Catalogue description British Museum (Natural History): Department of Botany: Lichen Section Correspondence and Papers

The series consists of a small collection of notebooks, diaries and other papers of I M Lamb, together with two items dating from his service with Operation Tabarin.

The series has not been arranged or listed in detail.

The P W James correspondence is held in the Modern Record Store.

Access conditions: Subject to 30 year closure unless otherwise stated

The Lamb papers were transferred from the Botany Library in 1989.

Custodial history: Previously held in the Lichen Section.

• People: Peter Wilfrid James (1930-)
• Ivan Mackenzie Lamb (1911-1990)
• Jack Rodney Laundon (1934-)
• Alan Henry Norkett (1914-1990)

Ivan Mackenzie Lamb (1911-1990) was the first lichenologist employed by the Museum. He was appointed in 1935, having studied at Edinburgh. Lamb remained at the Museum until 1943, when he joined Operation Tabarin, an expedition to protect British interests in the Antarctic, as botanist. He returned to the Museum in 1945, but resigned the following year and held botanical posts in Argentina, Canada, and finally at Harvard University, USA. After Lamb's resignation, lichens were the responsibility of Alan Henry Norkett (1914-1990) until Peter Wilfrid James (b 1930) was appointed in 1955. From 1952, Jack Laundon worked as an Assistant in the Section.