Collections review: hummingbirds

Colour photograph of a sword-billed hummingbird specimen. It is green with a very long beak and has a museum label attached to its feet.

Museum volunteer Simon Tonge spent December and January working on RAMM’s hummingbird collection. RAMM has almost 500 tiny specimens, some of which are very special. He has checked every specimen against our records as well as checking their current scientific identification. Simon shares his findings in this blog.

Coloured print of a robin by Benjamin Fawcett

Whilst researching a ‘Red Breast’ for the current seasons exhibition an exciting discovery has been made. This work and another 5 works were attributed to B. Fawcett. The database held little further information. However, online article published by Archives and Special Collections department, part of Hull University’s library showed a black and white image of the work ‘Red Breast’. Especially relevant are the details of the artist Benjamin Fawcett and specific details of the publication for which it was produced.