“Queen Victoria collected seaweed. So did a lot of other Victorians, both in Britain and North America. Keeping with the Victorian fascination of collecting and a cataloging the natural world, men and women combed the shores, carefully pressing algae into scrapbooks for both science and mementos.

This scrapbook by Emily Brand is a beautifully rendered example of just such an endeavor. On textured paper bound by aging ribbons, Brand pressed and mounted a wide range of algal specimens, painted a watercolour landscape on the title page, and carefully inscribed the popular poem ‘Sea Mosses,’ by New England poet Clara B. Heath (b. 1831).

Seaweed collecting was not as popular as pressing flowers, but it held social, scientific, and spiritual meaning for the collector: such a collection demonstrated patience, artistic talent, a refined sensibility for the subtle beauty of nature, as well as improving one’s scientific knowledge, while deepening the appreciation of the what was commonly seen as God’s creations.

I’ll close with another verse from that poem, evoking the delightful mix of the sentiments of the Victorian times, blending nymphs and mermaids, with science, nature, and the notion that a single God was ever-present, just behind the scenes. This scrapbook is truly a specimen of its time.

Was this the fringe of a sea-nymph’s robe, Caught in the door of a coral cave, Loosened by waters that span the globe, And tossed ashore on a foamy wave?

…

Are these the strands of a carpet soft, Richer than mortal has ever trod, Freed by the current and borne aloft, To show us the hidden work of God?

• from ‘Sea Mosses,’ by Clara B. Heath, 1881”

Saskia Wolsak, Ethnobotanist at UBC.