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Natural history societies in late Victorian Scotland and the pursuit of local civic science

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 March 2005

DIARMID A. FINNEGAN
DIARMID A. FINNEGAN
Affiliation:
Institute of Geography, School of GeoSciences, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, EH8 9XP, UK.
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Abstract

Nineteenth-century natural history societies sought to address the concerns of a scientific and a local public. Focusing on natural history societies in late Victorian Scotland, this paper concentrates on the relations between associational natural history and local civic culture. By examining the recruitment rhetoric used by leading members and by exploring the public meetings organized by the societies, the paper signals a number of ways in which members worked to make their societies important public bodies in Scottish towns. In addition, by narrating a number of disputes between members over how natural history societies should operate, the paper shows how civic science could occasion social discord rather than harmony. Overall, by investigating the presence of field clubs in different urban settings, and describing members' attempts to portray natural historical pursuits as a significant cultural endeavour, the paper seeks to map an important part of the historical geography of Scottish civic science.

Type
Research Article
Information
The British Journal for the History of Science , Volume 38 , Issue 1 , March 2005 , pp. 53 - 72
Copyright
© 2005 British Society for the History of Science

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Footnotes

This paper is based on research funded by the Carnegie Trust for the Universities of Scotland. Versions were presented at the Annual Conference of the British Society for the History of Science, York, 2003 and the 12th International Conference of Historical Geographers, Auckland, 2003. I am particularly grateful to Professor Charles Withers and Professor Graeme Morton for comments on earlier drafts. Thanks are due as well to the anonymous referees for helpful suggestions.