The Society for the History of Collecting Invites you to its Online Lecture ‘New Perspectives on Hans Sloane’ (Part Two) ECR & PhD Workshop Thursday 27th January, 2022 6.30pm (GMT) This two-part workshop provides a platform for new research across the collections of Hans Sloane (1660–1753). Sloane – a physician, naturalist and president of both the Royal Society and Royal College of Surgeons – amassed … Continue reading Workshop, 27 January 2022: ‘New Perspectives on Hans Sloane’

The Society for the History of Collecting Invites you to its Online Lecture ‘New Perspectives on Hans Sloane’ ECR & PhD Workshop Thursday, 20th January & Thursday 27th January, 2022 6.30pm (GMT) This two-part workshop provides a platform for new research across the collections of Hans Sloane (1660–1753). Sloane – a physician, naturalist and president of both the Royal Society and Royal College of Surgeons … Continue reading Workshop, 20th & 27th January: New Perspectives on Hans Sloane

The Sloane Lab is one of five ‘Discovery Projects’ sharing £14.5m of Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) funding to democratise and decolonise the UK’s culture and heritage collections. Click here for more info. The lab will bring together the British Museum, Natural History Museum and the British Library, and the team will be working closely with Historic Environment Scotland, Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, National … Continue reading The Sloane Lab: Looking back to build future shared collections

“Encoding the haunting of an object catalogue: on the potential of digital technologies to perpetuate or subvert the silence and bias of the early-modern archive” in Digital Scholarship in the Humanities Alexandra Ortolja-Baird and Julianne Nyhan Open access here: https://academic.oup.com/dsh/advance-article/doi/10.1093/llc/fqab065/6401182 Abstract The subjectivities that shape data collection and management have received extensive criticism, especially with regards to the digitization projects and digital archives of galleries, … Continue reading New Article Explores Future Prospects for Sloane Research

It is not only a problem of reframing Sloane, then, but of revising our understanding of the entire imperial project. Continue reading Taking Sloane down from his pedestal?

“‘Chaos naturae et artis’: imitation, innovation, and improvisation in the library of Sir Hans Sloane. Part 1” Alexandra Ortolja-Baird Library and Information History December 2020 Click here Abstract This article explores the library catalogues of the physician, President of the Royal Society, and omnivorous collector Sir Hans Sloane (1660–1753). It draws attention to how Sloane organised and catalogued his books, and situates his approach within … Continue reading New article: ‘Chaos naturae et artis’: imitation, innovation, and improvisation in the library of Sir Hans Sloane. Part 1

“Enlightenment architectures: The reconstruction of Sir Hans Sloane’s cabinets of ‘Miscellanies’” Kim Sloan, Julianne Nyhan Journal of the History of Collections 05 December 2020 Click here Abstract Focusing on Sir Hans Sloane’s catalogue of ‘Miscellanies’, now in the British Museum, this paper asks firstly how Sloane described objects and secondly whether the original contents of the cabinets can be reconstructed from his catalogue. Drawing on … Continue reading New article: Enlightenment architectures: The reconstruction of Sir Hans Sloane’s cabinets of ‘Miscellanies’

Sir Hans Sloane (1660–1753) collected books, manuscripts and objects from around the world, numbering over 71,000 items, which were bequeathed to the nation. Sloane’s collection formed one of the foundation collections of the British Museum and was subsequently, dispersed across the Natural History Museum, the British Museum and the British Library. The Library’s Modern Archives and Manuscripts department is responsible for western manuscripts dating from 1601 to 1950, … Continue reading PhD Placement Scheme 2021-22, ‘Cataloguing Hans Sloane’s Natural History Albums’

In 1753, Sir Hans Sloane bequeathed his collection of over 70,000 objects to the nation, founding the British Museum’s collection, and those that would become the British Library and Natural History Museum.  His collection spanned from natural history specimens to ancient sculpture, plants and contemporary 18th-century objects. But Sloane’s collecting is tied closely to colonialism, empire and slavery – his family profited from sugar plantations … Continue reading British Museum Podcast Special: Sir Hans Sloane

Adam Richter is a historian of science who specializes in the relationship between science and religion; he has published on John Wallis (1616-1703). Here, he writes about the correspondence between Wallis and Sloane. When Hans Sloane became secretary of the Royal Society in 1693, John Wallis was about to enter the last decade of his life. Wallis is best known as a mathematician, but he was … Continue reading Letters and Legacies: The Correspondence between John Wallis and Hans Sloane