Catalogue description British Museum (Natural History): Department of Botany: General Herbarium Correspondence and Papers

This record is held by Natural History Museum Library and Archives

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Details of DF 440
Reference: DF 440
Title: British Museum (Natural History): Department of Botany: General Herbarium Correspondence and Papers
Description:

The earliest items in the series are some papers and correspondence of James Britten (1846-1924), who worked in the Department from 1871 to 1909. From the same period come papers of Henry Trimen (1846-1896) for his Flora of Middlesex. Alfred B Rendle (1865-1938) worked in the Herbarium from 1888 until he became Keeper in 1906, and there is his early correspondence, as well as material related to the Flora of Jamaica, in the series. Edmund G Baker (1864-1949) was active at the same period, and his notebooks, papers and correspondence are present. There are a few manuscripts of Arthur W Exell (b 1901), who joined the staff in 1924, and of George Taylor (b 1904) who joined in 1928. Finally, there is a collection of the papers and correspondence of James E Dandy (1903-1976), who joined the Department in 1927 and worked on the flora of Nepal, the Magnoliacaea and the genus Potamegoton.

Series held at The Natural History Museum are catalogued more fully in its online catalogue (reference DF BOT/440). Online descriptions of some individual records can also be viewed on Discovery, see DF 440.

Date: 1870-1965
Arrangement:

The series is not arranged or listed in detail.

Related material:

Collectors notebooks and other archival material are still housed in the Herbarium.

Held by: Natural History Museum Library and Archives, not available at The National Archives
Legal status: Public Record(s)
Language: English
Physical description: 114 file(s)
Access conditions: Subject to 30 year closure unless otherwise stated
Immediate source of acquisition:

The series was transferred from the Botany Library in 1989.

Accruals: This series is accruing through the Modern Record Store.
Administrative / biographical background:

The largest working area within the Department has always been that devoted to Non-European flowering plants: the General Herbarium. Just before the First War, when the British and European specimens were moved to their own room, the work in the Herbarium was divided systematically into three sections, each headed by an Assistant. In 1935 there was a reorganisation, and the present four sections came into being.

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