A new temporary display, titled The Life and Work of Botanist Catherine “Kit” Rob: An Insider’s Look at the Yorkshire Museum’s Herbarium is now open at the Yorkshire Museum. Exhibited in the foyer of the Yorkshire museum it is free to visit. Many of the specimens on display come from the Kit Rob Herbarium. This display of plant specimens is a brand new interpretation of the Yorkshire Museum’s biology collection. The Catherine Muriel Rob collections represents the small number of female collectors in the natural science collection. Rob was a leading Yorkshire botanist who helped to compile the Collins Pocket Guide to British Wild Flowers. This display has been supplemented by items from the Borthwick Institute of Archives at the University of York where Kit Rob’s personal archive is housed. Generously on loan are one of Kit Rob’s Wild Flower Society Journals and a membership card from the Catherine Muriel Rob Natural History Society, the charity set up in her name after her death.
Kit Rob was a secretary of the Wild Flower Society from 1946. See the WFS History Page.
The exhibition runs from 1 December 2025 – 31 May 2026. Wild Flower Society Members are encouraged to visit this free display. For more information, or to arrange a visit, please contact Anna Robson, Associate Collections Curator for Biology at the Yorkshire Museum, anna.robson@ymt.org.uk.