We cordially invite you to the Natural Things Project inaugural conference, "Collection & the History of Science in the Age of Global Empires." For three days, participants will share their current historical and digital research on natural things. Within this collaborative workshop environment, we aim to provide constructive feedback and next steps for participants' projects.
The Natural Things project is pleased to present two panels at this year's annual conference of the History of Science Society.
The graduate researchers of the Natural Things project are pleased to present our panel, “Mapping Objects, Mapping Science: New Methods of Early Modern Natural History,” at the opening conference of the Global Natural History around 1800: Collections, Media and Pedagogy project, the second of two conferences in Mapping the Territory: Exploring People and Nature, 1700-1830.
This talk explores the imperial, commercial, and religious contexts that informed the creation of an anonymous 1764 manuscript (now housed in the Jesuit archives in Rome) that collected proprietary drug recipes from Jesuit colleges in Italy, Portugal, Brazil, Macau, and Goa. Meticulously crafted to resemble a printed text, this unusual manuscript highlights the tension between secrecy and openness in eighteenth century writings about tropical nature.