Article ID: CBB458584651

The practice of note-taking in Taylor White's natural history collection (2021)

unapi

Between the 1750s and 1770s Taylor White compiled over 750 manuscript notes to accompany his collection of animal portraits. These notes are written on individual unbound sheets of paper, and offer descriptions of the birds, mammals and fish that he commissioned to be painted. Examination of the structure and content of White's notes reveals that he chose and edited information from published sources while supplementing this with his own personal observations, that he wrote in both Latin and English, and that he obtained the help of an assistant to copy out many of his drafts in a more refined hand. This article discusses what White's purpose might have been in compiling these notes, what relationship they held to his collection of images, and how his note-taking practices aligned with the contemporary eighteenth-century culture of note-taking and information management in natural history.

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Article Victoria Dickenson (2021) Introduction: Undescrib'd: Taylor White (1701–1772) and His Collections. Notes and Records: The Royal Society Journal of the History of Science (pp. 507-513). unapi

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Authors & Contributors
Dickenson, Victoria J. V.
Céline M. Stantina
Emily Zinger
Vida Javidi
Iryna Kachur
Dolezel, Eva
Concepts
Natural history
Collections
Science and art
Scientific illustration
Primary literature (historical sources)
Specimen exchange
Time Periods
18th century
19th century
17th century
Early modern
21st century
20th century, early
Places
South Carolina (U.S.)
London (England)
Netherlands
Spain
Europe
North Carolina (U.S.)
Institutions
McGill University (Canada)
East India Company (English)
Observatoire de Paris
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