Lists specimens sent to the Natural History Museum

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.

Includes: Report on the value of the Reserved Collection, 1851; Dr Crisp. Museum Stores; List of Animals Presented to the Norwich Collection; Catalogue of specimens of cruise, 1849; etc. Also includes printed extracts from the Annual Reports regarding the Museum, and a printed petition to the Chancellor of the Exchequer to buy the collection. The Dr Crisp item is a list of articles purchased by him from the Museum, including the skin of a giraffe. 

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

Letter from Hugh Cuming to Edward Turner Bennett, apologising for being unable to meet him with a portion of his shells

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

Notes and memos including a Report of the Council and Report of the Auditors of the Zoological Society of London read at the Anniversary Meeting, a meeting of naturalists at the British Museum, extracts from letters to Mr Owen, and Edward Turner Bennett's account of Macropus Parryi

Letters from Sir George Clerk to David William Mitchell regarding the Chancellor of the Exchequer and the purchase of a museum collection of the Zoological Society of London

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

Correspondence between British Museum (Natural History) and Geoffrey Marr Vevers regarding a report of a Black-Headed Gull to the Bird-Ringing Committee at the British Museum of Natural History, articles on Okapi by Reginald Innes Pocock, an account of the baby Dendrohyrax by Cecil Stanley Webb , Antarctic Seals, skins and skulls of small carnivores, the fox which the Zoological Society of London received from Tel Aviv Gardens, an exhibition of Tree Hyraxes, exhibits for Major Cottam, donations of specimens to the British Museum (Natural History), mongoose skins, Tangier Smith's location in Sze Chuan to locate the original Pandas, the release of Kodiak Bears at Whipsnade Zoo, publications by Doubleday on the Giant Panda, rings for a Golden Eagle from the Bird-Ringing Committee, the species of Monkey from Northern Nigeria, a Leopard from the Himalayas, measurements of the Kodiak Bears called Kam and Schatka at Whipsnade, and a donation of Hedgehogs to the USA