Hunting the whaler: recovering the collecting practices of 18th and 19th century whalemen through museum collections and archives

The seminar will discuss the collecting practices of the whalemen of the British Southern Whale Fishery highlighting their agency in the creation of ethnographic and natural history knowledge during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The BSWF existed between 1775 and 1860 with extensive operations in the ‘South Seas’ across the Indian, Southern and Pacific Oceans. By highlighting moments of exchange and encounter through archives, in the form of whaling logs and journals, and through physical collections, the seminar will explore the global networks of exchange in which whalers were active and highlight the culture of collecting on board British whaling vessels. It will draw out the complex web of interactions and exchanges that took place both at the tide line and metropolitan centres. 


After a decade working within the heritage sector, Rachael Utting undertook a PhD at Royal Holloway, University of London, focusing on the collecting activities of whalemen in the British Southern Whale Fishery, completed in 2022. She currently works as Collections Officer for the Isles of Scilly Museum. 

All welcome- this seminar is free to attend, but booking is required.