List of specimens held

It was proposed in the setting up of ZSL that there would be a museum for zoological specimens, and items began being collected c.1827 including a collection of Sumatran specimens donated by Lady Sophia Raffles, widow of ZSL founder Sir Stamford Raffles. The museum was housed firstly within our office building at 33 Bruton Street in central London, and charged entry for people to visit. Many specimens were donated by fellows, John Gould donated his collection of Himalayan birds in 1831 to the museum, for example. The museum proved very popular, and grew at such a rate that it was one of the reasons for moving office to Leicester square. It was decided that the Society either needed to purchase a dedicated building for it - or to disperse the collection. ZSL Council chose the latter, and by 1855 the collection had been dispersed to various other collections including the British Museum (Natural History) and Norwich Museum.

Letter from Sir Charles Wood, 1st Viscount Halifax, regarding the museum collection of the Zoological Society of London

Letters from Jules Verreaux of the Museum d'Histoire Naturelle, to Philip Lutley Sclater

Correspondence between United States Lines and Geoffrey Marr Vevers regarding the transport of animals and museum specimens to Philadelphia on the Russell R. Jones

Letter from the Secretary of the United Services Museum, accompanying two specimens of birds killed in Mexico and of a Scoter killed at Southampton. The letter asks the Zoological Society of London to inspect and return them

Letter from Michael Rogers Oldfield Thomas of the British Museum (Natural History) to Philip Lutley Sclater regarding the skin of a giraffe

List of skeletons held in the Museum, whence obtained and observations

Letters from Sir Lawrence Alma Tadema regarding an unmounted lion's skin and a letter in support of an artist being allowed to study in the Zoological Gardens

Letter from William Henry Sykes to Philip Lutley Sclater regarding the Indian Museum