The Manchester Naturalists: mapping the people who collected the world

Manchester, Salford, Bolton, Bury, Oldham, Rochdale, Stockport, Tameside, Trafford, and Wigan and further afield Cheshire, Lancashire : a city region is born

In the melting pot of a city in formation, in its slums and grand buildings, in the opposition between workers, the bourgeoise and the rich landowners and implicated by troubling slavetrading and colonial expansion, a new way of living was forged.

Amidst the foment of industrial revolution and emerging democracy was a passionate group of collectors - amateur botanists, scientists and entomologists - seeking out plants and insects from around the world and curious about the people and cultures they lived within.

In this workshop , we will ask who were the people that shaped the city region from 1750 to 1900 and what legacy does their collecting leave in the modern city today?

Working on a giant hand-drawn map, we will consider the city region as layers over a 150 year period, exploring where were the collections and key landmarks in the city region.

Focusing on key individuals, we will then map out

• where collectors lived and worked.
• what they collected
• what is said about their activities.
• how they related to each other

The workshop session will cover different periods in Manchester’s history and how collecting changed over time:

• 1750–1800: A city is born
• 1800–1830: Revolution in the air
• 1830–1850: Mobilisation & construction
• 1850–1870: Art & culture, nature & parks
• 1870–1900: Boomtown & decline

All reference materials will be provided including bios of 100+ real Victorians and their stories, key buildings and their instigators, trade unions, triggering events and organisations, newspapers and artifacts, books from the library to give the research insight and structure.

This workshop will be curated and hosted by Dr. Jessica Symons, anthropologist and urban expert with 20+ years of research and project delivery in the GM area, including soundwalks, cultural workshops and events. Similar workshops are planned for across the city region over the next 12 months.

Attendees are invited to do their own research and come along with stories about favourite collections or people.

The cost of the session is £30 to pay for people's time. Please bring a pack lunch.

A few references to get you started
Joseph Sidebotham: vicissitudes of a Victorian collector

https://entomologymanchester.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/2015_cook_sidebotham-anh.pdf

Beetles, butterflies and bibliophilia: the entomological legacy of Robert Wylie Lloyd

https://entomologymanchester.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/2019_cook_on-rw-lloyd.pdf

About the image

The above image is a painting from Salford Museum and Art Gallery. It features the fancy dress ball at Manchester Music Festival held in 1828. A list of the attendees identifies many of the influential people in the city region at that time. https://www.manchestertheatrehistory.co.uk/2019/08/02/manchesters-first-music-festival-and-ball-1828-at-the-theatre-royal/

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