Dramatic Natural History Collection May Soon Be Revealed

The public may soon be offered the opportunity to view some real hidden gems of the natural world if a plan being discussed at the Newcastle Discovery Museum comes to fruition. With a catalogue ranging from hippo skulls to extinct birds and poison spears, the Natural History Society of Northumbria's collection boasts more than 500,000 items.

Secrets in the cellar at this Museum

They are currently to be found in storage beneath the museum, and date back to the 18th century, with many being considered priceless because of their rarity.
Dan Gordon, Keeper of Biology at Tyne and Wear Archives and Museums, said: "The oldest parts of the collection date from the 18th Century and were the private collection of a local aristocrat called Marmaduke Tunstall.

"Over the years it was passed on and came into the possession of a local society and it's important for a number of reasons, one being the very old and valuable items. We have records for half a million objects, but there may well be more, and cataloguing them all is a lifetime's work. We are still discovering new things in the collection."

One of the rarest items and most interesting items is of a genus that is now extinct. The collection boasts a juvenile great auk which was a flightless bird that was once commonplace in Great Britain.
Mr Gordon said: "The great auk is one of the oldest objects and it dates back to the 1750s. There are very few of these still in existence and most of them are adults. Most of the preserved ones out there came from the time when they were already rare, but our one is a juvenile. It's either the only one in the world, or one of two, but it's definitely the youngest."

Prior to considering a full blown exhibition, staff at the museum hope to offer tours to the public so they can be shown around the underground collection.

                                           http://www.twmuseums.org.uk/discovery.html

                                                           http://www.nhsn.ncl.ac.uk/