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

Letters from Thomas Barbour of the Museum of Comparative Zoology in Cambridge Massachusetts, regarding anoles and Joan Procter's paper on Loveridge's Tortoise, her appointment at the Zoological Society of London, lost reprints, and the Zoological Record

Letter from Arthur Loveridge of the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard University, to Joan Procter regarding a shipment of reptiles for London Zoo

Letters from Alphonse Milne-Edwards, Director of the Menagerie au Museum d'histoire naturelle, to Philip Lutley Sclater

Letters from Wilhelm Carl Hartwig Peters of the Museum Regium Zoologicum, to Philip Lutley Sclater regarding Huxley's paper, a sketch of the plan of the monkey house, plates, specimens in his possession, and his memoirs

Report on the status and operation of the British Museum (Natural History), and damage suffered as a result of enemy action

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