Original source material
Daubentonia madagascariensis, aye-aye. Drawing by Joseph Wolf (1820-1899). Plate 258 c. from the Richard Owen Drawings Collection.
Many of our manuscript collections relate to key figures in the founding and history of the Museum.
Sir Hans Sloane (1660-1753)
Sloane’s collections formed the cornerstone of the British Museum, and the Museum Library now preserves his 17 manuscript catalogues on natural history.
Sir Joseph Banks (1743-1820)
Banks was a great patron of British science in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. The Library holds journals of his correspondence with William Bartram and Dawson Turner.
Sir Richard Owen (1804-1892)
The Library houses the archive of this anatomist and founding Superintendent of the Museum in South Kensington. It includes his scientific correspondence and notes relating to scientific papers and lectures.