Natural History Section
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History of the Section
The Leicester Literary and Philosophical Society was founded in 1835 as a discussion group with broadly educational aims. Its members also gathered collections together, including natural history specimens, which it made available to the public. After the 1845 Museums Act, which allowed local authorities to charge for the purpose of funding museums, the Lit&Phil made over its collections to the City and actually ran the Museum for several years, holding its meetings at the premises. The various disciplines represented by the collections produced supporters’ groups of Lit&Phil members with specialist interests, and in 1849 Sections of the Society were formed to cater for these. Some of the sections have fallen by the wayside but those concerned with natural history have had a continuous run since then, except for the four years during the Second World War.
This photo shows a glass model of a sea-anemone donated by the Lit&Phil to Leicester Museum in the 1860s. (Photo: Peter Smith)
Today
The Natural History Section still maintains its links with the Museum, which hosts its Indoor Meetings and allows us to use specimens from the collections to illustrate our talks. But the valuable species records collected by members over the years, which used to be stored at the Museum, are now managed for Leicester City by the Council’s Nature Conservation Officer and for Leicestershire and Rutland by the Environmental Records Centre at County Hall.
Records of local wildlife may also be sent to the network of County Recorders for the various plant and animal groups, several of whom are Section members, and they in turn liaise with both local and national recording centres. Many records are now also filed online through sites such as Naturespot. These records provide evidence for the status and distribution of species over time and can be used to evaluate the ecological importance of sites, especially if faced with planned development.