Guide to the Papers of Sir Richard Owen (as filmed by the AJCP), 1796-1889

Summary

Collection number:

M2271-M2288

Creator:

Owen, Richard, Sir, 1804-1892

Extent:

84 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 1770, British Library Add. MS 27885 (AJCP ref: http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-1234)

Availability:

Available

Access conditions:

Available for reference.

Background

Content Summary:

Correspondence 1836-1883. Subjects include: discovery of fossils in Australia; observations of Tasmanian Aborigines; self-government in New South Wales; research on Australian and New Zealand fauna including platypus and moa; dispatch of Australian specimens and skulls of Maoris and Aborigines. Correspondents include W. Clift, G. Bennett, Sir Walter Buller, R. Etheridge, W.B. Clarke, Sir Julius von Haast, J.L.G. Krefft, Sir Ferdinand von Mueller, E.P. Ramsay, T.H.C. Hood and H. Woodward.

Notebooks 1830-1839 containing Owen's notes on kangaroo, dingo, possum, wombat, echidna, platypus, orang utan, emu, koala, kiwi, black swan, nautilus and astacus Murrumbidgee.

Papers 1804-1832 of Sir Everard Home concerning platypus, dugong, cassowary, ostrich, ornithorhynchus and Dinornis gravis. Correspondents include G. Busby and H. Dumaresq.

Biographical / Historical:

Sir Richard Owen (1804-1892), comparative anatomist and palaeontologist. Educated at Lancaster Grammar School, Edinburgh University and St Bartholomew's Hospital, becoming a surgeon in 1826. Assistant conservator of Hunterian Collection, Royal College of Surgeons, 1827-1842, Conservator 1842-1856. Hunterian Professor of Comparative Anatomy and Physiology, Royal College of Surgeons, 1836-1856. First President of Royal Microscopical Society 1840-1841. First and only Superintendent of Natural History Departments of British Museum, 1856-1883, supervising the transfer of the Departments to South Kensington in 1880-1883. President of British Association 1858. Fullerian Professor of Physiology at Royal Institution 1859-1861. Knighted 1884.

His publications included Researches on the Fossile Remains of the Extinct Mammala of Australia (1877-1878) and Memoirs on the Extinct Wingless Birds of New Zealand (1879).

William Clift (1775-1849). Apprentice to Dr John Hunter 1792-1793. Conservator of Hunterian Collection, Royal College of Surgeons, 1800-1842. His only daughter Caroline married Richard Owen in 1835.

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-vn2298940] as well as other institutions holding AJCP microfilm.

Existence and Location of Originals:

Natural History Museum, Cromwell Road, London.

For further information see Sir Richard Owen at the National History Museum. [http://www.nhm.ac.uk/our-science/departments-and-staff/library-and-archives.html]

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 1770, British Library Add. MS 27885 (AJCP ref: http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-1234)

Location of this collection:

National Library of Australia

Parkes Place

Canberra ACT 2600, Australia

Contact:

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