Collection: Bath Royal Literary and Scientific Institution

Collection-level records:

• Collection overview (Cornucopia)

  Ancient Egyptian Collection

  The museum owns at least 92 ancient Egyptian objects which are part of the Archaeology collection. Classes of objects represented in the collection include: canopic jars; coffins; coins; flints; funerary cones; jewellery; metal figures; human remains (mummies); pottery; relief sculpture; scarabs; shabtis; soul houses; stone figures; stone vessels; tomb models; tools/weapons; wooden figures. The castle also possesses moulds of scarabs; casts of stelae. Objects are known to have come from the following locations in Egypt (with the name of the excavator/sponsor and year of excavation given where possible): Gizeh; Naucratis; Saqqara; Defenneh (Petrie and Griffith – Egypt Exploration Fund, 1886); Nebesheh (Petrie and Griffith – Egypt Exploration Fund, 1886); Tell el-Yahudiyeh (Naville and Griffith – Egypt Exploration Fund, 1888); Thebes.

  Subjects

  Antiquities; Ancient civilizations; Antiquity; Archaeological sites; Middle Kingdom (2055-1650 BC); Archaeological objects; Egyptology; Archaeological excavations

  Archaeology Collection

  There is a small collection of archaeological material, chiefly pottery, from Europe and the Mediterranean.

  Subjects

  Ceramics; Archaeology

  Biology Collection

  The natural history collection is sadly depleted by loss, decay and destruction. The 19th century collection was extensive and important. However, the remaining collection still have much of great interest including the herbaria of Rev L Jenyns and C E Broome, mainly collected between 1820 and 1880 and amounting to about 8,500 herbarium sheets. There are more than 17,000 shells consisting of marine, freshwater and land molluscs. The Jenyns collection contains a world-wide collection of marine shells including some rare and scientifically important specimens. The entomological collections comprise some 12,000 insects including coleoptera; lepidoptera; arachnids and hymenoptera. There is a reasonable reference collection of beetles. Mounted birds and mammals are represented by about 80 specimens and include an extinct Passenger pigeon and a wild cat. The rest of the collection comprises about 700 birds eggs; a number of prepared small animal bones and skulls; a quantity of horn and ivory; and corals from the Great Barrier Reef of Australia.

  Subjects

  Mammals; Natural Sciences; Plants; Fish; Birds; Insects; Biology

  Archives Collection

  The museum holds some very important scientific archives. Those pertaining to the geological collection are listed with the description of the geology collection. The Rev Leonard Jenyns (1800-1893) library includes four volumes of letters sent to him by ‘men of science’. These hundreds of letters include many from Charles Darwin, Sir Joseph Hooker and Professor Henslow. The library contains some 5,500 volumes and includes 19th century history; topography; theology; some biographies; some natural history; a run of State Trials; and a set of Didecot’s Encyclopedia (1751-1780). However, the material which gave this library its distinction, the mass of 19th century literature and long runs of learned periodicals and many 18th century books were lost in 1960 when an estimated 9650 volumes were sold. The valuable natural history library of Jenyns survived and within it are represented most of the important writers of the 19th century and before. There are also transactions of such societies as the Anthropological, Geological, Linnean, Ray and Zoological Society. There is also the C E Broome (1812-1886) library of botanical books, particularly strong on mycology (fungi); and the Parliamentary collection of runs of House of Commons and House of Lords journals and special parliamentary reports.

  Subjects

  Documents (historic); Archives; Documents (Government)

  Geology Collection

  The reputation of the BRLSI is founded on its rich geological collections and represent a strength of the museum. The 32 Plesiosaurs and Ichthyosaurs on loan to the National Museum of Wales were collected by Charles Moore (1814-1881), together with the 2700 other large specimens. Amongst these are an exceptional collection of well preserved Pelagiosaurs, fish, crustaceans and a good collection Tertiary fossils. In addition, there are about a million small fossils (micro-vertebrates) comprising a scientific resource of great significance. Other collections contain at least 6,000 fossils and include: the Lonsdale collection assembled before 1829; over 200 cave fauna specimens from Kent’s Cavern, Torquay, excavated and given by William Pengelly; and other excavated fossils from Mentone, France and Banwell Cave and Wookey Hole. These latter include teeth and bones of hyena, bear, rhinoceros, elephant, horse, cave lion, ox, reindeer, hog and wolf. The mineral collection contains all the common minerals and many rare ones. They come from world-wide locations, though the collection is strongest on specimens from the south west of England. The number of specimens exceeds 4000 and was mainly assembled in the 19th century, with some 20th century additions, notably the Somerset mineral and ore-bearing rock sequence from Merehead Quarry donated by Charles Alabaster in the early 1980’s. The collection is supported by important archive material such as the geological notebook (1861-72) of the amateur geologist E C Davey; William Lonsdale’s manuscript summary of the geology of the local area; and William Smith’s 1815 printed geological map of England and Wales. There are also some large scale drawings used by Charles Moore in his lectures; early catalogues of donated specimens; and drawings and photographs of quarry sections.

  Subjects

  Natural Sciences; Fossils; Geology; Minerals

  Ethnography Collection

  Well represented in this significant collection is material from America, Africa, Australia, New Zealand, Polynesia, Melanesia and India. The collection represents one of the strengths of the museum. The larger collections comprise: Dr Parry’s Eskimo items (1845); Rev G R Mullins’ South American material (1861); Captain W H Breton’s New Zealand artefacts (1862); Mrs Landon’s Canadian material (1863); items given by Rev Francis Lockey (1796-1869) from China, India, Australia, Fiji, Persia, North America, Canada and New Zealand; and Major Inglefield’s African collection made between 1885-95 and presented in 1936. The Inglefield collection includes material from the cultures of the Ashanti, Fanti, Edo, Yoruba, Mambundau, Chana and Zulu; and consists of a wide range of items from drums, carved figures and baskets to beadwork. During the 20th century other collections were added such as Mexican pottery from Adela Breton; an important collection from the Oceanic Islands donated by Mrs Mouncey and including an important painted shield and some interesting gun-stock clubs; African material given by Mrs Jeffrey Johnson in 1936 and by the Rev D L Pitcairn in 1937; and Indian material donated by Col Cartwright in 1924 and by H K Kestell-Cornish in 1936.

  Subjects

  North American; African; Australasian; South Asian; Southern and Central America; Ethnography; World Cultures; Southeast Asian

  Source: Cornucopia

  Date: Not known, but before 2015

  Licence: CC BY-NC