Tuesday 25 November 2008

My Favourite Museum

My favourite museum is undoubtedly the Natural History Museum, London. Of course I love almost every museum I have been to (the exception being Guzelyurt Museum of Nature and Archaeology; more on that in a future post!), but the NHM stands out for me, as it has been the most prominent institution in my life so far.

It all started for me almost twenty years ago when I was a wee lad of five or six and went to the Museum on a school trip. I don’t remember much of that excursion; however, one event sticks in my mind. A life-size animatronic roaring Tyrannosaurus rex (probably a relative of Traumador’s) shouted at me, and I ran and hid behind the teacher. This picture of me at the Museum with various felids on a subsequent visit is a vision of things to come!






I would visit the Museum every few years or so throughout my childhood and even through my teens. I started to use the General/Zoology library for casual carnivore research when I was about 15 years old, and kept returning until the present.

My affiliation with the Museum became stronger when I started the Masters course there last year. I was given the run of the place, and soon became a volunteer in the Palaeontology department, sorting fossil fish. I am now working in the greatest library in the world as a shelving assistant.

My past has always been associated with the NHM, and I hope my future will be too. The Museum has imparted chunks of wisdom to me and I endeavour to pass on this knowledge to others in years to come.

I hope you enjoyed this post; I was inspired to write it for the Boneyard XXVI, hosted by Traumador the Tyrannosaur at The Tyrannosaur Chronicles this month. If you didn’t arrive here via that blog, go read about the tales of a lovelorn living fossil!

6 comments:

Glendon Mellow said...

Interesting: I wonder how many of us have loved the museums since we were children?

It reminds me of my own love for the R.O.M.

This will be a most interesting Boneyard.

Anonymous said...

Excellent!! I have a whole book straight from that museum.

m said...

Cool, would that be Dry store room #1 by Richard Fortey? That's an excellent book.

Dinorider d'Andoandor said...

I arrived here via Traum's post. Seems like many of us have loved museums since we were kids.

Glendon Mellow said...

Dry Store Room #1 is entertaining. I love Fortey's writing style.

I'm working my way through that one now.

m said...

It's one of the most entertaining palaeo-related books I've ever read! Have you read "Trilobite!" also by Fortey?