| Ref No | DF/ZOO/236/8 |
| Alt Ref No | DF236/8 |
| Title | Goodwin, Derek: Papers and Correspondence |
| Description | Derek Goodwin (1920 - 2008) was actually named Richard Patrick Derek Goodwin but he only used this for legal documents. He joined the staff as 'Attendant' in the Bird Room in 1946. Macdonald said (in letter to Effie Warr) that 'Derek was the first addition to the staff after the war and was a great help in getting the Bird Room out of its dreadful muddle'. In 1950 he was upgraded to Assistant Experimental Officer and, in 1954, to Experimental Officer. He was a member of the 3rd Harold Hall expedition to Australia in 1965. Later he became Principal Scientific Officer and worked mainly on the skin collection and answering enquiries. When the bird collections were moved from South Kensington to Tring in 1971 he was heavily involved in the packing and then unpacking of the bird skins and in re-arranging them to follow the new Peters' order. Derek retired in February 1982 after thirty-four years on the Museum staff.
He was the author of Bird Behaviour (1961), Domestic Birds (1965), Pigeons and Doves of the World (1967, 1970, 1983), Crows of the World (1976, 1986), Birds of Man's World (1978) and Estrildid Finches of the World (1982). He also wrote numerous articles in magazines and journals, many of these illustrated by his own line drawings.
Derek had a very wide circle of correspondents. Unfortunately, with the best of intentions, he destroyed copies of his work-related letters before he retired and the only letters he kept were those from Professor Erwin Stresemann. |
| Date | 1960s-1970s |
| AccessStatus | Open |
| Held By | NHM Archives |
| Level | SubSeries |
Show related Persons records.
Persons
| Code | PersonName | Dates |
| PX10428 | Stresemann; Erwin (1889-1972); Ornithologist | 1889-1972 |