Thanks to all who made it possible (including @stephholtnh.bsky.social , @edwinrose.bsky.social rose.bsky.social, @lisacardy.bsky.social y.bsky.social @nhmlibraryarchives.bsky.social and many more!)

A final response from Prof. Jim Second (History of Philosophy of Science @cam.ac.uk), reflecting on the nature of historical collections in natural history museums.

Many more papers that can't be detailed here, a huge thanks to our hosts at the NHM (@nhm-london.bsky.social) and all our speakers!

In the last paper in this session, Hein Van Grouw (Senior Curator, Bird Group, NHM) investigates the possibility that the Eastern Rosella specimen donated from Pennant's collection was the type specimen described by George Shaw in 1792

Now Edwin Rose (@edwinrose.bsky.social) moves on to birds, and the original bird of paradise specimen that was illustrated for the title image of Pennant's 'Indian Zoology' - now present in the museum, with starling feet attached to replace the lost originals

Paul Evans and Zoe Hughes continue on Pennant's mineral and fossil collections at the museum - the latter catalogued as "Reliquiae Diluviannae, or Catalogue of such bodies as were deposited in the Earth by the Deluge"- a reminder that Noah's flood remained part of scientific enquiry in Pennant's era

Tom Cotterell describes Thomas Pennant's mineral collection, which was fought over between the London Natural History Museum and the recently-founded National Museum of Wales upon its donation to the former in the 1910s. The Welsh Museum got his son David's minerals (after much wrangling it seems!)

Now Odile Kidd, artist at the NHM (@nhm-london.bsky.social), gives a fellow-artist's response to the work of Moses Griffith, the lower-class north Walian who worked as Pennant's primary illustrator

Steph also notes that some items in Pennant's collection are marked with red as 'type specimens' - that is, a specimen that provides a species with its official description

From Mary-Ann Constantine and Steph Holt (@stephholtnh.bsky.social) we hear of the Duchess of Portland filching shell specimens, and the fact that not only Pennant's specimens but some of his specimen cabinets have made it to the Natural History Museum

Followed by Liz Edwards from @yganolfangeltaidd.bsky.social telling us about the possibility that this illustrated owl - found by Pennant in a collection at Bryn-y-Pys - might have been one of his favourites, thanks to repeated appearances in his extra-illustrated books

I'll pass this idea around, thankyou!

Second, Rhys Kaminski-Jones's 'Welsh Revivalism in Imperial Britain', in which Pennant features in a chapter on Enlightenment science, imperialism, and the image of the druid

First, Ffion Mair Jones's 'Thomas Pennant: Cysylltiadau Cymreig', published by @gwasgprifcymru.bsky.social