The Cambridge Natural History Society Conversazione
I am currently working on this page – awaiting photographs.
The Conversazione is an annual exhibition organised by the Cambridge Natural History Society (CNHS). Exhibits on all aspects of natural history are displayed by members of the CNHS, mushroom clubs, bat clubs, bird clubs, bee clubs, plant clubs, conservation clubs, universities, schools, libraries, museums, companies … any organisation or individual with an interest in natural history.
The first Conversazione was held in 1913. During the 1950s it thrived, boasting over 70 exhibits most years and 113 exhibits in 1958. However, in the 1960s a decline began, and by 1976 there were only 24 exhibits.
Henry, who had first exhibited at the Conversazione in 1953, became a Conversazione Secretary in 1977, helping to organise the event. He writes:
It was said that everybody was now too busy, that in this day and age students and research workers could not be expected to spend valuable time preparing exhibits for the Natural History Society. But some thought the problem was different: notices soliciting exhibits appeared on notice boards, yes, but no one came to ask in person any more. The author persuaded Council that Conversazione Secretaries should search out exhibitors and he volunteered to find whether people really were too busy, or whether they rather do like to show something that interests them but also like to be asked. They did like to be asked! Within two years the Conversazione was back to the fifties plateau and kept there well into the eighties.
Henry Tribe, from The Conversazione of the Cambridge Natural History Society
Nature in Cambridgeshire 50, 108-113, 2008
I [Henry’s daughter Andrea] remember going to the Conversazione in the 1970s. It would take place on a Friday and I would go after school. I particularly remember watching films about birds (this was before the ubiquitous coverage of wildlife on TV and YouTube) and the exhibit by the St Ivo School – a vast menagerie of reptiles and creepy crawlies.
I also remember Henry’s great determination to solicit 100 exhibits for a Conversazione, a feat which he and his fellow Conversazione Secretaries achieved in 1989.
Henry wrote two articles about the Conversazione which are available online:
- HENRY T. TRIBE (2008) The Conversazione of the Cambridge Natural History Society.
Nature in Cambridgeshire 50, 108-113 - HENRY T. TRIBE (2019) The Conversazione of the Cambridge Natural History Society: An Update.
Nature in Cambridgeshire 61, 60-62
“My CV” – Henry’s list of Exhibits in the CHNS Conversazione
Henry displayed over 100 exhibits at the Conversazione between 1953 and 2019. Below is his list of Titles, which he called “My CV”.
1953
A disease of a fungus [Of Sclerotinia by Coniothyrium minitans].
1956
Soil microorganisms at work.
1957
What is humus?
Photosynthetic sulphur bacteria.
1960
Looking at the way things decompose in soils.
1963
A very decayed lettuce leaf.
A soil percolator.
1964
Microbial natural history.
A blind cave fish.
1970
Gel media for mould growth.
Soil ecology of bread moulds.
1971
Soil moulds and survival: growth on nothing at all (?) [minimal nutrient study]: growth on hair.
1972
Soil yeasts.
1975
The ecosystem in my domestic water tank.
1977
Lettuce leaf humus.
Diseases of cyst-nematodes.
with S. M. Abu el Souod: Microbial colonization of hair.
1978
Compost from dustbin contents – and its application to the capture and killing of nasty smells.
1979
with M. W. M. Bewick: A simple respirometer for decomposition studies in soils.
1980
How a nematode-trapping fungus grows in the soil.
Microbial decomposition of smells: big business on the Continent.
1982
The living root as a habitat for microbes.
with G. S. Hall: Autecology of Periconia macrospinosa.
1983
Microenvironments. Habitats for microbes magnified x 8,000.
1984
Microbial artillery and small arms. Microfungi whose spores are violently discharged for some distance: Conidiobolus coronatus and Sporobolomyces roseus.
Family Tribe: The habitat of man. [Model house at 1:12, electric light, running water, living garden, made by Henry Tribe & Katharina Tribe.]
1985
Microbial ecology: Microhabitats: aspects of 3 buried in soils are shown: dried blood, Cellophane, excreta.
Microbial ecology: The moulds Trichoderma viride and Rhizoctonia solani.
1986
The colon bacillus, Escherichia coli. Model x 100,000.
1987
Colonization of hair buried in soil.
with P. Maynard: A computer controlled respirometer.
1988
with P. Maynard: Automatic electrolytic respirometer.
Etching of glass by microfungi.
Katharina Tribe: The problem of lymph: the neglected system.
1989
Arthroderma and Pilimelia: Microbes that grow on fallen tresses.
1990
The late Dr Dillon Weston – Glass models of plant disease fungi.
1991
Katharina Tribe: On swollen limbs: are they necessary?
1992
Deci-gardening: Aims and botanical problems. (Gardening at 1/10 scale – purpose a living garden for a dolls house.)
1993
The colon bacillus – models, magnification x 100,000.
1994
A tree root from a drainpipe.
1995
My (unacceptable) introduction to biology. [It was cigarette cards!]
1996
Moulds, yeasts, mushrooms & toadstools: an introduction to FUNGUS 100 – the grand exhibition on fungi in London this September.
1997
British Mycological Society. A new series of postcards of fungi – available for purchase.
Persea americana from seed, showing symptoms of an as yet undescribed non-parasitic leaf disorder.
1998
Birth of the Millennium Bug.
(Sat only): The giant hogweed in yesterday’s Cambridge Evening News.
1999
Nice house but pity about the front door [bird house with peck marks outside the small entry hole].
Evolution of the Millennium Bug.
2000
Metabolism magnified.
The hoar-frost fungus, Botryosporium longibrachiatum, growing on neglected basil plants.
Wild plants in profusion – Chesterton Sidings.
2001
Mitochondria, microscopic power packs of our every cell.
Plants in their element: colonisation of a new environment.
2002
Models of molecular metabolism magnified.
Tina Tribe: Do you recognise yourself? (CNHS pictures from previous exhibitions.)
2003
The yeast cell at increasing magnifications.
Mycorrhiza – the partnership of fungi and roots.
2004
Micro-Natural History. A model of the bacterium Escherichia coli, x 2,000,000.
2005
Yeasts. We look at wine yeast cells and then investigate what is inside them, this revealing an astonishing complexity.
2006
Nano-Natural History: Our sugar-electric and ‘diesel’-electric engines, magnified two million times.
2007
The Death Cap – Deadliest of all fungi. How its toxin works.
Degradation of plastic carrier bags.
Light sugar.
with P. Gladders: Control of a fungus disease by another fungus.
with Zoobiotic: Maggots cleanse wounds.
with J. Romanis: Mycorrhizal supplements – what are they?
with Whipple Museum: Models for teaching.
Foyer: The Society’s Annual Conversazione: 88 years of consecutive exhibitions.
2008
Some fungus models from the BMS Travelling Exhibition.
On the occupation of holes.
Natural History of Molecules.
Degradation of plastic containers.
with Katharina Tribe: Urban foxes in our garden.
with Zoobiotic: Maggots cleanse wounds.
Foyer: The Society’s Annual Conversazione: 89 years of consecutive exhibitions.
2009
Nano-natural history: Sugar-electric engines / photosynthesis.
Degradation of plastics.
Chesterton Sidings: Natural selection in a virgin habitat.
with Zoobiotic: Fly larvae cleanse wounds (under name of Johanna Bennett, Bridgend).
Foyer: The Society’s 90th consecutive Conversazione.
2010
The Society’s 91st consecutive Conversazione.
Four new fungus models.
The plastic bag decomposition problem: attempts to help solve it.
2011
Nano-Natural History: the world at two million magnification.
My “CV” (My Conversazione Titles since 1953).
2012
A root system from a drainpipe – who is the culprit? Probably Honeysuckle blocked 4″ pipe over 3m.
Nano-Natural History or Life at Two Million Magnification: Photosynthesis. The molecules which make up the mechanism.
Historic photographs from Chesterton Sidings, Cambridge. Taken by Henry Tribe 1997-2003.
2013
Life at Million-fold Magnification. Traditional Natural History is of the world as we see it, but magnified 2-3 million times our world is of molecules. The species of our ecosystems are replaced by species of molecules.
Items from the Society’s Archive.
Bookworm’s Signatures: Tunnels left in paperbacks.
Ermine Moth larvae with web. Larvae and foliage collected from Bird-cherry trees on Jesus Green.
2014
Life at Million-fold Magnification.
The ermine moth on Bird-cherry in Jesus Green.
with Peter Gladders: Sporulation of the ash die-back fungus, Chalara fraxinea.
2015
Life at Two Million-Magnification.
2016
Life at Two Million-Magnification.
The Ermine Moth on Bird-cherry in Jesus Green.
2017
The Ermine Moth on Bird-cherry in Cambridge.
Life at Two Thousand Magnification: the World of Microbes.
Photographs show the diverse bacteria that make up Poo.
2018
Life at Two Thousand Magnification – The World of Microbes. Poo x 2,000.
Katharina Tribe: The Curious Incidence of this years’ Easter Eggs.
2019
Life at Two Million Magnification: the World of Molecules.
Life at Two Thousand Magnification: the World of Microbes.
My CV – My Conversazione Titles since 1953.
Items from the Society’s Archive: The Great Scrapbook of 1895 to 1909; the Cambridge Natural History 1896-1909; the Report and Register of Members, 1908 – 1928; and ten programmes from the past of the Annual Conversazione.
White shoots on thistle and white spots on jade plants.