Historical (pre-Linnean) botanical collections

The Historical Collections Room houses some of the Museum's most historic items, including botanical specimens collected over 400 years ago.

The Museum's algae, fungi and plant collections span several centuries, covering a period of unprecedented exploration and investigation into natural history.

The Historical Collections Room, a high security, climate-controlled special collections area, houses botanical collections made before the mid-18th century. Collections from the late 18th century onwards, including those of Joseph Banks, are in our general collections and enquiries regarding those should be directed to the appropriate sectional curator.

The Historical Collections room houses the herbarium of Sir Hans Sloane (1660-1753), comprising 265 volumes and an estimated 120,000 plan specimens collected from over 70 countries and dependencies worldwide. An account of the collection is provided by Dandy (1958), available from the Biodiversity Heritage Library. It also includes Sloane’s collection of vegetable substances.

Other major collections include the herbaria of Paul Hermann (1646-1695), John Clayton (1694/5-1773), George Clifford (1685-1760), Samuel Dale (1659-1739) and John Ray (1627-1705).

Major collections