Full Issue

Abstract

The Natural History Museum's assistant archivist, Kathryn Rooke, spoke on The Importation of the Plumage (Prohibition) Act of 1921, as told through the Natural History Museum's archive collections. During the Victorian and Edwardian periods, demand for bird feathers in fashionable millinery led to the most luxurious of plumes literally being worth their weight in diamonds. Fulfilling this demand in turn led to populations of the birds most affected, such as egrets, birds of paradise, hummingbirds and grebes, being pushed towards extinction. The Natural History Museum's archives reveal the important role this organisation played in a lengthy campaign, led by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, to end the importation of bird feathers from across the then British Empire, which eventually culminated in the key 1921 act of parliament. The talk is still available to view at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X0tf2q4BvLU.