Guide to the Papers of Sir Joseph Banks, 1745-1820

Summary

Collection number:

MS 9

Creator:

Banks, Joseph, Sir

Extent:

2.16 metres and (9 security binders + 1 folio packet + 1 map folio)

Language:

English

Preferred citation:

Items from this collection should be cited as '[Title or description of item], Papers of Sir Joseph Banks, National Library of Australia, MS 9, [item number]'.

Availability:

Available

Access conditions:

Available for research. Not for loan.

Background

Content Summary:

The collection contains approximately 300 documents, comprising correspondence and other documents of Sir Joseph Banks. The documents originating with Banks include letters and copies of letters, speeches, notes and minutes of meetings. The remainder of the collection includes correspondence addressed to Banks from some 83 people, including Lord Bathurst (2), David Collins, W.B. Conyngham (5), Alexander Dalrymple (3), James Fleming, Georg Forster (20), J.R. Forster (5), John Hunter (4), Philip Gidley King (7), Lord Nelson, William Paterson (5), W.P. Perrin (11), William Perry (5), William Petrie (7), Arthur Phillip and Lord Radnor. Also contained in the collection are memoranda and journals of Sarah Banks.

Biographical Note:

Joseph Banks was born in 1743 and was educated at Harrow, Eton and Christ Church, Oxford. While attending Oxford University, the death of his father in 1761 left him a wealthy man and provided him with the means to follow his lifelong interest in exploration, botany and natural history.

Banks became one of the most influential men of his time and was a passionate advocate and active supporter of voyages of discovery and the expansion of knowledge in the natural sciences.

In 1766 he travelled to Newfoundland and Labrador as an independent naturalist and shortly after his return in 1767 was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society.

Banks maintained a lifelong interest in the Pacific, in particular Australia. He advocated the establishment of colonies on the East coast of Australia, and after the founding of the settlement at Port Jackson, he became, through his myriad of contacts, the acknowledged expert on matters relating to the colony of New South Wales. He encouraged further exploration of the area and corresponded with a wide range of people, including the first four Governors of the colony.

Banks held many influential posts. He became President of the Royal Society in 1778, a position he held until his death in 1820. He was one of the founders of the Royal Horticultural Society, Superintendant of the Royal Botanical Gardens at Kew, a member of the Board of Longitude and a member of both the Trade and Coin Committees of the Privy Council. He was a Trustee of the British Museum and his herbarium became one of the foundation collections of the Museum's Botanical department. He actively supported scientific endeavour and made his unparalelled natural history collections and library available to researchers.

He was created a baronet in 1781. He married Dorothea Hugesson in 1779 and died childless in 1820.

Immediate Source of Acquisition:

In a codicil to his will, dated 7th March 1820, Sir Joseph Banks left the care of his papers to Sir Edward Knatchbull, the nephew of Lady Banks. In 1828 Knatchbull passed over to the British Museum the bound volumes of foreign correspondence, but he retained the rest of the papers in the expectation that an official biography would be written. He died in 1849 and, following the death of Lady Knatchbull in 1882, the ownership of the papers passed to their son Edward Knatchbull Hugesson, 1st Baron Brabourne. In 1884 Lord Brabourne offered the papers for sale to the British Museum but, when no agreement could be reached on a price, he sold many of the Australian papers to the New South Wales Government. They are now held in the Mitchell Library at the State Library of New South Wales.

Most of the remaining Banks Papers were sold on behalf of Lord Brabourne by Sotheby's on 11 March and 14 April 1886. One of the successful bidders at the sale on 14 April was E.A. Petherick, the London agent of the Melbourne bookseller George Robertson. He bought 20 lots, including a number of drafts of Banks' letters, his thoughts on the manners of the women of Otaheite, the hints of the Earl of Morton, and the catalogue of drawings and portraits by John Webber. It was unfortunate that Banks' correspondence was divided into several lots on an alphabetical basis. Petherick bought the four lots comprising letters of writers whose names started with C, F, K and P.

In 1909 Petherick returned to Australia and later in the year he transferred title in his large collection of books, maps, manuscripts and pictures to the Commonwealth Parliamentary Library. Most of the Banks Papers held in the National Library at MS 9 were originally in the Petherick Collection.

Banks was a prolific correspondent and throughout the twentieth century letters that he had written or received were sold at auctions in London and elsewhere or appeared in dealers' catalogues. The Library has bought a number of letters at different sales and assigned them distinct manuscript numbers. The collector Sir Rex Nan Kivell also bought several letters of Banks at London sales and gave them his own NK numbers. His collection was purchased by the Library in 1959. At a later date all the manuscripts in his collection were given manuscript numbers, as well as numbers within the MS 9 sequence. For instance, the letter of Mungo Park can be cited as MS 9/117 or MS 4004, while its original Nan Kivell number was NK 5837

On 23 July 1985 Sotheby's in London sold many of the papers of Banks' friend John Montagu, 4th Earl of Sandwich. Sandwich was First Lord of the Admiralty in 1771-82 and was closely associated with the second and third voyages of Cook. The National Library bought three lots at the sale and the collection was given the number MS 7218. It includes nine letters written by Banks to Sandwich in 1782-84.

Arrangement:

This finding aid has been created to bring together in a single listing the Banks material which is held by the National Library in a number of different collections. The series listing is based on an original finding aid for the main collection, MS 9. The order and numbering of the original finding aid has been retained. Some items were listed in the original finding aid for MS 9 but also have their own collection number. In such cases, both numbers are supplied, with the MS 9 number given precedence.

Related

Separated Material:

The State Library of New South Wales has extensive holdings of Banks' papers. These are available online at http://www.sl.nsw.gov.au/banks/.

Holdings of Banks' papers held in the United Kingdom have been filmed as part of the Australian Joint Copying Project. The main filmed collections are contained in Part 8. Miscellaneous series as follows:

Papers of Sir Joseph Banks, 1768-1820, British Library. Reel M1192.

Correspondence of Sir Joseph Banks, 1768-1819, Botany Library, British Museum. Reel M2662.

Correspondence of Sir Joseph Banks, 1773-1815, Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, England. Reel M469.

Existence and Location of Copies:

This collection has been digitised, and is available online through this finding aid.

Conditions Governing Access:

This collection is available for research.

Conditions Governing Use:

Copying and publishing of unpublished manuscript material is subject to copyright restrictions. For such material, written permission to publish must be obtained from the copyright holder(s). Copying of unpublished material for research purposes is permissible 50 years after the death of the creator of the material.

Preferred citation:

Items from this collection should be cited as '[Title or description of item], Papers of Sir Joseph Banks, National Library of Australia, MS 9, [item number]'.

Location of this collection:

National Library of Australia

Parkes Place

Canberra ACT 2600, Australia

Contact:

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