Shells&Pebbles launched ten years ago today. The first piece, by Floris Solleveld, featured a frontispiece from Lyell’s Principles of Geology: a view of the shore at Puzzuoli. It draws the eye to the shells and mussels remaining after the water first rose to submerge an ancient marketplace, then retreated again. An evocative image, but like Lyell, Floris did not include it because the sea or the shells symbolized something else; it served to illustrate a pattern and support an argument. To Lyell, it provided a clear instance of the principle of gradual geological change; to Floris, of the decline of the allegorical frontispiece.
Scrolling through the posts we published in our first year, we are struck by the range of topics and genres that have defined the blog from the very beginning: a study of penis graffiti in the university library; an essay on fern; a discussion of the race to build ever-larger giant telescopes; a story about an encounter with a 1930s psychiatrist’s views on time; a review of a medical novel; and in-depth interviews with Margaret Jacob and Norton Wise – to name only a few. The aim of this platform has always been to encourage historians of science to write about what they like. It has led to a collection of smooth pebbles and pretty shells – the metaphor doesn’t do them justice – that we are very grateful to have curated.
It would be indulgent to talk about ten years as a long time, especially on a history blog that contains pieces such as Mathijs Boom’s ‘onvoorstelbare oudheid’, about how the borders between historical and geological time were drawn (which incidentally has some nice drawings of fossilized shells). It is, however, long enough for everyone’s life to change. When Floor, Hans, Constance and Jeroen started, we were all PhD students, but we have – thank goodness – moved on. One by one, all but one stubborn member of the first generation left, and new editors entered to leave their mark on the website. Noortje, Ivan, Sebastiaan and Emma; and until today, Jorrit, Iris and Sjang. Working together with all these people has been a privilege.
Today marks the first time that the board changes, not gradually, but abruptly: an entirely new generation of editors takes over. As PhD students whose work covers a wide range of topics, they are particularly well placed to reinvigorate the project. That they work in close proximity to each other at Utrecht University will surely help maintain the necessary impetus. We are proud and thankful that Maura, Luca, Marieke, David, Lisa and Elske are willing to devote their time and energy to this blog, and in their announcement and mission statement we recognize everything that we hope for the future of Shells&Pebbles. We trust they will have as much fun with it as we had.
– Jeroen, Iris, Jorrit, Sjang