Tips and Useful Information
Viewing Linnean Online records
When browsing folders or search results, you can choose to view the resulting records in list, table, or tile view, using these icons at the top right of the search results:
When looking at a record, you can choose to view the metadata at the left, top, or bottom of the image viewer, by using these icons at the top right of the record:
Similarly, there are different ways to view the images, including single page, two-page, gallery, and full screen views, depending on the collection. You can also quickly scroll through multi-image records using the contents button at the left side of the image viewer.
Refine your selection: this option appears if your search results vary by certain categories (e.g. Collection Name), which is a useful way to narrow down your search. However, please be aware that once you select an option/options from one refinement category, the options in the other categories do not dynamically change with your first selection, which may result in a ‘no results’ search outcome if you then select an option from another refinement category. In other words, it is best to use options from only one refinement category. Additionally, you can search within folders and/or add filters to your search.
Downloading images: we do not recommend downloading multi-image records, as you may face a system time-out. If you require an image within a multi-image record (e.g. manuscript or book), please email [email protected]. For image use, please see our Terms of Use and note the Licence field in item records.
Specimens
The specimen names reflect the historical ‘filed as’ names that were attached to the specimens when they arrived at the Linnean Society, and do not necessarily correspond with the current/accepted names. However, the currently accepted scientific names are available for some of the specimens and we will continue to update our specimen metadata as and when we can. For the Linnaean Herbarium, accepted names can be sourced using the Linnaean Plant Name Typification Project or by other online resources such as TROPICOS or IPNI.
The Society welcomes current determinations of our specimens. We also encourage the use of these collections for scientific and historical research. Please contact [email protected] if you would like to provide determinations or if you have an enquiry about accessing or using the collection.
Other Linnean Society catalogues and databases
As well as Linnean Online (which does not include all of our holdings), our collections can be searched using two other separate online platforms:
- The Library Catalogue (books, journals, paintings & engravings, photographs, medals & artefacts)
- The Archives Catalogue (manuscripts, correspondence, certificates of recommendation, Society papers, bound & loose letters)
Additionally, Spencer Savage, the Linnean Society’s Librarian and Assistant Secretary from 1929 to 1951, compiled catalogues of our two herbaria – the Linnaean Herbarium and the Smithian Herbarium – known as the “Savage Catalogues“, which are available to view and download from our main website: Herbaria Catalogues. These catalogues may assist with researching our herbaria specimens found on Linnean Online.
Other useful links
- Linnaean Correspondence Project: Uppsala University Library hosts the Linnaean Correspondence Project, which includes the Linnean Society’s collection of letters to and from Linnaeus. The “L number” listed as “Previous reference number” in our Linnaean Correspondence was used for this project.
- Mollusca Types in Britain & Ireland: This website brings together Mollusca type specimens in public collections in the UK and Ireland, including the Linnaean Shells.
- The Linnaean Plant Name Typification Project: Based at the Natural History Museum, the Project collates and catalogues information on published type designations for Linnaean plant names, including for those specimens held at the Linnean Society in the Linnaean Herbarium.
- Epsilon: Through Cambridge University, this website brings together letters written by and to 19th-century “actors engaged in the study of natural, physical, or mathematical science”, including the James Edward Smith Correspondence and the Alfred Russell Wallace letters (not on Linnean Online) held at the Linnean Society.
- JSTOR Global Plants: This database is the “world’s largest database of digitised plant specimens” and includes the Linnaean and Smithian herbaria.
- Linnaeus Link: This project is an international collaboration between libraries with significant holdings of Linnaean material to create a union catalogue of Linnaean Publications, including the Linnaean Annotated Works.
