Centre for the History of Science, Technology and Medicine
King's College London

PhD title: Amateur lepidopterists and the British Lepidoptera collection, Department of Entomology, British Museum (Natural History), 1881-1955​

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To explore the role of amateur and other ‘outside’ entomologists in museum building and entomological documentation, my thesis addresses the British Lepidoptera collection at the British Museum (Natural History) in a period of significant institutional change for the Museum and its entomologically-focused staff. Over the course of the period from 1881 to 1955, the Department of Entomology went from being a section of the Department of Zoology to one of the largest stand-alone Departments, both in terms of number of specimens and daily working population. I combine archival research with statistical analysis of the collection database to link letters, specimens, and the people who submitted this material to better understand entomology at the Museum, the importance of amateur contributions after supposed ‘professionalization’ of entomology, and to provide context for how people both inside and outside of the Museum shaped its collection’s growth and its staff’s influence on British Lepidopterology.

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I describe the involvement of amateurs in the Museum and British entomology more generally from the early 1880s and into the 1950s, the role of Museum staff in directing and policing amateurs in lepidopterology, and the reliance of professionals on the contributions of amateurs to grow collections and conduct research. In many ways, Museum staff could not function without the efforts of amateurs and others outside of the BMNH, while amateurs relied on BMNH staff to improve their own work. 

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1st Supervisor: Dr. Chris Manias  

2nd Supervisor: Dr. Anna Maerker

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Bio:

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My educational background before King’s largely centers on biology and museum studies. After completing a BS in General Biology at Grand Valley State University (Allendale, Michigan, USA), I completed a MS in Entomology and graduate certification in Museum Studies at Michigan State University (East Lansing, Michigan, USA). My MS thesis used digitized USA Lepidoptera specimens to assess historical patterns in collecting by amateur and professional collectors. This thesis and the resulting publication provided the first quantitative evidence that amateur collectors contributed more specimens to American institutional collections than did professionals between 1800 and the present. 

 

Thanks in large part to my MS research, my primary research interests lie in interdisciplinary research that makes use of museum specimen information, metadata, and statistical analyses, particularly in studies outside of biology and especially when combined with other sources/materials. I’m also interested in the social contexts in which collections are built and the conditions under which amateur collectors were active and organized themselves in the past. So much of our knowledge of insects comes from the (often uncredited or severely under-credited) efforts of thousands of amateur and other non-academic entomologists, most of whom are unknown because of their relative invisibility in published scientific work. 

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Publications:

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Dorey, James B., Erica E. Fischer, Paige R. Chesshire, Angela N. Bolaños, Robert L. O’Reilly, Silas Bossert, Shannon M. Collins, Elinor M. Lichtenberg, Erika Tucker, Alan Smith-Pardo, Armando Falcon-Brindis, Diego A. Guevara, Bruno R. Ribeiro, Diego De Pedro, Keng-Lou J. Hung, Katherine A. Parys, Lindise M. McCabe, Matthew S. Rogan, Robert L. Minckley, Santiago J. E. Velzco, Terry Griswold, Tracy A. Zarrillo, Walter Jetz, Yanina Sica, Michael C. Orr, Laura M. Guzman, John Ascher, Alice C. Hughes, and Neil S. Cobb, ‘A globally synthesised and flagged bee occurrence dataset and cleaning workflow’, Scientific Data 10 (November 2023).

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Dorey, James B., Robert L. O’Reilly, Silas Bossert, and Erica E. Fischer, ‘BeeBDC: an occurrence data cleaning package’. R package version 1.0.1. (Comprehensive R Archive Network, 2023). url: <https://github.com/jbdorey/BeeBDC>

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Chesshire, Paige R., Erica E. Fischer, Nicolas J. Dowdy, Terry L. Griswold TL, Alice C. Hughes, Michael C. Orr, John S. Ascher, Laura M. Guzman, Keng-Lou J. Hung, Neil S. Cobb, and Lindsie M. McCabe, ‘Completeness analysis for over 3000 United States bee species identifies persistent data gaps’, Ecography 5 (May 2023). 

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Ryder, Steven, Gillian D. Sales, and Erica E. Fischer, ‘Curious specimens in the collection: Comparative dental anatomy, skulls, and historical catalogues’, Journal of Natural Science Collections 11 (2023): 38-46. 

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Fischer, Erica E., Neil S. Cobb, Akito Y. Kawahara, Jennifer M. Zaspel, and Anthony I. Cognato, ‘Decline of amateur Lepidoptera collectors threatens the future of Big Data Science’, Bioscience 71 no. 4 (April 2021): 396-404.

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Papers Given/Exhibitions/Public engagement:

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‘Corresponding lepidopterists and the British lepidoptera collection, 1881-1955’, talk given at the Natural History Museum Student Conference, 13 June 2024.

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‘Bees, Beetles, Bugs, and Beautiful Butterflies’, displays/discussion for public open days at the Museum of Life Sciences, Guy’s Campus of King’s, 30 May and 1 June 2024.

‘Corresponding lepidopterists and the British Lepidoptera collection, Department of Entomology, British Museum (Natural History), 1881-1955’, seminar given for the Cabinet of Natural History series, Department of History and Philosophy of Science, University of Cambridge, 20 November 2023. 

 

‘Amateur Lepidopterists and Museums: Past and Present’, Lunchtime Lecture at the Linnean Society of London, 2 November 2022. ​

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Grants, Awards, and Prizes:

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Hans Rausing Scholarship at CHoSTM (1+3)

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