Letter from Sir George Cornewall Lewis to David William Mitchell regarding the Treasury not being prepared to purchase the collection of the Museum of the Zoological Society of London

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

Edward George Boulenger spent three weeks in America where he visited and studied the aquaria, zoological parks and museums in New York and Chicago

Lists specimens sent to the Natural History Museum

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.

Includes: Account of the sale of Funded Property. Extraordinary Expenditure on Carnivora Dens and Terrace, Museum, Gardens, Hanover Square Offices

Papers regarding the authority of the council of the Zoological Society of London, including the legal opinion on the right of Council to grant pensions to staff and office; information regarding the illegality of Council's submitting its acts performed by virtue of the powers so conferred on them for confirmation or reversal by a General Meeting of the Fellows; Council's authority to appoint staff without reference to the Fellows; original authority for paying the Secretary; legal opinion regarding Dr Sclater's pension; authority to the Society to dispose of property and a codicil to Sir Peter Chalmers Mitchell's will

Circulars, printed papers and correspondence of Dr Bidder, mainly concerning the Meetings of British Zoologists, the forming of the Association of British Zoologists, and urging the split of the British Museum and the Natural History Museum. Most are from 1920's and are unordered. Includes letters from Prof. Balfour-Browne, P Chalmers Mitchell and E Ray Lankester, etc

List of specimens sent to British Museum. Presumably compiled by JE Gray and GR Gray before their published version in 1846. Lists reveal 803 mammals, 4425 birds, 663 bird skins, 21 human skulls with origins