Science Literacy Week September 20 - 26, 2021
The role of historical material in biodiversity
Historical material plays an important role in biodiversity research. The Biodiversity Heritage Library (BHL) series of blogs demonstrate how historic literature provides unique and "time-stamped" information about previous ecosystems, climate records, habitat alteration and species mortality and adaptation.
This series discusses how both the knowledge about the earth’s species and ecosystems in previous times and the historical perspective it provides help identify the extent of climate change. Learning about past extinctions informs the relationships within ecosystems and therefore can help identify current day critical keystone species. This in turn can help predict future extinctions and inform protective strategies. Additionally, harvesting the information in books into modern datasets creates big data that can be used in computational models to inform the development of conservation measures and create theories.
Rare Books and Special Collections at UBC has an extensive science collection starting from the 15th century and the early days of the printing press. Below is a selection of some of these; many of which are also digitally available
Zoological resources - Early books
Naturalis historia by Call Number: QH41 .P73 1496Publication Date: 1496It was the most extant ancient western encyclopaedia containing all that was known at his time of geography, mineralogy, anthropology, botany, zoology and meterology. It was one of the first scientific texts to be printed in 1469. UBC’s copy probably contains corrections made in 1492.
Conrad Gesneri Historiae animalium by Call Number: QL41 .G46 1551Publication Date: 1551-1558This book is considered one of the starting points of zoology, it includes the names and information of all the known animals and contains 4,500 pages and over 1,000 woodcuts in 5 volumes. Some woodcuts are by Albrecht Dürer.
Aristotle de Animalibus. Michael Scot's Arabic-Latin Translation, Volume 1a: Books I-III: History of Animals by ISBN: 9004411267Publication Date: 2020-02-06Aristotle's De Animalibus was an important source of zoological knowledge for the ancient Greeks and for medieval Arabs and Europeans. In the thirteenth century, the work was twice translated into Latin. One translation was produced directly from the Greek by William of Moerbeke. An earlier translation, made available as a critical edition in the present volume for the first time, was produced through an intermediary Arabic translation (Kitāb al-Ḥayawān) by Michael Scot (1175 - c. 1232). Scot's translation was one of the main sources of knowledge on animals in Europe and widely used until well into the fifteenth century. As a faithful translation of a translation produced by a Syriac-speaking Christian, the text contributes to our knowledge of Middle Arabic. The De Animalibus is composed of three sections: History of Animals (ten books), Parts of Animals (four books) and Generation of Animals (five books). Parts of Animals and Generation of Animals were published by BRILL as Volumes 5.2 and 5.3 of the book series ASL in 1998 (ASL 5.2) and 1992 (ASL 5.3). The present Volume 5.1.a contains the first section of Scot's translation of History of Animals: the general introduction and books 1-3, with Notes. Editions of the two concluding parts of History of Animals, ASL 5.1.b, books 4-6 and ASL 5.1.c, books 7-10, are in preparation. Complete Latin-Arabic and Arabic-Latin indices of History of Animals will be published in due course.
The book of nature; or the history of insects 1758 by Call Number: QL362 .S9613 1758Publication Date: 1758This is the English translation of Swammerdam’s papers on insects that was published as Bybel der Natuur sive Historia Insectorum and published posthumously by Herman Boerhaave (1737). Swammerdam, an early microscopist, described metamorphosis and mapped out a natural classification for insects.
The ornithology of Francis Willughby of Middleton in the county of Warwick. (1678) by Call Number: QL673 .W74 1678Publication Date: 1678One of a series of books conceived by Ray and Willughby which included birds, fish and invertebrates. This volume was intended to describe all the then-known birds worldwide and included a classification system based on anatomical features such as beak, claws etc
Botanical sources – Herbals etc.
Botanical sources – Herbals etc.
The herbal or Generall historie of plantes 1597 by Call Number: QK41 .G3 1597Publication Date: 1597For each plant there is a woodcut illustration with a detailed description of the plant’s appearance, habitat, alternative name, and a list of virtues and medicinal properties. The 2nd edition published in 1633 corrected many of the errors in this edition.
Theatrum botanicum = the theater of plants : or, An herball of a large extent ... / collected by many yeares travaile, industry and experience in this subject by John Parkinson by Call Number: QK41 .P37 1640Publication Date: 1640Parkinson was apothecary to James I and his description of plants nearly doubles that of Gerard’s first edition and contains many original entries.
Note: Access is from Haithi Trust. Login as University of British Columbia
Curtis’s Botanical Magazine. Kew Gardens. 1787 by Call Number: QK1 .C9This longest running botanical journal, begun in 1787, contains botanically precise plant portraits. The detailed texts combine horticultural and botanical information with information of the history, conservation and economic uses of a world-wide range of plants. The illustrations in the first 30 volumes were hand coloured copper plate engravings. Many plants were publicised for the first time in this journal.
Surveys, fieldbooks and travel
Surveys, fieldbooks and travel
The zoology of the voyage of H.M.S. Beagle, under the command of Captain Fitzroy, R.N by Call Number: QL5. B3 1839Publication Date: 1839This five volume work was written by various authors, and edited and superintended by Charles Darwin, who published expert descriptions of the collections he had made during the Beagle voyage.
Observations topographical, moral, & physiological; made in a journey through part of the Low-countries, Germany, Italy, and France: with a catalogue of plants not native of England, found spontaneously growing in those parts, and their virtues by Call Number: D915 .R25 1673Publication Date: 1673This is Ray's account of his travels across Europe between 1663 and 1666 with his companions Francis Willughby, Philip Skippon and Nathaniel Bacon for the purpose of observing and studying the natural history of continental Europe, collecting specimens along the way.
Source: https://www.bowwindows.com/pages/books/28544/john-ray/observations-topographical-moral-physiological-made-in-a-journey-through-part-of-the-low.
Supplement to Flora of southern British Columbia (J.K. Henry) : comprising descriptions of additional species and varieties, significant extensions of range and corrections by Call Number: QK209.B7 H32 1947Publication Date: 1947Supplement to Flora of southern British Columbia (J.K. Henry): comprising descriptions of additional species and varieties, significant extensions of range and corrections / by J.W. Eastham.
The copy in the Gibson Collection in Rare Books and Special Collection was formerly owned by Timothy Brayshaw and is heavily annotated with his own field observations.
Climate-related fonds and collections
Rare Books and Special Collections holds many fonds related to British Columbia's environment. As we know now, global climate health is determined by and connected to a variety of environmental factors, including air quality, the health of oceans and waterways, forested lands, biodiversity and more. Many historical forces have impacted these factors, and still do today, including settler-colonial appropriation of Indigenous lands and waters, resource extraction industries, and organizations which fought for the preservation of what is conceptualized in a western framework as 'wilderness'. As we continue to write the history of tomorrow, what can be learned by the records of the past? For a highlight on the Forestry Industry in British Columbia, check out the Forest History and Archives LibGuide, available here.
You can also out some of the fonds below, which include records documenting historical climate data, struggles for climate action, and the development of creative works to educate others on the importance of climate issues. If you're interested in seeing any of these materials in person, visit us at RBSC.
- Angus Elias fondsAngus Elias was an Inuit trapper living on Banks Island in the Northwest Territories. The fonds consists of a photocopied diary recording personal experience, climatic and geographical conditions, and observations about nature written while Elias worked as a trapper on Banks Island, 1959-1966.
- E. A. Royce fondsE.A. Royce was a subsistence farmer in the area of Browns Point, British Columbia.
The fonds consists of a diary of Royce's activities at Christina Lake (1934-1943), including some financial accounts and weather reports for the winters of 1935/36 and 1936/37. The diary also lists the names of many families in the area. - Greenpeace International, Stitching Greenpeace Council fondsThe fonds contains records related to the activities of Douglas Mulhall in his capacity as member of Greenpeace Canada and as a member of the Greenpeace International, Stichting Greenpeace Council between 1979 and 1986. Records consists of extensive correspondences, minutes of the meetings and annual reports from various committees and councils on which Mulhall served, financial reports and other records related to the fiscal management of the Stiching Greenpeace Council and the Greenpeace’s national offices, as well as newspaper clippings, annotated journal publications, and photographs, which document Greenpeace’s administrative activities as well as its various environmental campaigns.
- Jim Hann documentary video collectionThe Jim Hamm Documentary Film Collection consists of materials relating to three of his documentary films: "The Air We Breathe" (1996), "Between the Rock and a Hard Place" (1997) and "Turning Down the Heat" (1999). "The Air We Breathe" was a co-production of Jim Hamm and the National Film Board. It is an examination of the problem of smog in relation to political decisions, dependency on automobiles, and social-cultural forces. Hamm acted as co-producer, script writer and director.
- Joan Sawicki fondsThe fonds consists of newspaper clippings, correspondence, handwritten notes, news releases, reports, minutes, government brochures, and maps collected by Sawicki during her years on the Burnaby City Council and as an MLA for the riding of Burnaby-Willingdon. The majority of records relate to issues on the environment and agriculture which reflect Sawickis major interests while serving at both civic and provincial levels. At the civic level the fonds includes records from Sawickis work on several environmental and waste management committees. The fonds also includes a series on the Six Mile Ranch affair which relates not only to Sawickis role as an MLA for the New Democratic Party and her position as Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Environment, but also to her long-term commitment to, and participation with the Agricultural Land Commission. The fonds includes numerous reports and submissions regarding the Six Mile Ranch affair.