Fonds MUS - ZSL Museum

Identity area

Reference code

MUS

Title

ZSL Museum

Date(s)

  • 1833-1852 (Creation)

Level of description

Fonds

Extent and medium

3 volumes, 11 items

Context area

Name of creator

Zoological Society of London
(1826-)

Administrative history

Founded in 1826, the Zoological Society of London (ZSL) is an international scientific, conservation and educational charity whose mission is to promote and achieve the worldwide conservation of animals and their habitats. It runs the Institute of Zoology, conservation projects in more than 50 countries, and two Zoos, ZSL London Zoo and ZSL Whipsnade Zoo

Repository

ZSL Archives

Archival history

Immediate source of acquisition or transfer

Internal transfer

Content and structure area

Scope and content

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.

Appraisal, destruction and scheduling

Accruals

System of arrangement

Conditions of access and use area

Conditions governing access

Open

Conditions governing reproduction

Language of material

  • English

Script of material

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    Finding aids

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    Existence and location of originals

    Existence and location of copies

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    Description control area

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    Dates of creation revision deletion

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        Accession area