Taylor White (1701–1772) was by profession a barrister and judge, active in public life in London. His life as a jurist and as the long-serving treasurer of the Foundling Hospital is documented in the records of his public appointments and in his own official correspondence. This article reveals the other Taylor White, a Fellow of the Royal Society (1725), and an active participant in the practice of science in the mid eighteenth century. White accumulated a significant collection of specimens and drawings of plants, insects, birds and mammals. Over 900 of the zoological drawings are preserved in the Blacker Wood Natural History Collection at McGill University in Montreal. White's passions for natural history and collecting are revealed tangentially through the very few letters in his hand, the notes he made about his own collection, and infrequent references in the books and letters of his friends and fellow naturalists. This article seeks not only to document the sources of White's collection, but also to extract a narrative of acquisition, transport and exchange of specimens that reveals the informal networks of eighteenth-century naturalists, which included not only scientists but also sailors, merchants and curious lawyers. It also explores the work and motivations of the collector engaged in building a reference collection of animal portraits, painted in their true colours and ‘the size of life’. Close study of this collection positions Taylor White within the community of eighteenth-century naturalists and provides a deeply textured exploration of natural history and collecting in the age of Linnaeus.

泰勒怀特 (1701–1772) 的职业是大律师和法官，活跃于伦敦的公共生活。他作为法学家和在弃儿医院长期担任财务主管的生活记录在他的公职记录和他自己的官方信件中。这篇文章揭示了另一位皇家学会会员（1725 年）、18 世纪中叶科学实践的积极参与者泰勒·怀特。怀特积累了大量植物、昆虫、鸟类和哺乳动物的标本和图画。超过 900 幅动物图画保存在蒙特利尔麦吉尔大学的 Blacker Wood 自然历史收藏中。怀特对自然历史和收藏的热情通过他手中的极少数信件、他对自己收藏的笔记、在他的朋友和博物学家同行的书籍和信件中很少提及。本文不仅试图记录怀特收藏的来源，而且还提取了标本获取、运输和交换的叙述，揭示了 18 世纪博物学家的非正式网络，其中不仅包括科学家，还包括水手、商人和好奇的人。律师。它还探讨了收集动物肖像参考收藏的收藏家的工作和动机，这些肖像画以其真实的色彩和“生命的大小”绘制。对该藏品的仔细研究将泰勒怀特置于 18 世纪博物学家的社区中，并提供了对林奈时代的自然历史和收藏的深入探索。