Somerville College Library is delighted to share its newly-catalogued Mary Somerville Natural History Collection.
Over the last one hundred years, the college has been fortunate to receive many gifts of artefacts, papers and paintings associated with our namesake Mary Somerville, from the Fairfax-Lucy family. Most recent among these is Mary Somerville’s shell collection, which was given to the college in 2018.
It is understood to be her personal collection, which she started accumulating as a girl, collecting ‘native shells’ from the shores around her home in Burntisland. As such, the collection is of great interest to conchologists not only for its association with Mary Somerville, but for its age, as it could be a particularly early collection, potentially dating from the late 18th century.
Last year, with the assistance of the Oxford University Museum of Natural History, a 12-week project to photograph, catalogue and conserve the collection took place. Will Adams, the project cataloguer, photographed the shells (and the bespoke wooden cabinet they are housed in) as received, and then began the work of recording all the contents in detail – specimens, labels, containers, and even the papers used to pack the larger shells for transit.
Clockwise from top left: Euthria, Gibbula fanulum, Janthina janthina, Laevichlamys gladysiae
Information provided by labels and on original cardboard containers was recorded and the order of the specimens within the drawers was preserved. Once photographed, measured and listed, the specimens were then placed in zip-lock bags or capsules (for the tiniest shells), and returned to the appropriate compartment in drawers which had been lined with conservation foam.
The study of the cabinet contents revealed it to contain not only shells but a variety of other specimens, including minerals, fossils and spiders, meaning it is more accurately described as a ‘natural history collection’. In total, 234 unique species were identified, and the collection was found to contain not just ‘native shells’, but a significant number from the Mediterranean. This would suggest the collection was gathered over many years. A set of numbered geological specimens is one indicator that some items could have been acquired via traders or sharing; a list of the minerals was found separately among Mary Somerville’s papers, which supports the Somerville provenance.
Clockwise from top left: Bolinus brandaris, Moerella rubicinta, Cypraecassis rufa, Echinus esculentus
It is hoped that the cataloguing of the collection will enable scholars to continue investigating its contents and its history. The project report, finding aid and images are now available on the Somerville College Library website, giving researchers from across the world access to this fascinating collection in digital form.