Author: John Gould, 1804-1881.
Title: The Birds of Australia.
Imprint: London, Printed by R. and J.E. Taylor;
published by the author, [1840]-48.

In the 19th Century, the Academy of Natural Sciences purchased a number of large, important European collections of birds. Foremost among these was the 1848 purchase by Thomas B. Wilson, a trustee of the day and a great supporter of the Ornithology Department, of the John Gould Collection of Australian Birds. Although a few of Gould's Australian specimens from that time are still to be found in European museums, the majority found their way to the Academy.

The Gould Collection is exceptionally rich in type specimens. As is customary, these are not available for loan. Nevertheless, we recognize the need to make this important scientific and historical resource more readily available to the ornithological community. Accordingly, this part of our web site shows images of Gould type specimens from several families of Australian birds. Complementing the images of the specimens themselves are images from the Ewell Sale Stewart Library's holdings of the plates that Gould and his artistic collaborators prepared using the specimens. Also from the Academy's Library are images of the scientific and more popular texts that Gould wrote based on the same specimens that are imaged.

The Academy would like to give special thanks to the Albert M. Greenfield Foundation for their generousity in funding the Albert M. Greenfield Digital Imaging Center for Collections. Without the Foundation's support, the creation of this web site would not have been possible. Special thanks also goes to Julie Reich, a volunteer at the Academy, and Andrew Johnson, a summer intern, who spent many dedicated hours in the digital imaging center, capturing the images and creating the web site.