BEDFORD MUSEUM

NATURAL HISTORY

These collections comprise some 2,500 vertebrates, invertebrates and herbaria collections, primarily from Bedfordshire, but with comparison material from beyond the county. Some of the collections originate from the Bedford Modern School Museum, while others have been accumulated since 1981.

The core of the county reference collection of birds and mammals was developed by local naturalist Jannion Steele Elliot in the 19^th and early 20^th Centuries and has been further enhanced since 1981. The Bedfordshire and British invertebrate collections are primarily held in storage and several butterfly and moth collections have recently been amalgamated to provide a local reference collection. A county reference herbarium was built up by botanist J.G. Dony during the 1980s and supplemented by other local plant collections.

In addition there is foreign invertebrate material which originated from the Bedford Modern School, including a scientifically important 19^th century mollusc collection of some 3,000 specimens made by W.H.Turton in South Africa.

Local natural history is displayed in local habitat settings, with an introduction to Bedfordshire’s landscape and the influences that shape it and its wildlife.

The Museum operates the Biodiversity Recording and Monitoring Centre for Bedfordshire and Luton as a partnership project with other county bodies. To date there are some 170,000 records entered on computer for wildlife sites, including some for the Castle Lane area; the records are currently primarily botanical.

Selected references

Bateman, J. & McKenna, G. 1993 Register of Natural Science Collections in South East Britain MDA
Brind, R.A. 1990 Birds and Mammals, A guide to the collections of Bedford Museum 1886 – 1989 Bedford Museum
Lloyd, P.N. Early Taxidermy in Bedford 1860 – 1940 with notes on the Elliott Collection at Bedford Museum Unpublished
Steele-Elliott, J. 1897 – 1901 The Vertebrate Fauna of Bedfordshire Privately Printed
Trodd, P. and Kramer, D. 1991 The Birds of Bedfordshire Castlemead

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