| Description | Diazo microfilm copy of the Geological Society Museum register comprising miscellaneous lists of specimens and other items, donated to the Society. The volume contains:
1) Undated, brief list of specimens, numbered 1-392 entitled 'Organic remains from the chalk' containing lists of fossils, models and mineral remains from the Chalk and other strata, possibly in the hand of Leonard Horner, [1832-1860s]. Note: includes an entry for a vertebra of a Hylaeosaurus, a species discovered by Gideon Mantell in 1832.
2) List of specimens from South Australia and Van Dieman's Land donated by Joseph Beete Jukes on 31 July 1846, in the hand of James De Carle Sowerby, curator, [1846]. Includes museum references.
3) 'Memoranda respecting specimens', listing batches of accessions still to be processed, including those donated by Joseph Marryat, Gideon Mantell and Captain James Vetch, and other jobs to be done, in the hand of Thomas Webster, [c.1818].
4) 'Catalogue of various minerals presented to the Society by Dr Berger', the list which is in French, is probably in the hand of Jean Francois Berger, [1808]. The specimens, from England and Scotland, were donated to the Society on 2 December 1808. The list is annotated lightly in pencil with the Museum references.
5) 'Explanatory catalogue of the collection of the rocks of Cornwall and Devon offered to the Geological Society', by Louis Albert Necker, 1809. Comprises a manuscript account of observations made during a tour of Cornwall and Devon in the company of Jean Francois Berger during April-May 1808, with descriptions of the fossils collected. The fossil lists are lightly annotated in pencil with Museum references.
6) Catalogue of specimens nos.800-1069, covering the British geographical areas of Dorsetshire and Somersetshire, some of it probably in the hand of Leonard Horner, [c.1811].
7) Catalogue of Irish mineral and rock specimens, nos.?3453-5148, [n.d.].
8) Lists of specimens donated by George Bellas Greenough which were illustrative of the external characters of rocks, November 1839. The list, most of which is in Greenough's hand, records the name, geographical locality and geological formation for each specimen. Each specimen is numbered with a location and reference. Also, 'Minerals and localities', listing the contents of the mineral collection by locality then by drawer location, [1839]. Note: paper is watermarked 1808.
9) List of specimens from Kent, Sussex and the the Isle of Wight, [wmk 1830]. The Museum references are not in order so this may indicate a rearrangement.
10) Incomplete list of specimens of 'vegetables on coal', nos. 2212-3470 [wmk 1811].
11) Partial list of accessions to the Museum, September 1844-?January 1845.
12) List of British rock specimens in the Museum, nos.c.613-1049, comprising some of the earliest material donated to the Society which have been arranged geographically, [1808-1812].
13) List of books and tracts belonging to George Bellas Greenough, [1855-1856]. Note: reference to the compilation of this list appears in the Report of the Museum in the Anniversary Meeting of 1856. |
| Administrative History | By 1810 the Museum was in disarray, with new specimens piling up and the existing collection still not catalogued fully. At the first meeting of Council, 14 June 1810, it was resolved that Leonard Horner, Wilson Lowry, Comte de Bournon and Peter Mark Roget would form a 'Committee of Arrangement' to take charge of the collection. In 1812 it was decided to appoint the Society's first paid member of staff, Thomas Webster who had been a Member of the Society since 1809, as (part-time) Keeper of the Museum. Webster's role was not curatorial, instead he was charged with unpacking and registering the specimens which would then be catalogued by the Committee of Arrangement.
The Museum was initially arranged geographically, but following on from the popularisation of the fossil theories of William Smith, the British collections began to be arranged stratigraphically in 1813. |