| Description | Notebooks of Robert Millner SHACKLETON. Includes the main numbered sequence of Shackleton's notebooks of geological fieldwork from 1929 to 1988. These record his work throughout the world, with particularly good coverage of Shackleton's research in Kenya in the 1940s, Ireland from the late 1940s onwards, Fiji in the 1950s, Scotland and North Wales from the 1950s, and southern and east Africa in the 1960s. The numbering is not chronological and some of the enumeration may date from after the notebook was used. The sequence is not complete, a number of notebooks were missing including 2-8, 11-13 and 70-72. It is hoped that these notebooks will be located so gaps have been left in the catalogue accordingly. All are pocket-sized and most have hard covers. Many bear evidence of use in the field: water-stained pages, dirt marks, and general wear and tear. They contain field notes, cross-sections and sketches, maps, lists of specimens. There may also be the occasional portrait and landscape sketch. A note of title inscription (generally on spine or front cover) is given in the catalogue entries. At B.170 is a card index box listing the notebooks and the geographical locations covered. Dating in the notebooks cannot be relied upon. The day of the month and year do not always correspond and occasionally the decade is wrong, eg. [19]67 for [19J76 in B.115.
There is also a sequence of numbered notebooks running from I to X, covering Shackleton's work in Fiji, November 1935-August 1936 as Chief Geologist to Whitehall Exploration Ltd. Unnumbered notebooks include a pocket notebook used by Shackleton to record his attendance, while still an undergraduate, at the 15th International Geological Congress held in Pretoria, South Africa, 1929, and a conference notebook for The Fourth IGCP 348 (The Mozambique and related belts) Field Meeting in Ethiopia and Eritrea March 15-25, 1996'. |