Catalogue description British Museum (Natural History): Department of Mineralogy: Reports to Trustees and Other Official Documents

This series consists of reports to trustees and other official documents of the British Museum (Natural History) Department of Mineralogy.

It contains draft or duplicate reports prepared for consideration at meetings of the Standing Committee of the Board of Trustees, together with background notes and related memoranda and correspondence. Piece numbers 1-111 dated 1798-1900 include reports relating to departmental research and administration as well as to the collection. From 1901 the two topics are separated, with research and administration covered by pieces 112-124 and the collections covered in pieces 125-139.

The subject matter of the reports covers the whole range of departmental business, including staffing; accommodation and equipment; visits and expeditions; the donation, purchase and exchange of mineral specimens and library books; the Mineral Gallery and other exhibits; gallery guides, catalogues and other publications, and security matters.

Pieces 1-25 and 48-55 dated 1756-1828 and 1851-1857 are copies made by Lazarus Fletcher from originals in the Department of Geology, which he prepared in 1903 while writing the departmental chapter for The History of the Collections.

Series held at The Natural History Museum are catalogued more fully in its online catalogue (reference DF MIN/4). Online descriptions of some individual records can also be viewed on Discovery, see DF 4.

Final copies of the early reports (pieces 1-90) are held in the archives of the British Museum, while the latter reports are in DF 930 and DF 1000

Thomas Davies, 1837-1892

Charles Dietrich Eberhard Konig, 1774-1851

George Robert Waterhouse, 1810-1888

Transferred to the archives in 1981