Collecting, researching and displaying Pacific exploration, 1750–1850, at National Museums Scotland

Rebekah Higgitt is Principal Curator of Science at National Museums Scotland, a role she has held since 2020. She completed her PhD at Imperial College London and conducted postdoctoral research at the University of Edinburgh before serving as Curator of History of Science at Royal Museums Greenwich and as a senior lecturer at the University of Kent. Recent publications include The Board of Longitude: Science, Innovation and Empire (Cambridge University Press, 2025), co-authored with Baker, Dunn, Schaffer and Waring, and Metropolitan Science: London Sites and Cultures of Knowledge and Practice, c. 1600-1800 (Bloomsbury, 2024), co-authored with Kilburn-Toppin and Moxham. At the conference, she will present on Pacific exploration collections at National Museums Scotland, examining how objects and specimens reveal networks of collectors. Her talk will also explore recent research that has addressed colonial legacies within the Museum’s collections and sought to represent the perspectives of source communities.