Barbara Pyrah

From 1965–1968 Pyrah was the assistant keeper of geology at the Manchester Museum.{{cite book |title=Nature and Culture: Objects, Disciplines and the Manchester Museum |author1=Alberti, S. J. M. M. |date=2009 |publisher=Manchester Museum |page=62}} From 1968 to her retirement in 1988, Pyrah was the Keeper of Geology at the Yorkshire Museum.{{cite book |chapter=The Yorkshire Museum, 1988: Geology |title=Yorkshire Philosophical Society Annual Report for the year 1988 |author1=Howard, P. |page=40 |date=1989}} During her time at the Yorkshire Museum Pyrah produced a four-part catalogue detailing the type and figured fossil specimens held in the collections.{{cite journal |author1=Pyrah, B |date=1976 |title=Catalogue of the type and figured fossils in the Yorkshire Museum: part 1 |journal=Proceedings of the Yorkshire Geological Society |volume=41 |issue=1.4}}{{cite journal |author1=Pyrah, B |date=1977 |title=Catalogue of the type and figured fossils in the Yorkshire Museum: part 2 |journal=Proceedings of the Yorkshire Geological Society|volume=41 |issue=2.23}}{{cite journal |author1=Pyrah, B |date=1978 |title=Catalogue of the type and figured fossils in the Yorkshire Museum: part 3 |journal=Proceedings of the Yorkshire Geological Society |volume=41 |issue=4.324|pages=437–460 |doi=10.1144/pygs.41.4.437 }}{{cite journal |author1=Pyrah, B |date=1979 |title=Catalogue of the type and figured fossils in the Yorkshire Museum: part 4 |journal=Proceedings of the Yorkshire Geological Society |volume=42 |issue=3.244|pages=415–437 |doi=10.1144/pygs.42.3.415 }} This catalogue represented over 900 specimens from approximately 150 publications. The research interest in the collections of the museum rose considerably as a result of these published catalogues.{{cite book|author1=Pyrah, B. J. |date=1988 |title=The history of the Yorkshire Museum and its geological collections |chapter=A Modern Museum (1970–1988) |publisher=North Yorkshire County Council |pages=134–148 |isbn=1850720428}}

Pyrah illustrated the 1977 publication The Ice Age in Yorkshire.{{cite book |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/3944285 |title=The Ice Age in Yorkshire |publisher=WorldCat |oclc=3944285 |accessdate=26 February 2018}}

Pyrah was a member of the organising committee of the Geological Curators' Group from 1975 to 1977.{{cite journal |url=https://geocurator.org/images/resources/geocurator/vol2/geocurator_2_2.pdf |title=4TH ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING 1977 |journal=Newsletter of the Geological Curators' Group |date=1978 |volume=2 |issue=2 |pages=55–57|doi=10.55468/GC1053 |s2cid=251697510 |last1=Geological Curators Group }}

She retired from the museum due to ill-health in 1988; In retirement she was a member of the Dunnington Art Club and a founding member of the Friends of Hagg Wood.

She is listed as one of the donors to the mosaic map in York Museum Gardens.{{cite web |url=https://www.ypsyork.org/groups/geology-group/gmp/people/ |title=GMP People |publisher=Yorkshire Philosophical Society |accessdate=24 July 2019}}

Pyrah organised a major exhibition at the Yorkshire Museum: 'A New Look at the Dinosaurs' was opened in April 1984 by David Bellamy. The exhibition was inspired by a 1979 book of the same name by Alan J. Charig, who gave a lecture in the museum in celebration of its opening.{{cite book |chapter=The Yorkshire Museum, 1984: Geology |title=Yorkshire Philosophical Society Annual Report for the year 1984 |author1=Pyrah, B.|page=33–37 |date=1985}} The exhibition received a favourable review in New Scientist, which described it as "an exhibition of unimpeachable scholarship which provides something of interest and enjoyment at any and every age.{{cite journal |title=Dinosaurs are to be enjoyed |author1=Halstead, B. |date=April 1984 |publisher=New Science Publications|journal=New Scientist |volume=1404 |page=28 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2jCbW82ABTkC}} Over 335,000 visitors saw the exhibition by the end of its year-long display.

• Pyrah, B. J. 1974. "[https://geocurator.org/images/resources/geocurator/vol1/geocurator_1_2.pdf Collections and Collectors of Note. 3. Yorkshire Museum]". Geological Curators Group Newsletter 1(2). 52–55.
• Pyrah, B.1976. "Catalogue of the type and figured fossils in the Yorkshire Museum: part 1", Proceedings of the Yorkshire Geological Society 41(1.4)
• Pyrah, B.1977. "Catalogue of the type and figured fossils in the Yorkshire Museum: part 2", Proceedings of the Yorkshire Geological Society 41(2.23)
• Pyrah, B.1978. "Catalogue of the type and figured fossils in the Yorkshire Museum: part 3", Proceedings of the Yorkshire Geological Society 41(4.32)
• Pyrah, B.1979. "Catalogue of the type and figured fossils in the Yorkshire Museum: part 4", Proceedings of the Yorkshire Geological Society 42(3.24)
• Pyrah, B. J. 1981. "Edward Charlesworth and the British Natural History Society. 1: Material in the Yorkshire Museum", The Geological Curator 3(2). 88–92.
• Pyrah, B. J. 1988. The history of the Yorkshire Museum and its geological collections. York: The Ebor Press. {{ISBN|1 85072 042 8}}

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Category:1943 births

Category:2016 deaths

Category:British women geologists

Category:British curators

Category:Yorkshire Museum people

Category:Members of the Yorkshire Philosophical Society

Category:Manchester Museum people

Category:British women curators