NEWS & PRESS RELEASES

TITLE: The Return of the Linnaeus Apostles Exhibition - Whitby Museum DATE: April 2009 ARTICLE CONTENT: Whitby Museum, Pannett Park 12th March – 30th September 2009 OPENING HOURS: 9.30am to 4.30pm Tuesday to Sunday The exhibition starts in the Museum and continues in the Kendall Room (the Library of the Whitby Literary and Philosophical Society), Whitby Museum, Pannett Park, Whitby North Yorkshire. Tel: 01947 602908 An exhibition on the GREATEST RESEARCH AND PUBLISHING PROJECT EVER on the select few who came to be known as the LINNAEUS APOSTLES. During the 18th century the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus (1707-1778) was to inspire seventeen of his pupils to travel to distant corners of the world to document the local nature and cultures. They travelled on their own or with expeditions across land and sea - their travels covering every continent. This work comprises 8 volumes, containing 11 books, in all about 5,000 pages, and has taken nearly ten years to produce. JAMES COOK, JOSEPH BANK AND THE BRITISH MUSEUM Two of the apostles - Daniel Solander and Anders Sparrman - took part in the first two expeditions of Captain James Cook as scientific experts, primarily in the field of natural history but also, in the case of Anders Sparrman, of cultural history. Daniel Solander's collaboration with Joseph Banks laid the foundations for the latter's natural history collection. He also worked as an assistant keeper in the British Museum, where he introduced his own invention, the Solander box. Excluding material from the publication now in progress of the series of volumes called THE LINNAEUS APOSTLES - GLOBAL SCIENCE & ADVENTURE, the exhibition comprises original 18th-century editions of books from the collections of the Library. Foremost among these is the first volume of the journal of James Cook's first circumnavigation of the world, the diary of the illustrator Sydney Parkinson from the same voyage and the two original volumes of the English version of Sparrman's account from 1786. Other printed exhibits include charts and the 'English Pilot' for the southern hemisphere, well-preserved publications in a large format that are likewise contemporary with the journeys of the apostles. The exhibition also includes samples of curious ethnographic artefacts related to the apostles' journeys to such far apart places as North America, Tahiti, New Zealand, West Africa and South Africa. The exhibition on the travel accounts of the Linnaeus Apostles is a collaborative venture between the Library of the Whitby Literary and Philosophical Society and the IK Foundation. The Whitby Literary & Philosophical Society runs: Whitby Museum Library Archives Monthly lectures The Society was established in 1823 and has around 800 members. It is one of the very few remaining Literary & Philosophical Societies that still runs an independent Museum, the older parts of which are often regarded as a 'Museum within a Museum' and have the atmosphere of an Edwardian Museum. The extension, opened in 2005, offers a costume gallery, temporary exhibition, lecture (Normanby) room and tearoom facilities.