The practice of note-taking in Taylor White's natural history collection

Abstract

Between the 1750s and 1770s Taylor White compiled over 750 manuscript notes to accompany his collection of animal portraits. These notes are written on individual unbound sheets of paper, and offer descriptions of the birds, mammals and fish that he commissioned to be painted. Examination of the structure and content of White's notes reveals that he chose and edited information from published sources while supplementing this with his own personal observations, that he wrote in both Latin and English, and that he obtained the help of an assistant to copy out many of his drafts in a more refined hand. This article discusses what White's purpose might have been in compiling these notes, what relationship they held to his collection of images, and how his note-taking practices aligned with the contemporary eighteenth-century culture of note-taking and information management in natural history.