Guide to the Records held by the Linnean Society of London (as filmed by the AJCP), 1789-1861

Summary

Collection number:

M596-M597

Creator:

Linnean Society of London

Extent:

126 items

Language:

English

Preferred citation:

Acknowledgement of use of this material should refer to the location of the original material and to the Australian Joint Copying Project.

Items from this collection should include references to the location of the original material and to the AJCP nla.obj number, which serves as the online identifier for the digital copy.

Example:M Series: Journal of Capt. James Cook, 18 February-23 September 1770, British Library Add. MS 27885 (AJCP ref: http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-987654321)

Availability:

Available

Access conditions:

Available for reference.

Background

Content Summary:

Linnean Society archives.

Macleay correspondence and miscellaneous papers 1805-59.

Correspondence of William Swainson.

Miscellaneous manuscripts

Society for Promoting Natural History records.

Biographical / Historical:

The Swedish naturalist Carl Linneaus, the author of Systema Naturae, died in 1778. In 1784 a young English medical student, James Edward Smith, purchased from Linneaus's son most of the Linnean private collection of books, manuscripts and natural history specimens. Four years later Smith founded the Linnean Society. In 1802, when the Linnean Society of London received a royal charter, it comprised 228 fellows. Smith was president of the Society from 1788 until his death in 1828.

The Society has been based at Burlington House since 1857. It began publishing its Transactions in 1791, while the Proceedings of the Linnean Society first appeared in 1839. Subsequently it published the Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society (1856+) and the Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society (1856+).

Fellows of the Linnean Society resident in Australia in the nineteenth century included William Archer, George Bennett, Sir Thomas Brisbane, George Everett, Sir John Franklin, Ronald C. Gunn, Sir John Jamison, Phillip P. King, Alexander McLeay, William S. Macleay, Sir Ferdinand von Mueller, John S. Roe, Charles Sturt, George Suttor and Sir Edward Deas Thomson. Fellows resident in New Zealand included Walter Buller, Leonard Cockayne, George W. Francis, T.M. Hocken, Arthur Holroyd, Thomas Kirk, William Swainson and Alexander Turnbull. Other fellows of the Society had some connection with Australia and New Zealand, such as Sir Joseph Banks, Robert Brown, Charles Darwin, Sir Joseph Hooker, Thomas Huxley and Sir James Clark Ross.

The Linnean Society of New South Wales was founded in 1874, with Sir William Macleay as its first president.

Related

Existence and Location of Copies:

The original AJCP microfilm of the records filmed from this collection is available at the National Library of Australia [https://nla.gov.au/nla.cat-vn593632] as well as other institutions holding AJCP microfilm.

Existence and Location of Originals:

Linnean Society of London, Burlington House, Piccadilly, London, England

For further information see Linnean Society of London Archives (https://www.linnean.org/research-collections/archives).

Conditions Governing Access:

Available for access.

Conditions Governing Use:

Many of the records digitised as part of the AJCP are still in copyright. Readers wishing to publish or reproduce documents should seek permission, in the first instance, from the owner of the original material.

Preferred citation:

Acknowledgement of use of this material should refer to the location of the original material and to the Australian Joint Copying Project.

Items from this collection should include references to the location of the original material and to the AJCP nla.obj number, which serves as the online identifier for the digital copy.

Example:M Series: Journal of Capt. James Cook, 18 February-23 September 1770, British Library Add. MS 27885 (AJCP ref: http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-987654321)

Location of this collection:

National Library of Australia

Parkes Place

Canberra ACT 2600, Australia

Contact:

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