Will Beharrell
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willbeharrell.bsky.social
Will Beharrell
@willbeharrell.bsky.social
3.4K followers 850 following 62 posts
📚 Librarian at the Linnean Society, the world’s oldest learned society devoted to natural history.
🌿 Secretary of the Society for the History of Natural History (SHNH).
🏳️‍🌈 Secretary and proud Trustee of Newbury Pride.
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willbeharrell.bsky.social
Look at this beauty, freshly returned from conservation! “Fleurs, fruits et feuillages choisis de la flore et de la pomone de l'Ile de Java” (1863) by Berthe van Nooten is one of my favourite items in the @linneansociety.bsky.social library, with firework fruits and flowers on every page.
August 29, 2025 at 12:56 PM
willbeharrell.bsky.social
This is Andrea at the #DefendTransRights protest in Reading yesterday. She’s Newbury Pride’s Vice-Chair and my friend ❤️

I couldn’t have been prouder.

#TransRightsAreHumanRights
🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️

@readingprideuk.bsky.social
@newburypride.bsky.social
A woman with long blonde hair wearing a denim jacket and a t-shirt with pro-trans rights slogans on it. She is standing in front of a public protest, defiantly holding up a microphone.
April 20, 2025 at 12:24 PM
willbeharrell.bsky.social
I wrote a thing about growing up gay in West Berkshire for LGBT+ History Month and Newbury Pride. You can read my shapeless musings below 👇
A newspaper-style graphic with a photo of man in the top right. The text reads: My name’s Will, I’m Newbury Pride’s Secretary, and I’m so happy to be celebrating LGBT+ History Month here in my hometown. The landscape for LGBT+ people has changed beyond recognition in my lifetime. Not just the well-publicised victories along the road to legal equality in the age of consent, civil partnerships, adoption, and most recently marriage, but also the widespread acceptance among the general public that LGBT+ people deserve equal treatment and respect (a 2019 poll suggested nearly 86% of Britons believe homosexuality should be accepted by society, about as unanimous a figure as you can hope to achieve on any topic in a free country). The change, even from my childhood, could not be more profound. I was educated in Newbury, and I’m sorry to say my secondary school environment was virulently homophobic. Sexuality and gender-based bullying was commonplace, and the existence of Section 28—a de facto ban on all discussions of LGBT+ relationships in the classroom—hobbled teachers’ ability to properly support their LGBT+ students. Many people seem surprised when told this piece of legislation—far from being a relic of the 1980s and 90s—remained on the statute books until 2003 in England. I was 15 when it was finally consigned to the dustbin of history, its damage already done. It wasn’t until university that I felt free to tell the truth about my sexuality; I came out at the relatively late age of 19. I still maintain that coming out was one of the few unambiguously good and sensible decisions I ever made, and the day I came out was one of the happiest of my life. My hope is that every LGBT+ person gets to experience that happiness, at least once. One of my main motivations for joining Newbury Pride was to create a safe environment for others to experience the happiness and relief I once felt. LGBT+ History Month is a great time to be thankful for the progress we’ve made, and…
February 16, 2025 at 12:49 PM
willbeharrell.bsky.social
I run some funny errands for the @linneansociety.bsky.social. Today’s was taking Carl Linnaeus’s walking stick to the V&A to be x-rayed (we thought there might be a sword inside it)…
January 23, 2025 at 2:17 PM
willbeharrell.bsky.social
It’s a very large translation of Linnaeus’ Systema Naturae (and other bits and pieces) into Dutch, done by a man called Houttuyn in the late 18th century.
January 14, 2025 at 3:24 PM
willbeharrell.bsky.social
My proudest professional achievement. Only six boxes of reshelving.
January 13, 2025 at 7:08 PM
willbeharrell.bsky.social
A little light weeding
A man sat at a desk piled high with books
January 9, 2025 at 8:06 PM
willbeharrell.bsky.social
Just a little shelving to do
January 7, 2025 at 3:28 PM
willbeharrell.bsky.social
I am officially Done With Work for 2024! Look after the library while I’m gone 😁
December 12, 2024 at 8:52 PM
willbeharrell.bsky.social
The Society for the History of Natural History is on Bluesky, hooray! Give them a follow, natural history friends.
@sochistnathist.bsky.social
A screen grab of the Society for the History of Natural History’s Bluesky account.
December 3, 2024 at 5:31 PM
willbeharrell.bsky.social
Library rule 1: please bring the whole book back.
An early printed book with half of it’s front cover/board missing An early printed book with half a cover, held open at the title page
December 2, 2024 at 9:20 AM
willbeharrell.bsky.social
Bizarrely parts of the text are redacted.
November 29, 2024 at 4:29 PM
willbeharrell.bsky.social
Some people say natural history books are boring but have you considered
A book called “Tomorrow’s Potato”. The front cover features a photograph of a potato field.
November 29, 2024 at 4:27 PM
willbeharrell.bsky.social
Gosh, so many new followers! Hello everyone. Be warned I plan to be just as boring here as I was over there.
A selfie of a man in a grand library.
November 26, 2024 at 4:35 PM
willbeharrell.bsky.social
Four albums that serve as an introduction to the fact I’m a gay white man in his late 30s.
The album cover for 69 Love Songs by the Magnetic Fields The album cover for Remain in Light by Talking Heads The album cover for Rumours by Fleetwood Mac The album cover for The Queen is Dead by The Smiths
November 23, 2024 at 3:50 PM
willbeharrell.bsky.social
The Linnean Society Library is open to everyone (Tuesday-Friday, 10am-5pm). Gorgeous reading room, five minutes from Piccadilly Circus, fast free WiFi, intermittently friendly librarian. Come keep me company 🙂
A young man sat at a desk, with a laptop, in grand library.
November 11, 2024 at 4:09 PM
willbeharrell.bsky.social
Hoo, lots of new followers. Hello! I’m not very active on here at the moment but if the Other Place gets any worse that could well change. Until then, do swing by the Linnean Society Library if you’re in town 🙂
www.linnean.org/research-col...
Three people smiling in a grand library with white columns and gilt-framed portraits.
November 9, 2024 at 11:16 AM
willbeharrell.bsky.social
More bookish ramblings from me on September 10, at 2pm. This time we’ll be looking at Elizabeth Blackwell and the gorgeous “Curious Herbal” (1737) she produced to rescue her family from debt. Free and online with the Linnean Society. Book here 🔗: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/linnean-le...
August 7, 2024 at 10:21 AM
willbeharrell.bsky.social
I have nothing very profound to say about these delicate Chinese prints, except how lovely they are! This is Shih-chu-chai Shu Hua P’u (the “Ten Bamboo Studio Treatise on Painting”). Copy at the Linnean Society, first edition, second superstate, produced sometime after 1703.
March 6, 2024 at 7:16 PM
willbeharrell.bsky.social
If you have an hour free at 2pm next Tuesday, why not listen to me wittering informatively about Edward Lear and his beautiful parrot illustrations? It’s online from the Linnean Society, and free. Put me on in the background while you’re doing something else. 🔗 - members.linnean.org/events/655cd...
A beautiful 19th century illustration of a blue and yellow macaw parrot, perched on a branch.
January 19, 2024 at 10:16 PM