Guide to the British Museum (Natural History): Collections of the Palaeontology Library (as filmed by the AJCP)
M2767
National Library of Australia View Catalogue Record
Created: 2019
Collection Summary
- Creator
- British Museum (Natural History). Palaeontology Library
- Title
- British Museum (Natural History): Collections of the Palaeontology Library (as filmed by the AJCP)
- Date Range
- 14 October 1830 - 23 March 1965
- Collection Number
- M2767
- Extent
- 76 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
Correspondence, typescripts and drafts concerning fossils and other geological specimens and remains of animals.
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 Palaeontology Library, British Museum (Natural History), London, as part of the Australian Joint Copying Project, 1990 (AJCP Reel: M2767). 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
Palaeontology Library, Natural History Museum, Cromwell Road London.
For further information see Palaeontology Library at the Natural History Museum. [ http://www.nhm.ac.uk/our-science/departments-and-staff/library-and-archives.html]
The Natural History Musuem was formerly known as the British Museum (Natural History).
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-vn1614972] as well as other institutions holding AJCP microfilm.
Related Materials
The AJCP also filmed related papers from the the Department of Palaeontology Archive (M2878-M2887) [https://nla.gov.au/nla.cat-vn2355170].
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.
This Finding Aid retains the identifiers present at the time it was filmed by the Australian Joint Copying Project. The new control numbers applied by the Natural History Museum have been identified where possible.
Subjects
Australia; Fossils; Geology: Australia; Palaeontologists
Bibliography
Originally cited in Australian Joint Copying Project Handbook. Part 8: Miscellaneous (M) Series. Third Edition, published 1998. Entry 69, p23.
Item Descriptions
Fonds. Edward Arber, 1913 - 1914
2 itemsProof of text and illustrations of E.A.N. Arber's 'Fossil Plants' intended for the report of the National Antarctic Expedition, but not published. (85p.)
Biographical / Historical
Edward Alexander Newell Arber (1870-1918) was born in London and educated at Trinity College, Cambridge. In 1899 he was appointed a demonstrator in palaeobotany at the Woodwardian (later Sedgwick) Museum at Cambridge and held the post for the rest of his life. In 1901-6 he named and arranged the palaeobotanical specimens in the Geology Department of the British Museum (Natural History). He had a strong interest in the fossil floras of New Zealand.
Fonds. F.A. Bather, n.d.
1 itemBiographical / Historical
Francis Arthur Bather (1863-1934) was educated at Winchester College and New College, Oxford. He joined the geology department of the British Museum (Natural History) in 1887 and was keeper of the department from 1924 to 1928. His main research interest was echinoderms.
Fonds. Henry Bowman Brady, 22 January 1887
1 itemBiographical / Historical
Henry Bowman Brady (1835-1891) was born at Gateshead and educated at Bootham School, York, and later studied pharmacy. He set up as a pharmacist at Newcastle-upon-Tyne and was one of the founders of the British Pharmaceutical Congress. He retired from his business in 1876 to devote his time to the study of Foraminifera. He was the author of Report on the Foraminifera dredged by HMS Challenger (1884).
Fonds. Robert F. Damon, April 1890 - 24 April 1896
2 itemsBiographical / Historical
Robert Damon (1814-1889) was originally a hosier and glover. With his son Robert Ferris Damon (1845-1929) he established a dealership in natural history specimens at Weymouth. He was the author of Geology of Weymouth and the isles of Portland (1860). Until 1914 the Damons supplied museums in Britain, Europe, North America and Australia with Dorsetshire geological specimens.
Fonds. John Dennant, 20 March 1886 - 19 February 1889
2 itemsBiographical / Historical
John Dennant (1839-1907) was born in Ipswich and migrated to Victoria in 1872. He was a schoolmaster and in 1890 became inspector of Schools in Victoria. He was a fellow of the Geological Society of London and president of the Royal Society of Victoria (1903).
Fonds. W.V. Fitzgerald, 1926
1 itemBiographical / Historical
William Vincent Fitzgerald (1867-1929) was born in Tasmania. He collected plants in Tasmania, Western Australia and New Guinea. In 1905 he was appointed naturalist to a survey expedition to the Kimberley region, led by Charles Crossland, and in 1906 he surveyed the arable lands in the Fitzroy, Ord and King River valleys.
Fonds. E.J. Garwood, 1930-10-08; 1930-01-06 [ie. 1931]
1 itemBiographical / Historical
Edmund Johnston Garwood (1864-1949) was educated at Eton College and Trinity College, Cambridge. From 1901 until his retirement in 1931 he was professor of geology and mineralogy at London University. He was president of the Geological Society of London in 1930-32.
Fonds. Geological Society of London, [1846]
2 itemsForeign collections: North and South America, West Indies, Australasia, Islands of the Pacific.
Filmed selectively.
Fonds. Julius Haast, 1867 - 1869
4 itemsBiographical / Historical
Sir (Johann Franz) Julius von Haast (1822-1887) was born in Prussia and educated at the University of Bonn. He settled in Frankfurt, where he worked in the book trade. He travelled to New Zealand in 1858 and immediately undertook geological surveys in the Auckland and Nelson districts. In 1861 he was appointed the provincial geologist in Canterbury. He founded the Philosophical Institute of Canterbury in 1862 and became director of the Canterbury Museum in 1868. He was also one of the founders of Canterbury College and was the first professor of geology from 1876 until his death.
Fonds. E.T. Hardman, 13 February 1886 - 2 December 1886
2 itemsBiographical / Historical
Edward Townley Hardman (1845-1887) was born in Ireland and educated at the Royal College of Science in Dublin. He joined the Geological Survey of Ireland in 1870. In 1883 he arrived in Western Australia as the temporary government geologist. He accompanied survey parties to the Kimberley region in 1883 and 1884 and investigated gold prospects. He also described the geology of the Bunbury-Nannup district. He returned to Ireland in 1885.
Fonds. Hastings Museum and Art Gallery, 24 December 1868 - 16 May 1964
7 itemsMoa and Dodo presentation manuscripts. Filmed selectively.
Descriptive list of collection by A.P. Harvey (British Museum (Natural History)), 16 May 1964 (File f.1)
John L. Worthington (Queenstown, New Zealand) to father, 24 December 1868 (File ff.9-14)
Re Moa bones - problems of sending via agents in Dunedin; Maori traditions re Moa; finding the bones.
Correspondence between J. Manwaring August 1963 Baines (Hastings) and E.I. White (British Museum (Natural History)), December 1962-29 (File ff.22-267)
Re presenting Moa and Dodo bones.
Fonds. William D. Lang, 19 July 1938 - 23 March 1965
6 itemsWilliam D. Lang (1878-1966). Correspondence.
Biographical / Historical
William Dickson Lang (1878-1966) was born in India and educated at Harrow School and Pembroke College, Cambridge. In 1902 he joined the staff of the geology department of the British Museum (Natural History). He was keeper of the department from 1928 until his retirement in 1938. A prolific writer, he wrote several papers on the geology and palaeontology of the Dorset coast.
Fonds. E.L. Layard, 1886
1 itemBiographical / Historical
Edgar Leopold Layard (1824-1900), the brother of the archaeologist Sir Austen Layard, was born in Florence. He lived in Ceylon and South Africa for about 20 years, collecting zoological and ornithological specimens and publishing Birds of South Africa (1867). As British Commissioner in Fiji in 1874-75 he played a central role in the annexation of Fiji. He was later honorary consul at Noumea and he and his son Leopold travelled widely in the Pacific islands collecting birds.
Fonds. Sir J.H. Lefroy, 1885
1 itemBiographical / Historical
Sir John Henry Lefroy (1817-1890) served in the Royal Artillery and was director-general of ordnance in 1868-70. He was appointed governor of Bermuda in 1871 and was administrator of Tasmania in 1880-81.
Fonds. J. Lhotzky, [1837]
1 itemBiographical / Historical
John Lhotsky (1795?-1866) was born in Galicia and educated in Prague, Berlin and Vienna, becoming a doctor of medicine. He arrived in Sydney in 1832 and in 1834 he travelled to the Monaro region and explored the Australian Alps. He moved to Hobart in 1836 and collected geological and botanical specimens. He left Australia in 1838 and spent the rest of his life in London.
Fonds. Gideon A. Mantell, 5 September 1849
1 itemBiographical / Historical
Gideon Algernon Mantell (1790-1852) was born in Lewes, Sussex. He was apprenticed to a local surgeon and purchased his own medical practice in 1816. As a young man, he became interested in fossil shells and by 1819 he began to find large animal fossils from a quarry near Cuckfield. He discovered several genera of dinosaurs. He was the author of The fossils of the South Downs (1822) and The geology of the south-east of England (1833). His son Walter Mantell migrated to New Zealand in 1839.
Fonds. Sir Thomas Mitchell, 14 October 1830 - 29 July 1831
4 itemsLetters.
Biographical / Historical
Sir Thomas Livingstone Mitchell (1792-1855) joined the Army in 1811 and served in the Peninsular War. He travelled to Australia in 1827 and was surveyor-general of New South Wales from 1828 until his death.
Mitchell (Sydney) to Dr. Fitton, 14 October 1830 (File)
Sending fossil bones from limestone cave; geology of New South Wales. (8p.)
Colonel H. Dumooresq (New South Wales) to Dr. Fitton, 22 February 1831 (File)
Re fossils found in caves near Wellington Valley by Dr. Henderson; news of Sturt's expedition. (8p.)
Fonds. T.P. Moody, 2 December 1886 - 4 December 1886
1 itemsBiographical / Historical
Thomas Pearson Moody (1841-1917), the son of a colliery manager in Wales, came to Australia in 1861. He was the manager and surveyor of a colliery at Waratah, New South Wales, and in 1875 became the manager of the Australasian Coal Company. He moved to New Zealand in 1878 where he managed the Bay of Islands Coal Company.
Correspondence re fossils from Russell, NZ. (5p.), 2 December 1886 - 4 December 1886 (File)
Includes:
J.S. Lea (Russell) to Fletcher, 4 December 1886, Re specimens of coal and fossils from mines of Bay of Islands Coal Co. at Kawa Kawa.
T.P. Moody (Kawa Kawa), 2 December 1886, Notes on specimens presented.
Fonds. Richard Bullen Newton, 1897 - 1901
1 itemBiographical / Historical
Richard Bullen Newton (1854-1926) joined the Geological Survey in 1867 and later worked as a naturalist with Thomas Huxley. He joined the geological department of the British Museum in 1880 and remained there until his death. He had a special interest in tertiary mollusca.
Fonds. H. Alleyne Nicholson, 27 October 1889 - 16 November 1889
1 itemBiographical / Historical
Henry Alleyne Nicholson (1844-1899) was born in Penrith and educated at the universities of Gottingen and Edinburgh. His early interest was geology and he wrote a Manual of palaeontology (1872). He was professor of natural history at the University of Toronto (1871-74), the University of St Andrews (1875-82) and the University of Aberdeen (1882-98).
Fonds. David J. Scourfield, 1920 - 24 August 1935
4 itemsPapers re work on Rhynie Chert Fossils.
Biographical / Historical
David Joseph Scourfield (1866-1949) was born in London and worked in the Royal Mint from 1886 to 1926. He became interested in natural history as a schoolboy and he acquired an extensive knowledge of freshwater microorganisms. He wrote over 80 scientific papers in his spare time or in retirement.
Series B. Correspondence envelope, 1920 - 1932
3 itemsSubseries. Scourfield-Womersley correspondence, 1929 - 1932
1 itemFilmed selectively.
Letters from H. [unknown] Womersley (Perth, Adelaide, West Town, Cape Town) to Scourfield, and copies of Scourfield to Womersley, 1929 - 1941 (File)
Subjects include:
Scourfield's work on Rhynie Chert fossils; Dr. Tillyard; Womersley's work finding predatory mite to clear up Sminthurus viridis; his impressions of Australia. (58p.)
Fonds. Albert Charles Seward, 1914
2 itemsBiographical / Historical
Albert Charles Seward (1863-1941) was educated at Lancaster Grammar School and St John's College, Cambridge. He was appointed a lecturer in botany at Cambridge University in 1890 and he was professor of botany from 1906 to 1936. He was the author of Fossil plants (4 vols., 1898-1919) and Jurassic flora (2 vols., 1900-4).
Fonds. C. Davies Sherborn, 22 May 1894 - 10 November 1934
3 itemsBiographical / Historical
Charles Davies Sherborn (1861-1942) worked in a London bookshop and studied at the Museum of Practical Geology. He was hired by the geology department at the British Museum (Natural History) to clean and prepare fossils and started to compile bibliographies. His Index animalium, 1758-1850, was published in 11 volumes between 1902 and 1932.
Series A. Index Nominum Animalium. Correspondence, August 1926 - 10 November 1934
2 items1930-39 envelope., 6 January 1931 - 10 November 1934 (File)
5 itemsFilmed selectively.
Fonds. William Herbert Squires, 20 September 1881 - 19 July 1882
1 itemBiographical / Historical
In 1878 H.L. Squires obtained near Queenstown, New Zealand, the remains of a moa with skin still attached to the head and feet. He forwarded it to the British Museum and it was the basis of the species Diornis didinus of Richard Owen.
Correspondence concerning the remains of moa found at Queenstown and purchased by H.L. Squires, 20 September 1881 - 19 July 1882 (File)
Correspondents include A. Gunther (British Museum), W.H. Squires (Clevedon); John Sanderson and Co.(Melbourne); Henry Woodward (British Museum (Natural History)); Mary Squires (Hereford). 27p.
Includes cuttings from Tuapeka Times November 1878 re finding of bones, annotated by R[ichard] O[wen].
Fonds. E.C. Stirling, 4 March 1893 - 22 November 1906
2 itemsBiographical / Historical
Sir Edward Charles Stirling (1848-1919) was born in South Australia, graduated from Trinity College, Cambridge, and worked as a surgeon in London hospitals. He was the first professor of physiology at Adelaide University and director of the South Australian Museum from 1884 to 1912.
Notes, correspondence, photographs and press cuttings: re bones of Diprotodon australis sent to the British Museum (Natural History) by the Public Library Museum and Art Gallery of South Australia., 4 March 1893 - 22 November 1906 (File)
Correspondents include: Henry Hurst (Callabonna sheep station); John Kinmont (Edinburgh); E.C. Stirling (Adelaide); A Zietz (Adelaide). (c. 40p.)
Fonds. Sir Edmund O. Teale, 20 November 1925 - 11 December 1925
2 itemsBiographical / Historical
Sir Edmund Teale (1874-1971), who changed his name from Thiele in 1917, was born in Melbourne. He attended the University of Melbourne and obtained a doctorate, with a thesis on the Palaeozoic geology of Victoria. He worked for the Geological Survey of Victoria and in 1908 transferred to the geological survey of German Tanganyika. He returned to Australia during World War I. In 1919 he was in West Africa and, with his colleague Albert Kitson, made the first discovery of gold deposits in the Gold Coast. He returned to Tanganyika and directed the geological survey until 1936. He wrote many papers and reports on the geology and mineral resources of East Africa.
Fonds. R.D.M. Verbeek, 1874 - 1881
2 itemsBiographical / Historical
Rogier Diederik Marius Verbeek (1845-1926) was a Dutch geologist whose journal Krakatau (1884-85) gave a first-hand account of the eruption of the volcanic island Krakatoa in 1883.
Letters to Professor T. Rupert Jones concerning the paper, 1874 - 1881 (File B)
From:
H.B. Brady (Newcastle, 1874-1875), 11 letters; C.M. Griesbach (British Museum (Natural History), 1876-1878), 3 letters; B. Everwijn (Batavia, 1874-1875), 2 letters; A. Gunther (British Museum (Natural History), 26 April 1875), 1 letter; H. Woodward (British Museum (Natural History), 1875-1879), 23 letters; W.J. Verbeek (Arnhem, 1875-1876), 2 letters; R.D.M. Verbeek (Sumatra, 1874-1881), 7 letters.
Fonds. Sir George H. Wilkins, 1923 - 10 September 1925
4 itemsPapers relating to expedition to Australia to collect specimens for British Museum
Related Materials
See also Wilkins entry in Collectors Notes, Mammals Department list [https://nla.gov.au/nla.cat-vn2589455].
Biographical / Historical
Sir (George) Hubert Wilkins (1888-1958) was born in South Australia and became a newspaper reporter, photographer and filmmaker. In 1923 he was commissioned by the British Museum to travel in tropical Australia and collect plants, animals, insects, birds, minerals, fossils and Aboriginal artefacts. His book Undiscovered Australia (1929) was based on the two years that he spent in the northern regions of Australia.
Wilkins (London) to Dr. Bather (British Museum (Natural History): sending map and off print, 10 September 1925 (File 1))
Queensland Four mile maps sheet 15A (File 2))
Annotated by Wilkins to show where fossils were collected.
Fonds. Arthur Smith Woodward, 18 May 1914 - 16 July 1920
3 itemsBiographical / Historical
Sir Arthur Smith Woodward (1864-1924) graduated from Owens College, Manchester, and joined the geology department of the British Museum (Natural History) in 1882. He worked on the collection of fossil vertebrates and compiled the Catalogue of fossil fishes in the British Museum (4 vols., 1898-1901). He was keeper of the department of geology from 1901 to 1924.