Andrea Hart
Head of Library Special Collections @nhmlibraryarchives.bsky.social. Love all things paper & vellum, the natural world & its history, mudskippers, running and drinking tea.
Previously @drewyhart on Twitter/X
- Reposted by Andrea HartTwo mice, Joris Hoefnagel, 1594 Hoefnagel made this drawing especially for his friend Johannes Muisenhol from Frankfurt. The image refers to his surname. The extinguished candle & eaten walnut represent the transience of life.
- Reposted by Andrea HartWhat happens when humans are classified? On 19 March, 6pm to 8pm, we’re launching Homo Sapiens | Classifying the Human Animal at the Society, with a panel discussion exploring Carl Linnaeus’ classification of humans and its enduring impact on ideas of race and difference. Book now: buff.ly/frgzC9H
- Born on this day the amazing Ferdinand Bauer (1760-1826) - I remember the first time I set eyes on his original drawings of the Genus Pinus it brought tears to my eyes! Now preserved at @nhmlibraryarchives.bsky.social digitised and freely available to view nhm.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/permalink/44...
- So much fun chatting with Josh and Natalie for this podcast in this brilliant #podcast series! If you like monkeys with “trousers”, blue minerals, blancmange references, pufferfish and botanical art you won’t be disappointed 🤣 #collections #art #museumcolleagues #history #lovemyjob
- Time for ARTISTIC! This week featuring special guest @andreahart.bsky.social from @nhmlibraryarchives.bsky.social who shares some incredible stories from our collections. m.youtube.com/watch?v=nVTU...
- Very proud to have worked with @edwinrose.bsky.social and our other partners in New Zealand and at Cambridge on this. Even happier to see the fruits of Sydney Parkinson’s skill and efforts in glorious high resolution detail nhm.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/permalink/44... #botanicalart #collaboration
- Delighted to see this recent article in the @smithsonianmag.bsky.social by @donnalferguson.bsky.social on some of the research outputs for the Naming Species in the South Pacific project: www.smithsonianmag.com/history/newl... With thanks to our collaborators, @nhmlibraryarchives.bsky.social
- Reposted by Andrea Hart🦟 British dragonflies (Odonata) London, L.U. Gill, 1900. [Source]
- Reposted by Andrea Hart'Painters, Ports, and Profits: Artists and the East India Company, 1750-1850' is on view until 31st May at the Yale Center for British Art 🌿 Read about Patna's great artists in this new story about painting nature for the East India Company 👉 artuk.org/discover/sto...
- Reposted by Andrea Hart💚 Thanks to our global BHL community, we reached our USD 50,000 #GiveBHLWings goal by 1 Jan 2026! These funds support BHL’s transition, staff, and infrastructure, keeping biodiversity knowledge open worldwide. Special thanks to our recurring donors. More updates soon. 🌍 📖 🧪 #BHLTransition
- Reposted by Andrea HartOur historic collections have been seen by a huge range of collaborators and visitors from around the world this year. Our team are always happy to provide tours for groups and clubs, or for schools and universities. Find out more at buff.ly/WZaTeR6
- A most wonderful and special building (not that I’m remotely biased!). The colours of the terracotta beautifully captured @bar44.bsky.social 💙
- One final image of the interior of the Natural History Museum of London…for now! September 2025 #Photography #InteriorArchitecture #Museum #London 📷
- Georg Ehret 💙
- Here's our 25-day #NHMAdventCalendar of Library and Archives art. Enjoy! 24. Ananas sativas (Pineapple), Georg Dionysius Ehret (1708-1770). Did you know… #AdventCalendar2025 #Christmas #SpecialCollections #Art #NaturalHistoryMuseum Alt text: an advent calendar revealing an unpicked pineapple.
- Reposted by Andrea HartWe've put together a 25-day #NHMAdventCalendar of Library and Archives art. Enjoy! 11. The night-blooming Cereus, Robert John Thornton. Did you know... #AdventCalendar2025 #Christmas #SpecialCollections #Art #NaturalHistoryMuseum Alt text: an advent calendar revealing a round orange fllower.
- Reposted by Andrea Hart🐢 The gigantic land-tortoises (living and extinct) in the collection of the British Museum London: Printed by order of the Trustees, 1877. [Source]
- Reposted by Andrea Hart🐬 Gemeinnüzzige Naturgeschichte des Thierreichs bd 2 plates Berlin ;bei Gottlieb August Lange, 1780-1789. [Source]
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- One of my favorite entomologists, @flygirlnhm.bsky.social, is featured on an episode of @perfect-specimen.bsky.social , and now I am smiling ear to ear. Such a fun watch/listen. I tried to pick out my favorite quote to help "sell" this skeeet, but there are just too many. Typical. #MoreOfThisPlease
- Sharing this lovely lithograph of a #lemur from Voeltzkow’s Säugetiere von Madagascar and Sansibar (1898). Loving its facial expression, fur detail and weird toe nail?!!? #zoologicalart
- Has been a bit of a #bony day today in the collections - these two plates published in A series of engravings representing the bones of the human skeleton .. by John Barclay in 1819 perhaps being my favourites. Both engraved by E. Mitchell #rarebooks #skeletons #barebones
- Reposted by Andrea HartJust a 1399 unicorn watermark from a paper manufacturer from Valencia to make your day. Friends of #paperhistory know that these paper sheets of around 1400 are among the first sheets of European paper to appear on the market. European #bookhistory was a different game afterwards. #skystorians
- Reposted by Andrea Hart🦧 The naturalists' miscellany: . London: Printed for Nodder co, 1789.. [Source]
- Even more #cyanotypes from over 150 years ago by the pioneering Anna Atkins (1799-1871) - her 3 volumes of cyanotypes of British Algae created between 1843-53 preserved @nhmlibraryarchives.bsky.social all digitised & freely available to view nhm.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/permalink/44... #photography
- “Wonder” the new #exhibition @linneansociety.bsky.social - wonder in title and wonderful in choice of objects, humour and celebration of all things natural world- y! And what's even better is that it is free to go see! www.linnean.org/research-col... #collections #proudtrustee #HarryStyles #science
- Happy Departmental #Birthday to us! Our shelves are still happily full of wonderful books but I’m just wondering how on earth the ones on the top shelf got there or were retrieved?!? (Loving the ladder too even though a H&S nightmare … ) #libraries #books #NHM #Collections
- #OTD in 1975 our departmental libraries were formally centralised with the creation of a Department of Library Services. Today our team continue to support the work of all our Museum staff and in the provision of a service to external visitors wanting to engage with our collections.
- For anyone needing a little lift today, here’s a link to the botanical drawing #master that is Georg Ehret (1708-1770) and some of his watercolours held by nhmlibraryarchives.bsky.social all freely available to view and make you #smile nhm.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/discovery/fu... #botanicalart
- Delighted to have come across this lovely book for a patron visit - Isabella Sinclair’s Indigenous Flowers of the #Hawaiian Islands (1855). The first book published with colour images of Hawaiian flowering plants. A great blog here blog.biodiversitylibrary.org/2019/03/isab... #rarebooks #flowers
- Reposted by Andrea HartMycologist Arthur Peck (1870-1940) was such a fun guy (sorry, not sorry) we've added his 150+ images of British fungi to our Digitised Special Collections buff.ly/DwrpsMW. #NaturalHistoryMuseum #SpecialCollections #NatureInArt #Photography #SciArt #Mushrooms Alt text: Reel of sepia photos of fungi
- Reposted by Andrea HartSurely one of the most exquisite zoological publications of the nineteenth century: Richard Owen's Monograph on the Aye-Aye (1863), with plates drawn by Joseph Wolf and lithographed by James Erxleben. Also a key statement of Owen's conception of evolution. (The @nhmlibraryarchives.bsky.social copy.)
- Reposted by Andrea HartNew on advance access: "Colonial world-making and global knowledges at the early modern Cape of Good Hope" by @gianamar97.bsky.social (@uvahumanities.bsky.social) #OpenAccess academic.oup.com/past/advance...
- Reposted by Andrea Hart[This post could not be retrieved]
- Reposted by Andrea HartBIG NEWS: For the first time in six years, Britain's rarest breeding bird has successfully nested in the UK! A pair of Montagu's Harriers have raised four healthy chicks, all of which have taken their first flights.
- Reposted by Andrea HartOne of the cuddliest, fluffiest predators on the planet. Hyperechia consimilis (Asilidae), female. This beauty was collected from Mulanje Massif, or Mt Mulanje in southern Malawi. She is over a hundred years old.... @dipterists.bsky.social @nhm-london.bsky.social #digitising
- I’m getting “oh really” or “do I have to listen to this for the umpteenth time” vibes from this marmoset drawn by Weber in Wagner’s Die Säugthiere in Abbildungen nach der Natur (pl.13, supplementband, 1855). #animalexpressions #specialbooks #illustration
- Richard Owen was born #OTD 221 years ago .. Also born on 20th July: Gregor Mendel (1822-1884), Jimmy “Teddy Bears’ Picnic” Kennedy (1902-1984), Mad Dog Coll (1908-1932), Edmund Hillary (1919-2008), Ted “3-2-1” Rogers (1935-2001), Diana Rigg (1938-2020) and Chris Cornell (1964-2017) #birthdays
- Some birthday facts and faces of Sir Richard Owen, founder of the Natural History Museum, London who was born #OTD in 1804. A very Happy Birthday to anyone else with a birthday today! #NaturalHistoryMuseum #Palaeontology Alt text: Reel of portraits of Professor Richard Owen [has sound]
- You can also now see it as part of the Richard Owen: A Natural Legacy display in the @nhm-london.bsky.social ‘s free Images of Nature gallery alongside other original #illustrations from Owen’s fascinating drawings collection #naturalhistory #art #gallery #echidna #anatomy
- It's #WorldEchidnaDay so here's a drawing by Joseph Wolf (1820-1899) of this extraordinary egg laying mammal. It was published by Richard Owen in the Philosophical Transactions (Pl.39, 1865). If you look closely, you can see a young baby in the pouch and a small outline sketch of it! buff.ly/8ErERyK
- Currently prepping these wooden beauties for a new display on Richard Owen’s science, art and legacy going into the NHM’s Images of Nature gallery tomorrow! #woodengraving #megatherium #bones #specialcollections
- Reposted by Andrea HartOne of the earliest European accounts of an Australian mammal was of a #quokka, by Willem de Vlamingh in 1696, here on #Rottnest - in fact, he named the island after them (Rottnest means Rat's nest in Dutch - of course it already had a Noongar name: Wadjemup). The account of the voyage... 1/2
- Reposted by Andrea HartCelebrating the first anniversary of Fern the Diplodocus in our garden @nhm-london.bsky.social , here's a little movie explaining exactly how we did it, starring yours truly: www.youtube.com/watch?v=V7Xb...
- A true privilege to be able to observe such iconic wildlife up close in the wonderful Galápagos Islands - especially my all time fav, the blue footed booby. So very special to appreciate how humans and wildlife can thrive together #santacruz #sancristobal #respect
- Reposted by Andrea Harthello. if you work at a university please ask your library to buy my book. it is all about books and libraries and also plants, museums, the Royal Society, and the ways we learn. I think it will be interesting to lots of people, hopefully. thank you www.cambridge.org/gb/universit...
- Reposted by Andrea HartMorning all. Meet Enigmacursor mollyborthwickae, a new neornithishian dinosaur from the Morrison Formation. It goes on display @nhm-london.bsky.social from tomorrow. Paper by @profpaulbarrett.bsky.social and I in @royalsocietypublishing.org Open Science. royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/...
- Reposted by Andrea HartThe fab jackdashby.bsky.social is giving us @nhm-london.bsky.social’ers a talk on the topics in his new book ‘Nature’s Memory’ The history of how collections develop is not always pleasant - some have a dark past -check out the publication below & read his book! www.natsca.org/sites/defaul...
- Reposted by Andrea HartWell this is exciting! Here's an interview I did for @nature.com about #NaturesMemory - talking about how natural history #museums can help save the world, as the best evidence we have for understanding environmental change, plus colonial legacies, male bias, and more: www.nature.com/articles/d41...
- Possibly one of my favourite depictions of a pigeon for #NationalPigeonDay From: A treatise on domestic pigeons; comprehending all the different species know in England ... by John Moore, printed and sold by C. Barry, 1765. #rarebooks #specialcollections #birb
- Reposted by Andrea HartA smidgen of pigeon for National Pigeon Day. ⬆️Learn more about our collections and how to visit us via the link in our bio. #NaturalHistoryMuseum #SpecialCollections #Birds #NationalPigeonDay #NaturalHistoryIllustration #NatureInArt #SciArt
- Reposted by Andrea HartCoenraad Temminck's (1778-1858) Les Pigeons text was accompanied by illustrations by French artist Pauline Knip (1781-1851). Giving her full control over the engraving and printing process, she controversially re-titled the work “Les Pigeons par Madame Knip”, crediting him by misspelling his name!
- Reposted by Andrea HartEach year we recognise an outstanding botanical artist with the Jill Smythies Award. The winner, whose work must involve diagnostically relevant, published illustrations, receives a medal and £1,000. Send in your nominations by 30 September. Find out more: www.linnean.org/the-...
- Reposted by Andrea HartOpening soon! Don’t miss this unique exhibition revealing the remarkable world of wasps and find out why we should all appreciate these incredibly fascinating, ecologically important animals. #WaspLove
- Reposted by Andrea HartJohn Abbot (1751-1840) spent most of his life collecting and drawing the #birds and #insects of Georgia. He was born on either May 31 (parish records) or June 1 (Abbot's choice). See his birds tomorrow! #SpecialBooks #NaturalHistoryMuseum #otd Alt text: A reel showing drawings of insects
- Reposted by Andrea HartJoin @sadiahqureshi.bsky.social as she unravels how the concept of extinction is deeply political - shaped by empire, science, and survival - and why it matters now more than ever as we face the possibility of a sixth mass extinction. June 26, 6–8:15pm, Linnean Society Book here: bit.ly/3T194pc
- Today I give you happy anteaters, a happy chameleon and a happy (dancing?) sloth all courtesy of volume 1 of @nhmlibraryarchives.bsky.social coloured copy of Albertus Seba’s wonderful/curious masterpiece Locupletissimi rerum naturalium thesauri (1734-65). “Accurata” is also in the title.. #rarebooks
- Reposted by Andrea HartWe're hiring! SENIOR DIGITISER, Library and Archives 🔎Based: South Kensington, London 🔎Fixed term contract (23 months) 🔎Hours per week : 36 🔎Closing date: 08/06/2025 ⬆️Full details: see link in bio. #NaturalHistoryMuseum #GLAMJobs #LibraryJobs #ArchiveJobs Alt text: Reel of man digitising artwork.
- A very happy #birthday to the absolutely wonderful and inspirational Sir David Attenborough! I have truly treasured each time I have had the privilege of meeting you and talking with you about @nhmlibraryarchives.bsky.social ‘s collections and the natural world 🪰🦀🐡🐋🍄💚
- Reposted by Andrea HartThe wrong kind of fish is ending up in seabirds. Soy sauce throw away package from a Sable Shearwater.
- Reposted by Andrea HartJoin artist Rob Kesseler at 6pm on 5 June for an in-person in-conversation exploring how microscopic imagery influences contemporary art. Discover how Rob's striking microscope art unlocks hidden plant worlds - merging science and creativity amid climate change. Book here: bit.ly/4manReO
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- Reposted by Andrea HartBig day... My book #NaturesMemory: Behind the Scenes at the World's Natural History #Museums is published TODAY.🤩 Over the last 20+ years of working in these incredible institutions, I've noticed some surprising things about them, and this book shares some of these "secrets", as an insider's guide.🧵
- Reposted by Andrea HartChange is in the air for BHL! In 2026, BHL hosting will transition away from the Smithsonian, opening doors to reimagine our future. Rest assured, our 63 million pages of biodiversity knowledge remain secure and accessible. Learn what's next for BHL ➡️
- Reposted by Andrea HartCharles Darwin is best known for his work on evolution. But he was a prolific scientist who studied much more. Now, over 20,000 of Darwin's letters, books and publications have been recognised as a UNESCO heritage. Find out what this means 👇 www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/new...
- #MiniEggs vs the egg illustration master Henrik Grönvold (1858-1940) #Easter #Eggs #SpecialCollections #Oology
- Eggs? Oh, we have eggs. Enjoy your Easter Sunday! #NaturalHistoryMuseum #Easter #EasterEggs #Oology #DigitisedCollections #Artwork #Birds #BritishBirds #HenrikGrönvold #SpecialCollections Image 1: A reel showing 7 images of postcards depicting the speckled eggs of British birds.
- Reposted by Andrea HartAt the museum for natural history in Copenhagen, they have a wonderful reconstruction of Ole Worm's cabinet of curiosities - famously depicted in this print from 1655:
- Reposted by Andrea HartSir Hans Sloane was born #OTD in 1660. A prominent physician and naturalist, Sloane used the profits from a cotton plantation in Jamaica to amass a huge personal collection of objects that would eventually form the basis of the Natural History Museum, the British Museum and the British Library.
- Reposted by Andrea HartSelf-professed ‘hedgerow geek’ Megan Gimber is our John Spedan Lewis Emerging Leader Award 2025 winner! She has spent almost a decade advocating for the protection, management, and growth of the UK’s depleted hedgerows. @ptes-org.bsky.social @favcolourgreen.bsky.social www.linnean.org/the-...
- Reposted by Andrea HartFor #InternationalBeaverDay 🦫: when taxidermy goes wrong 😬 Sarah Stone (1760-1844) drawings, mostly of zoological subjects, for Sir Ashton Lever's Museum, 1781-5: Plate 4, Beaver. NHM London: nhm.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/permalink/44... #WomenArtists #BadTaxidermy
- Reposted by Andrea HartA Country Life article on museum stores! 📜 www.countrylife.co.uk/luxury/art-a... Includes a section on NMS's National Museums Collection Store at Granton, north Edinburgh
- #OTD in 1913, the #NHM Department of Entomology was set up (insects previously studied alongside arthropods in Zoology Dept). Charles J. Grahan was its first Keeper serving from 1913-1927, when Ernest Edward Austen took over and for whom this horse fly was illustrated by Grace Edwards #History #Art
- Reposted by Andrea HartWord of the day is ‘erumpent’ (17th century), which describes buds and blossom that are bursting forth with vigour. Can also be used of energetic humans.
- Reposted by Andrea HartFrederik 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.
- Reposted by Andrea HartCome and see our new FREE exhibition: Naturalist Notebooks! A close look at the nature journals of naturalists through history displayed in our historic library. Open Tuesday-Friday, 10:00-17:00.
- Reposted by Andrea HartWe are delighted to announce another fully-funded collaborative PhD studentship, this time in conjunction with @theul.bsky.social. "The Hidden Gender of Collections: Women and the Curation of Scientific Heritage". Deadline 30 April. See here for full details: phd.leeds.ac.uk/project/2233... #histsci
- Reposted by Andrea HartIT’S THE BEST Season! Beefly season is upon us folks #BeeflyWatch Yesterday they were spotted at @kneppwilding.bsky.social Tomorrow, my garden 🤓 Please go spotting these little beauties & add your records to either dipterists.org.uk/bee-fly-watch or #IRecord @dipteristsforum.bsky.social
- One of the cutest engraved vignettes I’ve happened upon in a while - Italian priest and mycologist Giovanni Antonio Battarra’s first edition of his book Fungorum Agri Ariminensis Historia (1755). 248 species of #fungi described accompanied by 40 copper plates which he engraved by himself #rarebooks
- The genus Battarrea is named after him 🍄🟫
- Reposted by Andrea HartHelp your local British herbarium to join in the digitisation journey! My blog post in BSBi News bsbipublicity.blogspot.com/2025/03/help... with a plea to express interest in the DiSSCo UK programme engagementhub.ukri.org/ahrc-infrast...
- Reposted by Andrea HartToday, for #InternationalWomensDay, we celebrate some of the incredible women artists and naturalists whose work we have digitised and made freely available: 🎉Anna Atkins (1799-1871) 🎉Clara Maria Pope (1767-1838) 🎉E. Gertrude Norrie (active 1900) 🎉Elisa Zoe Malcy de Chazal (1804-1880) #IWD2025
- Reposted by Andrea HartHow far would you go for a hobby? William Hamilton (1730-1803) developed a passion for volcanoes and loved getting up close and personal in the name of science. #NaturalHistoryMuseum #SpecialCollections #Volcanology #Italy #BookSky #Geology #Art #WorldBookDay #WBD25
- Reposted by Andrea Hart*Apply now* for acquisition grants for rare books, mss, archives, fine bindings etc. UK's national, regional, local and specialist collecting institutions are eligible. Next trustees' meeting is soon, so apply now if you have an acquisition in your sights & need support. www.fnl.org.uk/apply
- Very honoured to have been invited to the Botanical Survey of India’s 3rd Int. Congress in Kolkata. I spoke about @nhmlibraryarchives.bsky.social #Indian botanical artworks and now listening to the brilliant Dr Ranee Om Prakesh speak about #curating wet collections #SharingKnowledge #Collections
- Reposted by Andrea HartJohn Hunter, Scottish surgeon and anatomist was born #OTD 1728. This amazing illustration is taken from Hunter's Natural History of the Human Teeth (c.1771). #histmed
