Past fellows. Photo by Douglas A. Lockard.

After spending some enjoyable time, lots of tea and quite a few thoughts on the etymology of the terms fellow and fellowship, I have decided to keep my quips on these words for a later post. In the meantime, I cannot help but notice that we have had a number of jolly good fellows with us since I took the helm of the fellow-ship two years ago. Let me reminisce: scenes from the fellowship… 

There was the law professor with a penchant for forensics. He gave the most entertaining talk about wives who were suspected to have poisoned their husbands. And how would a court decide on that matter in the 1800s? Cue the birth of the forensic expert in the court room.

Then there was the fellow who worked on agricultural improvement in the 19th century. Before that, I had no idea how interesting the physical features of cows, the composition of animal food and dung, and indeed nineteenth-century poetry could be.

But it was not only in their topics that last year’s fellows left an impression on the Chemical Heritage Foundation and its people. They wrote articles for Chemical Heritage magazine and asked truly engaging questions at events. They got each other into conversations which, when overheard, would draw you in—a remarkable feat given that they mostly worked on completely different periods of time, different aspects of the history of chemistry, and even different cultures and languages. Arabic alchemy meets the FDA. Sounds unlikely? So it did to the fellows before their arrival. But they all kept emphasizing how much their work benefited from this truly interdisciplinary and international environment.

If this sounds like a sales pitch—well, maybe it is. But note that the place I am writing from is the office across the hallway from the fellows’ offices, and the position of someone looking back upon two years with fellows who are excellent researchers and terrific people. It is only in my own interest to keep going in that direction—a bit like Match.com, only that I am one person looking for many wonderful researchers. Poly-fellow-gamy at its best.

Hear more about it. Right here. On this blog. Coming soon to your computer screens.

Welcome to Ship of Fellows,* the Fellowship Blog** at the Chemical Heritage Foundation (CHF).***

* Clearly a pun on ‘Fellowship’ (see below) and Ship of Fools, a 1492 publication which provided the images for our blog banner. The Ship of Fools is what we call an ‘early printed book’ (or ‘incunable’ for the Latinate among us), printed only a few years after printed books were first produced. It is a series of vignettes about human follies and sins. Here’s hoping that this blog will find sufficient materials to write about before its author reverts to revealing our fellows’ antics…

Check out the Ship of Fools here: http://othmerlib.chemheritage.org/record=b1034637~S6

** A google search for the terms “fellowship AND blog” (note the perfect use of Boolean terminology) brings up links to cults and religions, events calendars and, mostly, very obscure websites which are neither blogs nor fellowship-related. Luckily, the Ship of Fellows is what it says on the tin: a blog about fellowship life at the Chemical Heritage Foundation. Stand by for more detail in future entries.

*** The Chemical Heritage Foundation is a library, museum and center for scholars in the heart of Philadelphia. At least, that is our official slogan. Underneath it all, it is a many-headed beast, excuse me, multitasking non-profit organization investigating the history of chemistry in all its colors.

Well, welcome to this blog!