Life through a Lens: Photographs from the Natural History Museum, 1880-1950 (Hardback)

Visit the Natural History Museum - 100 years ago. Featuring a wealth of black-and-white photographs from the Museum's vast collection, this book offers a real flavour of life at one of London's oldest and most famous visitor attractions, from Victorian times until just after World War II. The text focuses on the unusual events that have taken place over the years, the characters working at and visiting the Museum, and of course the awe-inspiring specimens. Ranging from the amazing to the amusing, the images are evocative and brimming with period detail. The authors are senior archivists and well placed to share their knowledge of the stories that lie behind the silver-nitrate surface of the old photographic prints. The walls of the Natural History Museum have been the backdrop for thousands of photographs over the years. Photographers have been inspired by the rare specimens, the sheer scale of the dinosaurs, the distinctive architecture and the range of people working here or just passing through. Over the years the Museum has built up a unique photographic archive that is of great historic importance. The Museum was established at about the time that the new technology of photography was becoming increasingly popular. The time span covered in the book saw the development of a whole variety of camera, from bellows to box Brownies, taking photographs using plates and film.