The Council for Nature Collection

The Linnean Society has recently added a new collection to its archive catalogue: the papers of the Council for Nature. The addition of this collection follows on from the Max Nicholson, IUCN and Richard Fitter collections catalogued previously as part of a project on archives relating to nature conservation held at the Society.

The Council for Nature was a voluntary organisation founded by the Duke of Edinburgh in 1958. Environmentalist and World Wildlife Fund founder Max Nicholson (1904-2003) was instrumental in the initial coordination of the group which was set up as a coordinating body to represent all voluntary wildlife groups in issues relating to conservation politics. The Council for Nature was credited with helping “conservation” become more of a household word rather than a term relegated to scientific discussion.

In 1963, the Council for Nature became a registered charity and promoted National Nature Week, which led to the “Countryside in 1970” conferences in which Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, was heavily involved. The initial conference brought together influential politicians, administrators and environmentalists, including naturalists and champions of countryside preservation and outdoor leisure interests, for the first time. The second conference in 1965 prepared the way for the 1968 Countryside Act, and the final conference held in 1970 was Britain’s contribution to European Conservation Year, a campaign launched in 1970 to alert Europe of the importance and necessity of protecting and conserving the environment and its natural resources.

The Council for Nature closed down in 1992, its main functions having been passed to the Committee for Environmental Conservation, which was a direct product of the “Countryside in 1970” conferences.

The Council for Nature collections relate to the initial creation and administration of the group including minutes, financials, publications, and information on sites they owned and staff they employed, as well as documentation relating to projects the Council ran or became involved with. Topics covered within these archives include Dutch Elm disease, pollution disasters, pesticides, bird and mammal conservation, common land, rabies and firearms. The papers provide a relatively in-depth snapshot of the work of this seminal nature conservation organisation and relate heavily to material in the other nature conservation collections.