| Description | The series comprises the correspondence and notes of Franciscus Smit, Custodian of the Rothschild Flea Collection from 1950 to 1983. The correspondence with scientists, students and the public worldwide, in several languages, includes postcards, memos, notes, lists, reports, manuscripts, sketches and drawings, pictures and maps. The second part of the collection contains Smit's earlier handwritten notebooks of transcriptions or notices on specific scientific subjects, general notices on fleas collected elsewhere and annotated maps. The collection also includes Annual Reports of the Siphonaptera Section detailing research and identifications of Siphonaptera as well as enquiries and publications. Smit appears to have inherited the relevant papers of Dr Karl Jordan, Charles Rothschild and G H E Hopkins, as their correspondence and other items appear throughout the collection. |
| AdminHistory | Charles Rothschild bequeathed his collection of siphonaptera (fleas) to the British Museum (Natural History) in 1923. The bequest included a fund with which to pay a custodian to take care of the collection. The fleas remained at Tring so that Karl Jordan could continue to work on them, with his assistant FJ Cox appointed as the Custodian. With the bequest of Tring to the BM(NH) in 1937 by Walter Rothschild, the entomological collections there technically became part of the Department of Entomology at the BM(NH).
By 1947 Jordan and Cox were becoming elderly and efforts were made to find a replacement for Cox. Franciscus Smit, who had started work in the Flea Room at Tring in 1948, was briefly considered but George Holland, an entomologist in Canada, became the first choice. Ultimately he declined the job, and Smit was appointed in 1950. By this time the Custodian was included in the Establishment staff lists; while the post was still largely paid for out of the Rothschild fund, it was topped up by 'ordinary sources' ie BM(NH) funding. |