Specimens of settler colonialism

: collecting and displaying natural history at the University of St Andrews, 1838-1917

Abstract

This thesis investigates the history of the natural science collection of the University of St Andrews to examine the relationship between natural history and empire during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Focusing on the foundation of the collection, during the years of the Literary and Philosophical Society of St Andrews (1838-1917), this thesis analyses the acquisition and movement of human and non-human remains from colonial Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand to the imperial rhetoric of display and education in Scotland. Natural science collections can provide insights into how the natural world was interwoven with imperial ideologies and the settler-colonial processes of violence, displacement, dispossession, and assimilation that irreparably harmed Indigenous communities. In recovering the histories of extant and non-extant objects, this examination highlights the contributions and experiences of naturalists, settlers, and Indigenous peoples in the history of science. By centring Indigenous agency, survival, and autonomy within moments of cross-cultural exchange, this thesis argues that collections have the potential to reconstruct invisible Indigenous histories that continue to be absent from museum displays.

Employing a critical lens to the methodological approach of ‘object biographies’, this study illustrates the advantages and limitations of recovering Indigenous and colonial histories through objects and archival sources. Divided into two, the first part of this thesis examines the practices of naturalists in nineteenth-century colonial Australia, charting their reliance upon systems of power, colonial infrastructures, and the labour and knowledge of Aboriginal Australian peoples. The second part of this thesis explores the ‘afterlives’ of objects, both human and non-human remains, once they entered the museums at St Andrews, examining their changing roles in displays, scientific theories, and university education. This thesis provokes future discussions about the imperial and colonial legacies within university collections and offers new approaches for museum professionals and historians to examine natural science collections.

Date of Award	2 Jul 2025
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	University of St Andrews
Supervisor	Sarah Easterby-Smith (Supervisor), Katie Eagleton (Supervisor) & John Finlay Mcdiarmid Clark (Supervisor)