British Museum (Natural History): Department of Botany: General Herbarium Correspondence...

The earliest items in the series are some papers and correspondence of James Britten (1846-1924), who worked in the Department from 1871 to 1909. From the same period come papers of Henry Trimen (1846-1896) for his Flora of Middlesex. Alfred B Rendle (1865-1938) worked in the Herbarium from 1888 until he became Keeper in 1906, and there is his early correspondence, as well as material related to the Flora of Jamaica, in the series. Edmund G Baker (1864-1949) was active at the same period, and his notebooks, papers and correspondence are present. There are a few manuscripts of Arthur W Exell (b 1901), who joined the staff in 1924, and of George Taylor (b 1904) who joined in 1928. Finally, there is a collection of the papers and correspondence of James E Dandy (1903-1976), who joined the Department in 1927 and worked on the flora of Nepal, the Magnoliacaea and the genus Potamegoton.

Series held at The Natural History Museum are catalogued more fully in its online catalogue (reference DF BOT/440). Online descriptions of some individual records can also be viewed on Discovery, see DF 440.

The series is not arranged or listed in detail.

Collectors notebooks and other archival material are still housed in the Herbarium.

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Caribbean

Museums and galleries

The largest working area within the Department has always been that devoted to Non-European flowering plants: the General Herbarium. Just before the First War, when the British and European specimens were moved to their own room, the work in the Herbarium was divided systematically into three sections, each headed by an Assistant. In 1935 there was a reorganisation, and the present four sections came into being.