Meet our new Student Archivist

Recently, NHSN welcomed Sasha Lawson-Frost as our new Student Archivist. Find out more about Sasha in her own words below.

Sasha is a PhD student in the Philosophy Department at Durham University.  She is joining us for the next six months, and will primarily be working on the ‘Nature’s Cure in Times of Need: New Voices for North East Nature’ project.

I’m greatly excited to be joining NHSN for this archives placement. I think the history and work of the Northumbria Natural History Society is fascinating, and I’m looking forward to exploring these stories and bringing some of them to light for other people to hear.

I believe that archives should be for everyone, not just academics or historians. NHSN has a real vision of how this ideal can be put into practice, with projects like ‘Nature’s Cure’ which emphasise the importance of hearing and collecting stories from a range different voices. NHSN also has an amazing cohort of volunteers with a wealth of insight and experience for me to learn from.

In the past I’ve conducted some archival research for the ‘Women in Parenthesis’ project, an initiative exploring the works and lives of four women philosophers who met and became friends in the Second World War – including Mary Midgley, who lived and worked in Newcastle for most of her life.

I’ve been living in North Yorkshire for the past couple of years, but the nature and landscape of the North East has a special place for me. I lived in Newcastle in 2020, and visiting the bluebells in Jesmond Dene every day kept me sane during the first Covid lockdown. I also do a lot of walking, and some of my favourite hiking spots are found in this part of the world. I’ve walked the length of the Northumberland Coast from Berwick to Warkworth a couple of times, and I love the North Pennines and many of the routes around Hadrian’s Wall. One of the best nature experiences of my life was meeting a short-eared owl at dusk in Teesdale.

Sasha Lawson-Frost

Sasha’s work is funded by the Northern Bridge Consortium of the Arts and Humanities Research Council.

You can find out more about the ‘Nature’s Cure in Times of Need’ project here: Nature’s Cure in Times of Need: New Voices for North East Nature – Natural History Society of Northumbria (nhsn.org.uk)