Recognizing Diverse Knowledge
Natural history collecting in colonial settings relied on the skills of people including plant collectors, bird and snake catchers and keepers, and artists. Although they are often only partially recognized in published works by colonial naturalists and travellers, archival research can sometimes reveal more about their work.
Forbes, an employee of the East India Company, made a collection of natural history images in western India between 1765 and 1775. Some of these images were published in his Oriental Memoirs of 1813. Forbes attributed some images in his collection to Indian and Chinese artists and noted that he relied on Indian experts to collect plants and animals. The collaborators will investigate how the Forbes’ archive can be used to study Indian expertise in collecting, preserving, and depicting birds, animals, and plants.
Forbes’ archival materials are held at institutions including the Yale Centre for British Art and the Blacker Wood Natural History collection at McGill Library. All the images at McGill are available via the Archival Collections Catalogue
Hidden Hands in Colonial Natural Histories 