, and Human Histories in the Age of Revolutions
1700-17:30: Kencho Peldon, University of Queensland, Rethinking Natural History, Law and Science Co-production in the British Colony of India in the late 1840s

17:30 to 18:00
Closing comments and discussion: Sujit Sivasundaram
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2024
URL https://members.linnean.org/events/66265a5076035a00089ae6d0/description
 
Description The value of fieldwork in History of Science and Medicine 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Local
Primary Audience Postgraduate students
Results and Impact University of Cambridge, Department of History and Philosophy of Science, History of Medicine Seminar (supported by the Wellcome Trust), Feb 20, 2024
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2024
 
Description Two Public Panel Sessions entitled 'Exploring Cambridge University Herbarium in its Historical Context' 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Regional
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact Exploring the Cambridge University Herbarium in its Historical Context (two panel sessions). Held at the auditorium, Sainsbury Laboratory, Cambridge, as part of the Cambridge Festival.

These panel sessions consist of public talks designed to outline the historical context of the Cambridge University Herbarium for a general audience, exploring the history of the specimens and the people who collected them from the eighteenth to twentieth centuries. Crucial to this is the uncovering of numerous underrepresented voices. Audience questions and participation are welcome and time has been built into each session for discussion.

23/3/2023, Session 1: Talks from Lauren Gardiner, Chris Preston, Mark Carine, Kasia Boddy, Natuan Smith and Edwin Rose.
30/03/2023, Session 2: Talks from Edwin Rose, Caroline Cornish, Anne Secord, Melisa Calaresu and Lauren Gardiner.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2023