Collecting nature : a history of the herbarium and natural specimens

The history of collecting natural history specimens touches upon manyaspects of our past. The fascination with nature was at least as important forits view of humanity as for science. One telling example is the Timm NaturalCollection at Engelsberg Ironworks, created by the ironworks proprietorGabriel Casper Timm and his son Paul August in the nineteenth century.

Throughout their lives, they devoted much of their leisure time to collec-ting plants, insects, minerals and other treasures of nature. Some came fromnear their home in Västmanland, Sweden, while others were collected fromacross Scandinavia. Father and son were in close contact with collectors andscientists, and at the same time built up a library consisting of volumes onnatural science along with books on spirituality and faith. Ultimately, collec-ting natural history specimens reflected a kind of wonder about creation.

Collecting Nature places the Timm Natural Collection in a larger contextso that the reader encounters other collectors, thinkers, and scientists of theeighteenth and nineteenth centuries. In the book, a picture is created of howthe world of ideas in collecting has developed and continues to influence us even today.