Cetacean (Re)Sources: Reconnecting London's Natural History Museum cetacean specimens with the legacies of empire and whaling

London's Natural History Museum (NHM) has a world-leading cetacean collection, with specimens from scientists, explorers, commercial whaling and strandings. Markers on particular specimen records trace the histories and legacies of British Empire in the Southern Hemisphere and acquisitions with colonial roots. How did British colonial exploration, territorial and administrative expansion, and whaling in the Southern Hemisphere contribute to NHM's Cetacea collection? Focusing particularly on the 'Heroic Age' of Antarctic Exploration and imperial presence in the Southern Ocean in the first half of the twentieth century, I will contextualise specimens within their colonial legacies. I will work with NHM's Principal Curator of Mammals and cetacean expert Richard Sabin. Cetacean specimens were acquired through Antarctic expeditions, including, the Discovery expeditions initiated in the 1920s. In South Georgia and the Falkland Islands, whaling operations were established in the early 1900s to exploit marine wildlife. British whaling in the Southern Ocean is inseparable from Empire, from both imperial expansion and as consolidation of colonial presence. The Discovery expeditions were funded by the British Colonial Office to research Antarctic whaling and collect specimens for NHM. In South Georgia, scientists studied commercially killed whales and obtained specimens for NHM. In the 1960s, the Whale Research Unit of the Institute of Oceanographic Sciences (IOS) was established at NHM for work on data from South Georgia and elsewhere. The ecologies of South Georgia and the Falkland Islands were impacted by the colonial industries exploiting whales and other species, with the effects still felt today. By focusing on individual specimens or groups of specimens, I will uncover and engage with the micro and macro histories of empire. I will reveal what collecting biases in the Cetacea collection that imperial activities and whaling manifested in. The project will highlight the value of humanities research at NHM, and it will contribute to the Museum's coming to terms with the implications of its colonial legacies, including destructive whaling, ecological changes, and the subjugation and suffering of local and Indigenous communities. A major question to explore is what role can and should NHM play in educating the public about these histories. 1) The project will further NHM's knowledge and aims, and its reckoning with colonial legacies. The Cetacea collection links to colonisation and whaling are relatively understudied. I will enhance the information held about particular specimens using NHM Library and Archive, and material held by the project partner, University of Southampton Library which holds the National Oceanographic Library and the archive of the National Oceanographic Centre (NOC) with records about IOS, the Whale Research Unit and Discovery investigations. The fellowship will broaden understandings and centralise information in updated metadata, increasing accessibility with new photographs and 3D laser surface scans. 2) It will contribute rigorous academic research to wider fields, including environmental history, environmental humanities, history of science, postcolonial studies, and research addressing colonial legacies of natural history collections, imperialism in Antarctica, and changing curating practices. Beyond the end of this project, researchers can access data generated through the NHM Data Portal and other outputs, encouraging scientific researchers to acknowledge the cultural contexts of specimens. 3) It will offer public engagement, translating research into informative and engaging material. The Cetacea collection can engage general audiences with the Museum's colonial connections, histories of empire, and ecological, cultural and political impacts into the present day. By connecting the project partner's links to NHM, it will produce new conversations around and engagement with the partner's collection.