In this video, the good people of the Swedish Museum of Natural History (S) walk us through their efforts to digitize their priceless collection of materials from Carl Linnaeus (1707-1778), the father of natural taxonomy:

The Linnaean herbarium contains specimens that once belonged to Carl Linnaeus (a.k.a. Carl von Linné, senior) or specimens that once belonged to Carl von Linné (junior) and specimens cultivated at the Linnaean garden (Hort. Ups.). The specimens were distributed in several ways and ended up in (S)and it is one of the oldest separate collections housed here.

Linnaeus introduced the binominal-nomenclature and the publishing of Species Plantarum (1753) is important for plant nomenclature. This among other works has made Carl Linnaeus one of the most famous swedes.

The collection contains some 4500 specimens and is second only to the collections at the Linnaean Society in London. Although there are only a small number of type specimens in the Linnaean herbarium, it is still a very important collection in a historical and botanical perspective. Previously, specimens have only been accessible to specialists and guided groups, and on microfiche taken back in the 1960s.

By digitizing the Linnaean herbarium, the accessibility of this collection will greatly increase. We started in the summer of 2011 and so far digitized more than half of the collection. In this movie you get an introduction of the digitization and the collection history. Thank you for nice performances made by Åsa, Karin and Johan. Camera assistance: Dennis and Johan.

To see the materials already digitized by the Swedish Museum of Natural History and available on JSTOR Plant Science (over 23,000 of them), please see plants.jstor.org/search?t=6475.