Patron's review: Exploring cultures of collecting in the early modern world

Abstract

“Reconnecting Sloane” is an inter-disciplinary and multi-institutional project exploring the vast collection of the physician and naturalist Sir Hans Sloane (1660–1753). This review surveys recent scholarship within the different but overlapping methodological and conceptual approaches used by the collaborative team to understand early modern cultures of natural history collecting. Starting with the global geography of Sloane's botanical collections and material studies of natural objects, it then considers sociable practices of science and issues of trust and authenticity. Finally, it explores scholarship surrounding the organization of natural objects and its role in knowledge formation, before discussing how we might best approach current museum collections.

Reconstructing historical egocentric social networks in malacology: can eponyms serve as a proxy for contacts?

“…Historical studies in malacology have focussed nearly exclusively on biographies, bibliographies and lists of new taxa described by individual malacologists (Coan & Kabat, 2016). And although the role of historical science networks in biological sciences has received some attention (e.g., Marples & Pickering, 2016), not so within malacology. No in-depth studies on contact networks of individuals nor studies of coherent networks have been published.…”