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Why this environment scientist documents milk cans

When he is not gardening or involved in conservation initiatives, Ian Spellerberg spends time researching such sundry items as tinder boxes and dairy cans, finds out Marisha Karwa

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Retired professor Ian Spellerberg with a milk can outside Parmiter's Antiques shop in Exmouth Rd, Portsmouth, UK in 2013. (Photo courtesy: Christopher Spellerberg)
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Humboldt Fellowship, three summers in the Antarctica, decades of professorial terms, award-winning science writing, imparting dog obedience training and an obsession with picking up discarded cans, bottles, timber and metal in order to recycle… just some of the activities that define Ian Spellerberg.

The New Zealand-based environment scientist and a retired professor — noted for championing biodiversity and advocating local gardening — is among the pioneers for promoting an interdisciplinary approach to environmental sciences and is an honorary fellow of the Environment Institute of Australia and New Zealand. Add to this his penchant for collecting, and painstakingly documenting the history of such obscure objects as paper-knives and tinderboxes and you know that he is a multifaceted personality.

"Studying and researching antiques is like nature conservation," says Spellerberg whose days in Christchurch are filled with writing, community activities, gardening and being a house husband while his wife continues to work. "It is all about conserving knowledge and artefacts from the past. Rather than just collecting, it is important to share information. I encourage all collectors to write articles or books about their discoveries."

It's through such sharing of knowledge that Spellergberg has called the bluff of many antique dealers, who no doubt, are smarting about the potential loss of gullible clients after the publication of his book Reading and Writing Accessories — A Study of Paper-knives, Paper folders, Letter openers and Mythical Page Turners. The term 'page turner' — a ruler-like blade used to turn the pages of old books so as not to damage or soil the pages — is embedded in the vocabulary of the world of antiques, he says. "Similarly, it has long been thought that 'page turners' were used to turn pages of newspapers so as to avoid soiling your fingers with the ink. My primary research has found no evidence to support these long-held beliefs. The term 'page turner' is a myth," he stresses. "All 'page turners' are either paper-knives or paper folders or letter openers. Hopefully, the book will convince antique collectors and dealers of the misappropriation of this and other terms."

Spellerberg has also brought to light fascinating nuggets of the life and times of a bygone era. "After the invention of friction matches in 1826, containers for matches were made from more materials and came in a greater variety of designs compared to any other domestic object of that time," he points out from his book Match Holders – First-hand Accounts of Tinderboxes, Matches, Spills, Vesta cases, Match strikers, and Permanent matches.

(Also read Ian Spellerberg's column on documenting milk cans online at dnai.in/dsE5)

Dairy diaries

For someone who once stayed put on a helipad on the Antarctica to prevent a tourist helicopter from landing near a penguin colony because he was riled by the impact of tourism on the frozen continent's birdlife, the chronicles of milk cans may seem a tepid effort. But Spellerberg is game for the drill. "The design of the typical milk can is recognisable around the world. They are still made and used today," he says of his ongoing research for the container's history. "I find it fascinating that such a recognisable and functional design has not been celebrated by any museum of art and design."

Spellergberg has so far ploughed through milk company records, books, reports, articles and advertisements in old magazines, and has spoken to retired farmers and retired dairy workers — in the process acquiring dozens of milk cans of all shapes and sizes. The biggest can in his collection can hold 25 gallons, roughly about 96 litres, while the smallest one can hold 1/8th of a pint, i.e. about four tablespoons. And then there are the classics.

"The spherical shape of the milk cans used on the Islands of Guernsey (one of the Channel Isles) has altered very little over the last thousand years," points out Spellerberg. "Originally made of tin-plated steel, they were later made of copper with tin-plating on the inside."

Researching such sundry items comes with its pitfalls, especially the lack of documented sources. "I don't think that there is any solution. For both the books (on paper-knives and tinderboxes), I was very strict about ignoring anecdotes or information on the internet, and instead sought information from primary sources," offers Spellerberg, who finds it interesting that "I often came across India during my search for both — examples of milk cans and for information".



(Environment scientist and retired professor Ian Spellerberg examines an old milk can under the light of a milk can lamp designed by SahilSarthak Design Co)

Eco-warrior

Taught at an early age to "value what we had and to make things for myself", Spellerberg spent his formative years growing vegetables and flowers, assembling a herbarium and recycling household "waste". He enjoyed studying animal behaviour and biological conservation, and counts among his many influences the works of explorers and naturalists Charles Darwin and Alfred Wallace, the 'father of animal behaviour' Konrad Lorenz, naturalists Gerald Durrell and William Beebe.

Spellerberg counts among his "heroes" Edward Wilson, a biologist and a leading expert on ants who hypothesised in 1984 that there exists an instinctive bond between human beings and other living systems, or biophilia. It is natural then that Spellerberg finds it disconcerting that "more and more so, young people are becoming remote from nature. They don't appreciate simple things like trees and bird song".

The author of numerous books on ecology and conservation, he disagrees that climate change is the most pressing environmental issue today. "The most important environmental issue is the continuing unsustainable and inequitable exploitation of nature and the environment. Climate change is just one small part of that issue," he points out. "Humans, overall, are living beyond nature's limits."

A founding member and patron of the Te Ara Kakriki Greenway Canterbury Trust, which promotes the conservation of native plants in the lowland region of New Zealand, Spellerberg believes it is far more important to understand how we can learn to live within nature's limits than "waste money exploring Mars or developing anti-ageing drugs".

"It's very hard to persuade funding agencies to support nature conservation projects," he says. "Information technology will not save us from environmental disasters. A love of nature and a better understanding of the environment, will."

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