Barbara Pyrah

Barbara Pyrah
Pyrah giving an interview to YTV in 1986 in the Yorkshire Museum
Born	Barabara Joan Pyrah 1943 (1943)
Died	8 January 2016(2016-01-08) (aged 72–73) Stamford Bridge
Occupations	Archaeologist Museum curator
Academic work
Discipline	Geology
Institutions	Manchester Museum Yorkshire Museum

Barbara Joan Pyrah (1943–2016) was a British geologist, museum curator, and illustrator.^[1]

From 1965 to 1968 Pyrah was the assistant keeper of geology at the Manchester Museum.^[2] From 1968 to her retirement in 1988, Pyrah was the Keeper of Geology at the Yorkshire Museum.^[3] During her time at the Yorkshire Museum Pyrah produced a four-part catalogue detailing the type and figured fossil specimens held in the collections.^[4][5][6][7] 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.^[8]

Pyrah illustrated the 1977 publication The Ice Age in Yorkshire.^[9]

Pyrah was a member of the organising committee of the Geological Curators' Group from 1975 to 1977.^[10]

She retired from the museum due to ill-health in 1988;^[3] In retirement she was a member of the Dunnington Art Club and a founding member of the Friends of Hagg Wood.^[1]

She is listed as one of the donors to the mosaic map in York Museum Gardens.^[11]

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.^[12] 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.^[13] Over 335,000 visitors saw the exhibition by the end of its year-long display.^[8]

• Pyrah, B. J. 1974. "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