Guide to the Papers of the Natural History Museum: Murray Library (as filmed by the AJCP)
M2770 - M2771
National Library of Australia View Catalogue Record
Created: 2019
Collection Summary
- Creator
- Natural History Museum. Murray Library
- Title
- Natural History Museum: Papers of the Murray Library (as filmed by the AJCP)
- Date Range
- 1839 - 1912
- Collection Number
- M2770 - M2771
- Extent
- 94 items
- Language of Materials
- English
- Repository
- Australian Joint Copying Project
- Sponsor
- The Australian Joint Copying Project (AJCP) online portal was created with the assistance of the Australian Public Service Modernisation Fund, 2017-2020. The National Library of Australia gratefully acknowledges the contribution of the other foundation AJCP partners, the State Library of New South Wales and The National Archives of the UK, and all other organisations which supported the work of the AJCP, the world's most extensive collaborative copying project, operating from 1948 to 1997.
Introduction
Scope and Contents
Surveys 1873-1912 of oceanographic expeditions. The ships include HMS Penguin, HMS Waterwitch, USS Albatross and HMS Egeria.
Papers 1839-43 of Joseph D. Hooker, including drawings, manuscripts, notes and diary of invertebrate animals made during the Sir James Ross Antarctic expedition.
Notes, correspondence, photographs and other records 1891-1910 collected on USS Albatross.
Data 1840-1921 collected by SS Britannia, HMS Egeria, HMS Iris, HMS Myrmidon, USS Nero, HMS Penguin, HMS Rambler, USS Tuscarora.
Data 1890 collected by F.G. Pearcey.
Conditions Governing Access
Available for Access.
Conditions Governing Use
Many of the records digitised as part of the AJCP are still in copyright. Readers wishing to publish or reproduce documents should seek permission, in the first instance, from the owner of the original material.
Preferred Citation
Acknowledgement of use of this material should refer to the location of the original material and to the Australian Joint Copying Project.
Items from this collection should include references to the location of the original material and to the AJCP nla.obj number, which serves as the online identifier for the digital copy.
Example: M Series: Journal of Capt. James Cook, 18 February 1770, British Library Add. MS 27885 (AJCP ref: http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-1234)
Archival History
Material selectively filmed at the Murray Library, British Museum (Natural History), London, as part of the Australian Joint Copying Project, 1991 (AJCP Reels: M2770 - 2771). Original microfilm digitised as part of the AJCP Online Delivery Project, 2017-2020.
Formerly known as British Museum (Natural History), in 1992 the name changed to the Natural History Museum.
Existence and Location of Originals
Murray Library, Natural History Museum (formerly British Museum (Natural History)) London, England. For further information see the Natural History Museum catalogue (http://www.nhm.ac.uk/our-science/departments-and-staff/library-and-archives.html)
Existence and Location of Copies
The original AJCP microfilm of the records filmed from this collection is available at the National Library of Australia [https://nla.gov.au/nla.cat-vn41990] as well as other institutions holding AJCP microfilm.
Finding-aid Notes
This finding aid is a revised online version of the original finding aid prepared by the Australian Joint Copying Project (AJCP), published by the National Library of Australia in 2019. The original AJCP finding aids were unpublished typescripts or photocopies available from libraries that held copies of the original microfilm.
Dates used in this finding aid refer to the date range of the records selected for filming rather than to the date range of the Series or Files.
The identifiers used in this finding aid were accurate at the time of filming. They have been kept to preserve the historical context of the collection. . The new control numbers applied by the Natural History Museum have been identified where possible.
Subjects
Albatross, USS (ship); Antarctica; Australia; Britannia, SS (ship); Egeria, HMS (ship); Hooker, Sir Joseph D.; Great Britain; Iris, HMS (ship); Myrmidon, HMS (ship); Naturalists; Nero, USS (ship); New Caledonia; New Zealand; Oceanography; Paintings, drawings, and prints; Pearcey, F.G.; Penguin, HMS (ship); Photographs; Rambler, HMS (ship); Ross, Sir James C., Admiral; Royal Navy: exploration and surveys; Royal Navy: voyages; Tuscarora, USS (ship); Waterwitch, HMS (ship)
Bibliography
Originally cited in Australian Joint Copying Project Handbook. Part 8: Miscellaneous (M) Series. Third Edition, published 1998. Entry 67, p23.
Biographical / Historical
The Murray Library is a closed collection within the library of the Natural History Museum. It was donated to the Museum in 1921 by the Murray Family following the death of the oceanographer Sir John Murray (1841-1914). The collection comprised zoological and oceanographic works, manuscripts, drawings, correspondence, soundings and ocean-bottom deposits.
Item Descriptions
Series. Murray Library Section I, 1873 - 1912
24 itemsFilmed selectively.
Series. Murray Library Section 2, 1839 - 1912
57 itemsSubseries. Sir Joseph D Hooker, 1839 - 1844
11 itemsSketches of invertebrate animals made during the Sir James Ross Antarctic Expedition, 1839-1843 and diaries of voyage.
Box 95
Biographical / Historical
Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker (1817-1911), the son of Sir William Hooker, studied medicine at Glasgow University. In 1839 he was appointed assistant surgeon on HMS Erebus, commanded by James Clark Ross, on its expedition to the Antarctic. After his return to England in 1844 he worked on The botany of the Antarctic voyage (6 vols.) He was later assistant director (1855-65) and director (1865-85) of the Royal Botanic gardens at Kew.
Drawings made during Sir James Ross Antarctic Expedition (File 1)
Drawings of invertebrate animals, some give location. (including 'Sydney', 'off New Zealand',etc.) (87p.)
Hooker's Mss. as received from Spence Bate (File 2)
Ms. notes and drawings, giving date, location, and description of specimens. (53p. and 15 drawings)
Antarctic Zoology Diary, April 1840 - August 1841 (File 3)
3 itemsa. [Diary], 8 April - Dec 1840 (pencil and ink)b. [Transcribed copy of Diary], 23pc. Between Sydney and New Zealand, Aug 1841. 48p
Descriptions of specimens
Subseries Box 127. SS Albatross, 1888 - 1910
5 itemsFilmed selectively.
Biographical / Historical
The SS Albatross, which was launched in 1882, was possibly the first vessel built specifically for marine research. In 1899, under the command of Jefferson Moser and under the scientific direction of Alexander Agassiz (1835-1910), she sailed from San Francisco to the Marquesas Islands, Society Islands, Cook Islands, Fiji, and the Ellice, Gilbert and Caroline Islands, before reaching Yokohama in March 1900. Thousands of dredgings were undertaken on the voyage. The marine specimens collected on the voyage were placed in the museum of natural history at Harvard University, which had been founded by Agassiz's father.
Note and correspondence (File 3)
Concerning despatch of manganese nodules collected by Albatross on South Sea voyage (c. 1899-1900) from Museum of Comparative Zoology Cambridge Mass to Sir John Murray, 1901-1902. (4p.)
Dr William Mackie (Elgin) to Sir John Murray, 17 September 1910 (File 4)
Re Albatross specimens and eleven photographs of deposits.
Record of submarine tow-net stations of the US Fish Commission Steamer Albatross. (Printed, 5p.), March 1891 - April 1891 (File 5)
Subseries Box 128. SS Britannia, 1901
7 itemsFilmed selectively.
Biographical / Historical
The SS Britannia, commanded by J.E. Leach, was engaged by the Pacific Cable Board in 1901 to determine the sites of the cable stations along the proposed route. The stations were located at Southport, Queensland, Norfolk Island, Doubtless Bay, New Zealand, Fiji, Fanning Island and Vancouver. The laying of the cable was completed in October 1902.
Pacific Cable Survey,, 1901 (File 3)
Sounding log south part, Qld., to Norfolk Island; Norfolk Island to Fiji; Norfolk Island to New Zealand; Norfolk Island to Fiji; Fiji to Fanning Island; Fanning Island to Vancouver, 18 May-29 Aug 1901. (59p.)
Remarks on deep sea deposits in general and their distribution in the Pacific Ocean, 1901 (File 4)
With notes on the samples collected by SS Britannia, by Sir John Murray. (46p.)
Sounding sheetings, South part, Qld. to Honolulu, (29p. sheets), 18 May 1901 - 30 August 1901 (File 6)
Subseries Box 136. SS Egeria, 1887 - 1888
6 itemsBiographical / Historical
The sloop HMS Egeria was launched in 1873. From 1887 to 1890, under the command of Pelham Aldrich, it was engaged in surveying work in Australian and New Zealand waters.
Sounding sheets from North Island New Zealand to Wolverene Bank, Rough and perfect copies. (15p.), 21 June 1888 - 1 September 1888 (File 1)
Details of analysis of samples taken on Soundings (101p.), October 1887 - December 1887 (File 3-21, 23-43)
Not in date order
Subseries Box 141. HMCS Iris, 1912
2 itemsBiographical / Historical
HMCS Iris was a cable ship, built in 1902 and owned by the Pacific Cable Board. It was responsible for the maintenance of the trans-Pacific cable.
Subseries Box 144. HMS Myrmidon, 1887
1 itemBiographical / Historical
The gunboat HMS Myrmidon was launched in 1867. Converted to a survey vessel, it served on the Australian Station in 1885-88 and carried out hydrographic surveys. In April 1887 it collided with HMS Tyne near Wilson's Promontory.
Subseries Box 145. USS Nero, 1905
2 itemsBiographical / Historical
USS Nero was a steel steam collier, built in 1895 and acquired by the United States Navy in 1898. From 1900 to 1905 she made a number of voyages to the Philippines, Guam, Hawaii, Samoa, Mare Island and Japan.
Subseries Box 146. HMS Penguin, 1896 - 1899
4 itemsBiographical / Historical
HMS Penguin was launched in 1876 and was converted to a surveying vessel in 1890. In 1896-98 she made a number of voyages to the island of Funafuti in support of the boring expeditions sponsored by the Royal Society. She was transferred to the Australian Naval Forces in 1908.
Subseries Box 148. HMS Rambler, 1905
2 itemsFilmed selectively.
Biographical / Historical
The gunboat HMS Rambler was launched in 1880 and was converted to a surveying vessel in 1884. From 1886 onwards she served on the China Station, sometimes making cruises to the East Indies. She was sold in 1907.
Subseries Box 155. USS Tuscarora, 1873 - 1876
3 itemsBiographical / Historical
The sloop USS Tuscarora was launched in 1861. In 1872 she was assigned to the South Pacific Station and in the following year she surveyed the north-west coast of America to determine a suitable route for a submarine cable. In 1874 she took soundings for a cable route between the United States, Japan and China. The Tuscarora was transferred to the North Pacific Station in October 1874 and was based at Honolulu. In 1875 she carried out survey work in the south Pacific, visiting Samoa, Fiji and Australia and making over 500 ocean floor soundings and temperature readings.
Subseries Box 160. Ross' Second Voyage [to Antarctica], 1840 - 1843
1 itemBiographical / Historical
The British expedition to the Antarctic in 1839-44 was led by James Clark Ross in HMS Erebus and Francis Crozier in HMS Terror. The ships first visited the Antarctic in 1841. After spending some months at Van Diemen's Land and New Zealand, they returned in 1842, exploring the Great Ice Barrier (Ross Ice Shelf), the Falkland Islands and the South Shetland Islands.
Subseries Box 184. FG Pearcey. Notes on Pulvinulina menardii, 1890
2 itemsBiographical / Historical
Frederick Gordon Pearcey (1857-1927) was born near London. He was the youngest member of the Challenger expedition (1872-75) and was employed as a taxidermist and general scientific assistant. After the voyage he worked with Sir Wyville Thomson and Sir John Murray in the Challenger office in Edinburgh. He later worked as the assistant curator of zoology in the Bristol Museum.
Subseries Box 218. Funafuti Niue Papers, 1898 - 1900
3 itemsBiographical / Historical
In 1895 the Royal Society set up a Coral Reef Committee to test the theory of 'subsidence', put forward by Charles Darwin in 1842, by surveying a coral atoll in the Pacific Ocean. An expedition to Funafuti Island was led by William Sollas of Oxford University in 1896 and two further expeditions were led by Edgeworth David of Sydney University in 1897-98. The drillers reached a depth of 340 metres and the discovery of remains of shallow-water marine organisms validated Darwin's theory.
Series. Murray/Challenger Manuscript Cupboard, 1861 - 1896
13 items
H.N. Burrows Deep sea soundings, (46p.), 1890 - 1896 (File)
Includes material from the voyages of:
HMS Dart (SW Pacific, 1892)
HMS Egeria (China Seas, 1893)
HMS Egeria (Mediterranean, 1894)
HMS Penguin (NW Australia, 1890)
HMS Penguin (Arafura Sea, 1891)
HMS Penguin (Eastern Archipelago, 1893)
HMS Stork (Indian Ocean, 1891)
HMS Waterwitch (Atlantic Ocean, 1894)
HMS Waterwitch (South Pacific, 1895)
HMS Penguin (South Pacific, 1895-1896)
Includes charts, plans and correspondence to Burrows from Hydrographic Dept., Admiralty
Biographical / Historical
Henry William Burrows (1858-1941) joined the British Museum (Natural History) in about 1882 and worked there as a palaeontologist for his whole career.
Series. Macfarlane Museum of Natural History, Stirling, 1861 - 1862
3 itemsFilmed selectively.
Letter book no. 2, 1861 - 1862 (File)
3 items
[John Macfarlane] (Bridge of Allan) to Cpt. Thomas Brown (Manchester Museum of Natural History), 25 July 1861 (Item ff.143-5)
Re collecting activities on behalf of the museum by Lady Alexander in Auckland, NZ.