Join Jack Ashby, Assistant Director of the University Museum of Zoology, Cambridge, for a talk on his new book Nature’s Memory: Behind the Scenes at the World’s Natural History Museums.
Far less than 1% of all collections are on display in the world’s natural history museums, and they consistently top the polls for the most popular tourist attractions. Yet we don’t often stop to think about what they tell us about our world, how crucial they might yet be to saving life on Earth, or their role in honestly reframing social histories. What is the science is being done behind the scenes? What is chosen for display and why? Who really collected it, and how? What has been left out? Can they tell us new stories for the 21st century?
Nature’s Memory is the first book to explore both the scientific and social relevance of the world’s natural history museums while offering an illuminating insider’s guide to visiting them.
This talk is presented in conjunction with the School of Life and Environmental Sciences (SOLES).
Jack Ashby is an award-winning author and zoologist. He is the assistant director of the University Museum of Zoology, Cambridge, an honorary research fellow in the Department of Science and Technology Studies at University College London, a longstanding trustee of the Natural Sciences Collections Association, and the president of the Society for the History of Natural History. His zoological focus is the mammals of Australia, but his work more broadly explores the biases influencing how nature is presented, particularly through museums and their colonial legacies.
Ashby’s books include Platypus Matters (2022) and Animal Kingdom (2017). His 2025 publication Nature's Memory: Behind the Scenes at the World’s Natural History Museums is published by Penguin.
