Guide to the Papers of Joseph Banks (as filmed by the AJCP)
M1192
National Library of Australia View Catalogue Record
Created: 2018
Collection Summary
- Creator
- Banks, Joseph, Sir
- Title
- Papers of Sir Joseph Banks, 1st Baronet (as filmed by the AJCP)
- Date Range
- 1768 - 1820
- Collection Number
- M1192
- Extent
- 187 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
Material filmed by the Australian Joint Copying Project includes correspondence on topics such as: botanical, zoological and ethnological specimens collected from the South Seas while also referring to French and Spanish voyages; Cook's voyages; the charts and plates; voyages of W. Bligh and G. Vancouver; and specimens collected in Australia, the Pacific and the East Indies
Correspondents include C.P. Thunberg, J.F. Blumenbach, P.M.A. Broussonet, A. Malaspina, Jacques-Julien H. de La Billardiere, P.B. Milius, Sir Charles Blagden, Secretary of the Royal Society; J. Matra; J. Webber; G. Nicol; W. Roxburgh and Robert Brown.
Conditions Governing Access
Available for Access.
Conditions Governing Use
Readers wishing to publish or reproduce documents should seek permission, in the first instance, from the British Library. For more information visit: How I use the images I order?-The British Library [https://www.bl.uk/help/how-can-i-use-the-images-i-order].
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 as part of the Australian Joint Copying Project, 1981 (AJCP Reels: M1192). Original microfilm digitised as part of the AJCP Online Delivery Project, 2017-2020.
Existence and Location of Originals
British Library, 96 Euston Road, London. Collection reference: Add MS 8094-8100; Add MS 33272; Add MSS 33977-33982. For further information, see Sir Joseph Banks at the British Library (http://searcharchives.bl.uk/primo_library/libweb/action/search.do)
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-vn727585] 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 2018. 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.
Advisory Statement
Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are advised that this Finding Aid contains material and descriptive information which may be considered culturally sensitive and may cause distress, including names and images of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people now deceased. This Finding Aid contains terms that reflect authors' views or those of the historical period, but which may not be considered appropriate today. While the information may not reflect current understanding, it is provided in an historical context.
Subjects
Abraham, Charles J., Bishop; Banks, Sir Joseph; Blagden, Sir Charles; Bligh, William, Capt.; Blumenbach, J.F; Botany; Broussonet, P.M.A.; Brown, Robert; Dutch East Indies: visits to; La Billardiere, Jacques-Julien H. de; Malaspina, A.; Matra, James M.; Milius, P.B.; Naturalists; Nicol, G.; Pacific Islands: flora and fauna; Pacific Ocean; Roxburgh, W.; Royal Society; Thunberg, C.P.; Vancouver, George, Capt.; Webber, John
Bibliography
Originally cited in Australian Joint Copying Project Handbook. Part 8: Miscellaneous (M) Series. Third Edition, published 1998. Entry 22, pp.7-8.
Biographical / Historical
Naturalist and patron of science. President of the Royal Society 1778-1820.
Sir Joseph Banks (1743-1820), 1st Baronet (created 1781). Educated at Eton and Christ Church, Oxford. Fellow of Royal Society 1766. Collected plants in Newfoundland in 1766. Naturalist on first exploring voyage of Capt. Janes Cook in Endeavour, 1768-1771. President of Royal Society, 1778-1820, scientific adviser to King George III, unofficial director of Kew Gardens, Privy Councillor 1797.
The Banks Papers
Banks bequeathed his foreign correspondence to the British Museum and it was handed over by his executor, Sir Edward Knatchbull, in 1828. (MS 8094-8100). Copies of many of the remaining letters (the Dawson Turner transcripts) were deposited in the British Museum (Natural History) in 1876. The original papers were sold by Knatchbull's son, Lord Brabourne, in 1884-1886 and were dispersed all over the world, with the New South Wales Government purchasing many of the Australian papers. The British Museum purchased the correspondence with Sir Charles Blagden, Secretary of the Royal Society (MS 33272) and in 1891 Spencer G. Perceval presented the 968 letters that he had bought for ten guineas (MS 33977-33982).
Reference: W.R. Dawson, ed. The Banks letters: a calendar of the manuscript correspondence of Sir Joseph Banks preserved in the British Museum, the British Museum (Natural History) and other collections in Great Britain. (London, British Museum, 1958).
Item Descriptions
Fonds MS Add 8094-8100. Sir Joseph Banks Correspondence: Add MS 8094-8100
Filmed selectively.
Finding Aid Note
When filmed by the Australian Joint Copying Project the papers were identified as MS 8094-8100. This identifier was unable to be located in the British Library catalogue. Original numbering has been retained.
Series MS 8094. Letters to Sir Joseph Banks, MS 8094, 29 October 1773 - 31 December 1779
10 itemsFilmed selectively
J.N.S. Allamand (Leiden) to Banks, 29 October 1773 (File ff.11-12)
Publication of French edition of voyages of Byron, Wallis, Cook, Carteret.
J.C. Fabricius (Flensburg) to Banks, 4 January 1776 (File ff.77-80)
Interest in specimens brought back by Forster and Sparrman; D. Solander.
J.C. Spener (Berlin) to Banks, 26 February 1775 (File ff.114-17)
Publication of German edition of Banks' Voyage.
A. Sparrman to Banks, 1778 (File ff.187-88)
Plans to visit England; exploration in East Indies by C.P. Thunberg.
Series MS 8096. Letters to Sir Joseph Banks, MS 8095, 9 June 1782 - 21 August 1784
6 itemsFilmed selectively
Series MS 8096. Correspondence to Sir Joseph Banks, MS 8096, 4 January 1779 - 13 October 1787
25 itemsFilmed selectively
J.F. Blumenbach (Gottingen) to Banks, 30 January 1783 (1785?) (File ff.6-8)
Freezing experiments; interest of University Museum in ethnographical curiosities from Cook's first voyage.
P.M.A. Broussonet (Paris) to Banks, 10 January 1785 (File ff.20-21)
Receipt of wool and pamphlets of Kippis.
P.M.A. Broussonet to Banks, 12 January 1785 (File ff.22-23)
Requests first edition of Cook's voyages.
P.M.A. Broussonet to Banks, 10 March 1785 (File ff.29-31)
Acknowledges Cook volume; French scientists; publications.
P.M.A. Broussonet to Banks, 25 April 1785 (File ff.34-35)
Receipt of tea-plants; rumours of circumnavigation by La Perouse.
P.M.A. Broussonet to Banks, 12 May 1785 (File ff.44-45)
Agricultural matters; introduces D'Antic, La Perouse's naturalist; instruments used by Cook.
P.M.A. Broussonet to Banks, 16 June 1785 (File ff.50-51)
Articles for La Perouse expedition; rumour of English South Seas expedition under Capt. Gore.
J.C. Spener (Berlin) to Banks, 14 August 1784 (File ff.106-7)
Thanks for sheets and plates of Cook's last voyage; G. Forster to be translator; agent in London.
P.S. Pallas (St. Petersburg) to Banks, 2 June 1785 - 13 June 1785 (File ff.148-49)
Copy of Cook's voyages for priest at Paratorinka; plans of J. Billings, now in Russian Service, to complete discoveries of Cook and Clerke.
P.S. Pallas to Banks, 13 August 1785 - 24 August 1785 (File ff.150-51)
Billings' expedition; need for chronometers.
D. van Royen (Leiden) to Banks, 4 January 1779 (File ff.162)
Thanks for South Sea Islands plants; Banks' work on South Seas.
J.L.S. Formey(Berlin) to Banks, 20 March 1786 (File ff.311)
Lists German correspondents of Royal Society worthy of receiving Cook Medal.
M. Guthrie (St. Petersburg) to Banks, 15 November 1785 (File ff.315)
P.S. Pallas; departure of Billings' expedition.
P.M.A. Broussonet to Banks, 14 May 1787 (File ff.398-99)
Zoological matters; news of La Perouse expedition.
P.M.A. Broussonet to Banks, 23 July 1787 (File ff.402)
News of La Perouse expedition; statues on Easter Island.
J.A. Murray (Gottingen) to Banks, 13 October 1787 (File ff.488-89)
Botanical matters; G. Forster's proposed voyage round world.
B. Petry (Mannheim) to Banks, 12 June 1787 (File ff.498)
Offers to join expedition to Tahiti or Jamaica.
Series MS 8097. Letters to Sir Joseph Banks, MS 8097, 17 January 1789 - October 1791
28 itemsFilmed selectively
J.F. Blumenbach (Gottingen) to Banks, 17 January 1789 (File ff.132)
Thanks for offer to send South Sea skull.
P.M.A. Broussonet (Paris) to Banks, 23 April 1789 (File ff.142-43)
No news of La Perouse; Banks' promise of kangaroo; works on New Holland.
A. Malaspina di Mulazzo (Cadiz) to Banks, 20 January 1789 (File ff.216-17)
Plans for scientific expedition to South America and Pacific.
J.A. Murray (Gottingen) to Banks, September 1789 (File ff.232-33)
Thanks for account of Botany Bay; botanical matters.
A.P. de Lamanon (Salon) to Baron de Choiseul, August 1789 (File ff.252)
Death of brother at Navigation Islands; urges Minister to induce British Government to send relief expedition from Botany Bay.
J.F. Blumenbach to Banks, 9 June 1790 (File ff.261-62)
Loss of Bounty and Guardian will mean loss of many new specimens; works on Africa.
J. Bourdieu (London) to Banks, 9 March 1790 (File ff.270-71)
Thanks for help in obtaining mathematical instruments from Greenwich for La Perouse expedition.
P.M.A. Broussonet (Paris) to Banks, 1 March 1790 (File ff.273-74)
Requests any information on La Perouse; science and politics.
P.M.A. Broussonet to Banks, 11 March 1790 (File ff.275-76)
Thanks for Annals of Agriculture and news of La Perouse.
P.M.A. Broussonet to Banks, 17 June 1790 (File ff.281-82)
French Revolution; report of La Perouse at Batavia in 1789.
J.B. Leroy (Paris) to Banks, 16 January 1790 (File ff.338-39)
French Revolution; anxiety for news of La Perouse.
J.B. Leroy to Banks, 8 March 1790 (File ff.340-41)
Report of La Perouse reaching Batavia and death of astronomer.
J.J. de Labillardiere (Paris) to Banks, 25 July 1791 (File ff.359)
Seeks advice for expedition to be sent in search of La Perouse; botanical research.
J.F. Blumenbach to Banks, 9 January 1791 (File ff.362-63)
Thanks for minerals and promise of more skulls from South Seas.
I. von Born (Vienna) to Banks, 8 February 1791 (File ff.375-76)
Translation of Dioscorides; information on Haencke, Botanist to Spanish expedition to South Seas.
Series MS 8098. Letters to Sir Joseph Banks, MS 8098, 6 April 1793 - 12 August 1799
18 itemsFilmed selectively
J.F. Blumenbach (Gottingen) to Banks (Select), 6 April 1793 (File ff.114)
Publications; hopes W. Bligh has brought back specimens for his collection.
J.F. Blumenbach to Banks, 1 November 1793 (File ff.116-17)
Thanks for skulls from New Holland and South Seas; J. Webber's paintings of Australian Aboriginals.
J.J. de Labillardiere (Samarang) to Banks, 6 April 1794 (File ff.211-12)
Arrival of expedition at Surabaya; collections made at Friendly Islands, New Caledonia and New Holland; difficulties created by d'Auribeau following death of d'Entrecasteaux and Huon.
J.F. Blumenbach to Banks, 8 January 1794 (File ff.213-14)
Paper and drawings on mummies; promise of Tahitian skull; prints of Omai.
J.F. Blumenbach to Banks, 10 March 1794 (File ff.216-17)
Receipt of Tahitian skull; wishes to copy Banks' drawings of Tahitians.
J.F. Blumenbach to Banks, 24 September 1794 (File ff.219-20)
Geological questions; requests copies of portraits in Banks' house, including picture of Omai.
J.F. Blumenbach to Banks, 28 December 1794 (File ff.221-22)
Publications and papers; a gift of wine from Sydney.
J.F. Blumenbach to Banks, 1 May 1795 (File ff.223)
Publications; Collectio Craniorium includes engravings of Tahitian skulls.
M. von Behm (London) to Banks, 21 July 1799 (File ff.416-17)
Assistance to Capts. Clerke and Gore at Kamchatka in 1779; requests English pension.
M. von Behm to Banks, 12 August 1799 (File ff.419-22)
Thanks for efforts; help given to Discovery and Resolution and their crews.
J.F. Blumenbach to Banks, 19 September 1798 (File ff.432-33)
Mission to Tahiti; D. Collins' account of ceremonial knocking out of teeth by Australian Aboriginals; requests print of Omai.
J.F. Blumenbach to Banks, 20 December 1798 (File ff.434-35)
Thanks for miniature of Omai; requests second New Holland skull; death of J.R. Forster; Tahitian fern.
W.U. Buée (Dominica) to Banks, 22 November 1796 (File ff.438)
Breadfruit tree; Clesmure's account of Marion's voyage to New Zealand and South Seas.
Fonds MS 8099. Letters to Sir Joseph Banks, MS 8099, 12 June 1799 - 22 September 1805
17 itemsFilmed selectively
J.F. Blumenbach (Gottingen) to Banks, 2 January 1800 (File ff.12)
Sends 4th Decade of Crania which contains Botany Bay skull; requests specimen of platypus.
J.F. Blumenbach to Banks, 12 June 1799 (File ff.13-14)
Banks' kindness to J.R. Forster's widow; thanks for second New Holland skull.
J.F. Blumenbach to Banks, 28 September 1800 (File ff.25)
Thanks for proofs of Home's paper; plant used in manufacture of Tahitian cloth.
A. L. de Jussieu (Paris) to Banks, 3 February 1800 (File ff.173-74)
Plants of Coromandel; Banks' role in saving plants collected on Baudin's voyage.
A.L. de Jussieu to Banks, 6 August 1800 (File ff.176)
Introduces L. Delaunay; Baudin about to sail for Indies.
P.M.A. Broussonet (Paris) to Banks, 18 August 1803 (File ff.224-25)
Appointment to Chair of Botany at Montpellier; publication on South Sea plants by Labillardiere; New Zealand flax planted at Montpellier.
L. Dufresne (Paris) to Banks, 12 January 1803 (File ff.238)
Rumours of deaths of naturalists on Baudin's expedition; botanical matters.
B. Faujas de St. Fond to Banks, October 1802 (File ff.245-46)
Thanks for rare quadruped from New Holland.
H.C.F. Schumacher (Copenhagen) to Banks, 28 May 1803 (File ff.311)
Description of minerals; requests skulls or shells from Botany Bay or Tahiti.
Series MS 8100. Letters to Sir Joseph Banks, MS 8100, 11 October 1806 - 29 February 1812
3 itemsFilmed selectively
J.B.J. Delambre (Paris) to Banks, 11 October 1806 (File ff.20-21)
Financial matters; unsuccessful attempts to secure release of M. Flinders.
Fonds Add MS 33272. Letters of Sir Charles Blagden, MD, to Sir Joseph Banks, 17 September 1786 - 6 December 1802
7 itemsFilmed selectively
C. Blagden to Banks, 17 September 1786 (File ff.9-10)
Iron smelting; disapproval for New Holland convict scheme; arrival of La Perouse at Chile.
Sir Charles Blagden (Paris) to Banks, 8 May 1802 (File ff.181-82)
Conversation with N. Bonaparte; suggests present of kangaroo for park at St. Cloud.
Sir Charles Blagden to Banks, 13 May 1802 (File ff.183-84)
Scientific news; gift to J. Cels of N.S.W. seeds; cloth from Sandwich Islands received by Fourcroy.
Sir Charles Blagden to Banks, 25 May 1802 (File ff.187-88)
Bonaparte's interest in science; gift of kangaroos.
Fonds Add MS 33977-33982. Letters Addressed to Sir Joseph Banks, 29 July 1768 - 1784
25 itemsChiefly on Botany and other subjects of Natural History and Science. Originally 6 volumes. Filmed selectively by the Australian Joint Copying Project.
Series MS 33977. Correspondence, Volume I, 29 July 1768 - 1784
W. Shepherd to Banks, 23 February 1772 (File ff.16-17)
Similarity of plants in New Holland and New Zealand with those used by American Indians.
V. Morris to Banks, 17 April 1772 (File ff.18)
Advantages of introducing breadfruit tree to West Indies.
J.F. Schiller to Banks, 14 November 1773 (File ff.26-27)
Allegations that Byron, Wallis and Carteret were critical of Hawkes worth's work and that Banks and Solander had not given him any papers.
P.P. Burdett (Liverpool) to Banks, 14 December 1773 (File ff.28-29)
Problems of natural history engravings.
F.A. Zorn von Plobsheim (Danzig) to Banks, 13 March 1780 (File ff.114)
Banks' discoveries in South Seas; tools and weapons presented to museum by Banks.
P. Stephens to Banks, 21 June 1782 (File ff.152)
Completion by A. Dalrymple of maps for Cook's voyage.
J. Webber to Banks, 27 September 1782 (File ff.178)
Engravers ready to begin work on plates for Cook's Voyage; requests captions.
J.M. Matra to Banks, 28 July 1783 (File ff.206-7)
Rumour of plan for settlement in N.S.W.; wishes to participate in scheme.
G. Nicol to Banks, 9 October 1783 (File ff.217-19)
Irregularities in plates for Cook's Voyage; delays caused by engravers and J. Webber.
J.F. Durcking to Banks, 11 January 1784 (File ff.252-56)
Encloses reports and statements in legal action against J.R. Forster.
Series Add MS 33978. Correspondence, Volume II, 1 January 1786 - 20 December 1789
7 itemsFilmed selectively
G. Nicol to Banks, 1 January 1786 (File ff.48)
Manuscript left by Banks; division of profits of Cook's Voyages.
J. Hallett (Southampton) to Banks, 25 August 1787 (File ff.143)
Thanks for appointment of son as midshipman on Bounty; interview with Capt. Bligh.
J. Steele (Barbados) to Banks, 22 November 1788 (File ff.210)
Camphor and mango trees; voyage of breadfruit ship; planting of rice seeds from Sumatra.
S.W. Haughton (Jamaica) to Banks, 10 January 1789 (File ff.217-19)
Resolution of House of Assembly thanking Banks for efforts to procure breadfruit tree from South Seas.
Series Add MS 33979. Correspondence, Volume III, 30 March 1790 - 2 August 1793
11 itemsFilmed selectively
J. Macdonald (Bencoolen) to Banks, 30 March 1790 (File ff.19)
Sends Sumatra wild nutmeg and fruit of camphor tree.
J.M. Matra (Tangier) to Banks, 7 May 1790 (File ff.29 -30)
Sends coins and medals; Bounty mutiny; similar mutiny planned on Cook's first voyage.
J. Steele to Banks, 27 May 1793 (File ff.35)
Camphor tree; arrival of W. Bligh in Providence at St. Vincent with cargo of breadfruit trees.
J. Macdonald to Banks, 13 July 1790 (File ff.47)
Sends flowers; cultivation of nutmeg trees; keemo shells.
Banks to A. Menzies, 22 February 1791 (File ff.75-78)
Instructions to Menzies as naturalist on Vancouver's expedition.
Series Add MS 33980. Correspondence, Volume IV, 4 August 1796 - 12 March 1801
14 itemsFilmed selectively
Banks to W. Price, 4 August 1796 (File ff.72)
Request by French Government for return of entire collection of J. de Labillardiere.
E.J.A. Woodford to Banks, 11 August 1796 (File ff.74-76)
Claims collections of de Labillardiere were gift; seizure and sale of drawings of Sonnerat by British Government.
Description of tubular petrified shells from Island of Battas near Sumatra sent by W. Roxburgh, 24 April 1798 (File ff.143-45)
Banks to W. Roxburgh, 7 January 1799 (File ff.170)
Sends hemp seed on Porpoise; recommends P.G. King and G. Caley; Caley instructed to collect plants at Cape of Good Hope.
Banks to Rev. T. Haweis, 6 May 1799 (File ff.185)
Thanks for volume of Capt. Duff's voyages; proposal made to Lord Liverpool to send missionaries to Sandwich Islands.
Series Add MS 33981. Correspondence, Volume V, 9 February 1803 - 21 February 1809
8 itemsFilmed selectively
C. Smith (Penang) to Banks, 9 February 1803 (File ff.80-81)
Sends clove and nutmeg trees; treatment by W. Roxburgh; plants collected in Spice Islands.
W. Kerr (Canton) to Banks, 24 February 1806 (File ff.227-28)
Transport of plants; expedition to Manila.
W. Kerr to Banks, 25 March 1806 (File ff.231-32)
Despatch of Manila journal and catalogue of Manila plants.
Banks to W. Kerr, 6 May 1806 (File ff.234-35)
Loss of most of plants sent on Winchelsea; Chinese plants of more value to Kew than Philippines plants.
Series Add MS 33982. Correspondence, Volume VI, 11 November 1787 - 24 March 1820
8 itemsFilmed selectively
W.T. Aiton (Kew) to Banks, 29 May 1814 (File ff.60)
Suggests resumption of practice of sending out collectors to South Africa, America, New Holland.
R. Brown to Banks, 3 October 1815 (File ff.90-91)
G. Caley; Lieut. Franklin; receipt of books and seeds.
Rev. T. Kendall (Bay of Islands) to Banks, 10 July 1816 (File ff.111)
Discovery of mace presented by Banks to New Zealand natives in 1770.