Record

DF - Natural History Museum Archives

Ref No	DF/PAL
Alt Ref No	DF PAL
Title	Palaeontology
Description	DF100 Palaeontology Departmental Correspondence DF101 Registers of Palaeontology Departmental Correspondence DF102 Palaeontology Departmental Finance and Accounts DF103 Palaeontology Reports to Trustees and other Official Documents DF104 Palaeontology Reports of Progress, Monthly and Annual DF105 Acquisition, Loan and Exchanges, Correspondence and Papers DF106 Palaeontology Staff Files and Diaries DF107 Keeper of Palaeontology's Subject Files DF108 Departmental Visitor Books DF109 Palaeontology Publications Correspondence and Artwork DF110 Palaeontology Parcel Books DF116 Correspondence and papers on Piltdown Man DF117 Palaeontology and Geology Loan Registers DF118 Palaeontology Accession Registers DF120 Palaeontology Early Members of Staff: Correspondence and Papers DF121 Fossil Reptilia Section: Correspondence and Papers DF122 Fossil Mollusca Section: Correspondence and Papers DF123 Fossil Echinodermata Section: Correspondence and Papers DF124 Fossil Brachiopoda Section: Correspondence and Papers DF125 Fossil and Recent Protozoa Section: Correspondence and Papers DF126 Fossil Fish Section: Correspondence and Papers DF127 Fossil Foraminifera Section: Correspondence and Papers DF128 Fossil Insect Section: Correspondence and Papers DF129 Fossil Mammal Section: Correspondence and Papers DF130 Palaeobotany Section: Correspondence and papers DF131 Micropalaeontology Section: Correspondence and Papers DF132 Fossil Arthropod Section: Correspondence and Papers DF133 Fossil Algae Section: Correspondence and Papers DF140 Anthropology Sub-Department Staff Correspondence and Papers DF141 Anthropology Sub-Department: Subject Files DF142 Anthropology Sub-Department: Visitors Books DF143 Anthropology Sub-Department: Photographic Collection DF150 Geology Section: Correspondence and Papers DF151 Preparator Section: Correspondence and Papers DF160 Palaeontology Library Accessions DF161 Palaeontology Librarian's Correspondence
Date	1739-2012
AccessStatus	Open
Held By	NHM Archives
Extent	2022/10
Level	Fonds
AdminHistory	The Department of Palaeontology has its origins in the Department of Natural and Artificial Productions which was set up at the Foundation of the British Museum in 1756. In 1806 it was renamed the Department of Natural History and Modern Curiosities and was under the keepership of George Shaw (1751-1813) and later Carl Dietrich Eberhardt Konig (1774-1851). Most of the records from this period remain in the archives of the British Museum, though there are a number of early letters included in DF100. In 1837 the Department was divided into three branches, of which Mineralogy and Geology was one, and in 1856 the branch became a Department in its own right, almost immediately being divided into the two departments of Geology and Mineralogy. The first Keeper of Geology was George Robert Waterhouse (1810-1888), an entomologist, who had joined the Museum in 1843 from the Zoological Society. He was succeeded in 1880 by Henry Woodward (1832-1921), who had the task of supervising the move from Bloomsbury to South Kensington. By the time Woodward retired in 1901 the Department had a staff of 15. Through the 1920s and 1930s the collections were divided into 15 units, each presided over by an Assistant Keeper or an Unofficial Worker (paid as a freelancer rather than on the establishment). Subdivision of the Department into section developed during this period, and was firmly established when the Museum got back to normal after World War II. An Anthropology Section which spanned the departments of Geology and Zoology was set up in 1954. It was given the status of a Sub-Department in 1959, and was made part of Palaeontology the following year. Similarly the Foraminifera section was transferred from Zoology with its collections in 1968. In 1956 the title of the Department was changed from Geology to Palaeontology. The Department of Palaeontology became part of the Department of Earth Sciences when science was restructured in 2012. KEEPERS OF GEOLOGY (LATER PALAEONTOLOGY) Charles Dietrich Eberhard Konig 1813-1851 George Robert Waterhouse 1851-1880 Henry Woodward 1880-1901 Arthur Smith Woodward 1901-1924 Francis Arthur Bather 1924-1928 William Dickson Lang 1928-1938 Wilfred Norman Edwards 1938-1955 Errol Ivor White 1955-1966 Harold William Ball 1966-1986 Leonard Robert Morrison Cocks 1986-1998 Stephen Kenneth Donovan 1998-2002 Norman MacLeod 2002- 2012

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