This time last week we were celebrating all things Gothic as Way WORD Festival and Heather Parry announced the winner of the Gothic story writing competition, and started off the Gothic Aberdeen tour! Thanks to WayWord for having us, and everyone who came along to join us for a very Gothic day!

Join us for a series of Gallery tours with the AUZBS "Spiders, Bats, Crows, Cats" 🕷️🦇🐈⬛ linking zoology tours with "Fear & Fascination: A Gothic exhibition". Wednesdays 15th, 22nd and 29th October 13:00-13:30, The Sir Duncan Rice Library, Gallery.

Today is the anniversary of horror author M.R. James's birth (1862-1936). His stories of antiquarians beset by supernatural horrors feature in our exhibition Fear and Fascination, open now at the Sir Duncan Rice Library. Find out more: buff.ly/s4DYTaH

When you can't decide which online exhibition to start with - get another screen! Browse our online exhibitions: buff.ly/H9yEg1Y

Today is #InternationalTigerDay Rani the tiger was seized at Aberdeen Airport under CITES legislation in 1996, by HM Customs and Excise. Although she was probably a zoo animal, the specimen was mounted in Deeside, and was being exported to the Middle East without the necessary permits.

Join us tomorrow, for a map making workshop as part of the Festival of the Sea. There will be historical maps on display to inspire you, drawing materials and guides so you can create your own map - or add to a collaborative map. The Library has pretty good air conditioning! buff.ly/9D5D3nG

Ever wondered why some of the earliest maps and atlases feature fantastical sea creatures? Chet van Duzer, historian of cartography, will be giving an online talk on Tuesday 22nd of July about these legendary creatures and what they reveal about early geographic thought and nautical navigation.

Festival of the Sea: Online Talk - Sea Monsters on Medieval and Renaissance Maps with Chet van Duzer

Ever wondered why some of the earliest maps and atlases feature fantastical sea creatures?

abdn.io

It's week 2 of summer at the Zoology Museum and a huge well done to everyone who contributed to creating a very colourful giant spider crab in Week 1! We're starting a new Giant Spider Crab this week so get down to the Zoology Museum and get colouring!

Today is international rock day. This Jadeite stone axe head was discovered in Strathdon, Aberdeenshire and dates from 4000 BC-2400 BC. It was recently discovery that the jadeite was quarried on the slopes of Monte Viso in the Italian alps, travelling almost 1000 miles 5000 years ago!

On this day in 1824 The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner was published. This copy, in our exhibition "Fear & Fascination" had some skilled conservation work done by our skilled paper conservator. You wouldn't know from looking but it has had an entirely new board made for it.

Today is #WorldChocolateDay This is a chocolate whisk or molinillo [ABDUA: 8870] from Bolivia. This type of molinillo was invented by Spanish colonisers in Central and South America around the 1600s. It is is spun between ones hands and into a pot of chocolate to froth or mix chocolate drinks.

Our Zoology skeletons have got some new entertainment installed for the holidays, come along to help colour it in and give them something nice to look at! The Zoology Museum will be open 10-4 Monday-Friday through the school holidays.

Congratulations to everyone graduating from @uniofaberdeen.bsky.social this week! You might spot these maces being used during graduation ceremonies. Left is the King's College Mace (ABDUA:36876) made in 1650. Right is the Marischal College Mace (ABDUA:36877) from c.1660.

Happy #DisabilityPrideMonth from all of us at UoA Collections! Here's a disability pride flag made from images of our collection to celebrate! Find out where the colours come from in the thread below:

As part of the Festival of the Sea we're running a map making workshop on the 12th July. There will be historical maps on display to inspire you, and drawing materials and guides so you can create your own map - or add to a collaborative map. Details here: buff.ly/dyxmPBG

🤣🚨ATTENTION!!🚨🤣 @traceynormanauthor.bsky.social knitted us a museum environmental monitor and it's the best thing that's happened to us EVER! 😍🤩

Integrated Pest Management allows heritage sites to monitor and manage pests to prevent damage to the collections. We admire and appreciate the important role that wee beasties play in our eco system, but we don't want them munching on our historical collections if possible! #InsectWeek

These watercolour paintings of insects were made by Sri Lankan artists William and George de Alwis around 1834. Their drawings were considered so true to form that between 1849 and 1880 the Governor of Ceylon employed them to draw the moths and butterflies of the country from nature. #InsectWeek

This book by Louise M. Budgen, published 1849-1851 describes the natural history of insects through stories. Budgen wrote it under the pseudonym Acheta Domestica, the scientific name of the house cricket. The Victorian blocked binding shows a house cricket reciting one of the tales. #InsectWeek

Horatio McCulloch (1805-67) died #OnThisDay in 1867. He was a leading Scottish Romantic landscape painter of the 19thC, whose paintings created a romantic Highland image of the country. By the time this was painted in the mid-1800s, a notion of "Scotland" was becoming synonymous with the Highlands.

Maria Sibylla Merian (1647-1717) was the first woman to describe and study the life cycle and metamorphoses of butterflies and other insects. Her first book, The Miraculous Transformation and Unusual Flower-Food of Caterpillars contained over 50 plates, engraved from her own observations #InsectWeek

This #InsectWeek we will be highlighting insects from all around the collections. These are cream-spot tiger moths, localised to southern England and Wales. Moths are normally thought of as only being beige but this is just one example of the beautiful colours they can be.

Aberdeen Harbour may look a bit like this again this summer with Tall Ships Races coming to Aberdeen! Find out more about everything happening here: buff.ly/aXzoS0D 📷 GWW, Aberdeen Harbour from Dock Gates, c.1877, MS 3792/E0111

Something doesn't look like it belongs there... Here's a sneak peek behind the scenes at the installation of our whale jaw in the new @abdnartmuseums.bsky.social Monsters of the Deep: Science Fact or Fiction? exhibition. Find out more about the exhibition: www.aberdeencity.gov.uk/AAGM/whats-a...

Today is #NaturePhotographyDay George Washington Wilson was a trailblazer in landscape photography, focusing on that instead of portraiture from the 1860s. He produced stereoscopic pictures with short exposures, increasing what could be photographed. 📷 GWW, Old Man of Storr, late 19thC, MS 3792

Today is Loggerhead Turtle Day. On 1st August 1861, a loggerhead turtle was caught in a salmon net at Pennan, Aberdeenshire. People flocked from far and wide to see the “rare fish”. The turtle was given to our Zoology Collection. It was the second recorded sighting in Scottish waters.

Welcome to the archives.

One of our manuscripts was shown at the 2025 SIEF Congress in Aberdeen last week. This is a Persian manuscript 'The wonders of Nature' (MS 183). It is a lavishly illustrated compendium of marvels of the universe, which was originally compiled in the Middle East, possibly in the late 13th century.

It’s #VolunteersWeek and we’d like to take the opportunity to say a big thank you to all those who give their time, skills, and enthusiasm to University of Aberdeen Collections. They contribute in so many areas, from Archives to Zoology!

Happy #PrideMonth from all of us at UoA Collections! Here's a pride flag made from images of our collection to celebrate! Find out where the colours come from in the thread below: