By Sara Thompson
Image credit is Mary Marland Buckland, art is on display at the Oxford Museum.
Special to the Enterprise
Mary Buckland was a scientific illustrator specializing in marine biology and paleontology. She was born Mary Morland in 1797 in Berkshire, England. She enjoyed learning and was a quick study, especially in science. She spent several years studying with a Professor of Anatomy, Sir Christopher Pegge and his wife, and they supported her interests in science. As a teen she found herself fascinated by the work of Georges Cuvier, regarded as the founder of paleontology. She would send Cuvier specimens and illustrations, establishing herself as a scientific illustrator.
Cuvier sent Morland one of his new published books and when traveling met and conversed with a person who owned the same book. The person was William Buckland and was on his way to deliver a letter to Morland. The two struck a fast friendship and married soon after in 1825. Now Mary Buckland, she would continue her scientific pursuits with her spouse, helping with his research, editing, and illustrating.
Between supporting her spouse’s research and educating their own children, Buckland spent her spare time promoting education in nearby villages. Due to the disapproval of women in science, her pursuits were limited, but she continued to illustrate for her spouse and other friends in the scientific community. She made models and labels of fossils at the Oxford University Museum of Natural History.
She continued her work with illustrating, collecting, and researching with her children even as her health declined. She passed away in 1857, one year after her husband, at the age of 60. Much of her work and physical collection is housed at the Oxford University of Natural History. Her attention to detail and accuracy has kept several of her illustrations in scientific manuals and books today.
Like Mary Buckland, campers at this week’s “Remarkable Dinosaurs, Fossil Finds, and Prehistoric Life” were able to sketch and draw different fossils, not just look at them. Pictures often lose detail so scientific drawings can help show important details in notebooks, journal articles, and textbooks alike.
Explorit's coming events:
• Explorit is open Fridays from 1-4pm and Saturday and Sundays from 10am-2pm. The current exhibit is “Our WILD World”. Admission is $5 per person, free for Explorit Members and those aged 2 and under.
• Spaces available for Summer Camp “Galactic Adventure” for 3rd-5th graders. Camp is July 22-26 from 9am-12pm. Visit our website for more information or to register https://www.explorit.org/camps.
• Now is a great time to donate and help Explorit continue to educate and inspire the scientists of tomorrow: https://www.explorit.org/donate
• An Explorit Membership grants the recipient free visits to Explorit’s regular public hours, discounts on events, summer camps and workshops, and gives you ASTC benefits to visit other museums throughout the world. To purchase or for more information visit https://www.explorit.org/membership or call Explorit at 530-756-0191.
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