Enfilade

I was lucky enough to attend the second workshop for the Sloane’s Treasures Project, held on 31 May at The British Museum, and I’m thrilled at the prospects of this massive research programme. The benefits will be enormous for a wide range of audiences. In addition to the following description from the BM’s website, see the advertisement for two collaborative doctoral awards. -CH

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Sloane’s Treasures
The Natural History Museum, The British Museum, The British Library, London, 2012

From the time of his voyage to Jamaica in the 1680s, Sir Hans Sloane (1660-1753), physician, natural historian and man of letters, began to gather together one of the largest and most comprehensive collections of ‘natural and artificial rarities’ ever formed. Sloane was later Physician to Queen Anne, George I and II, President of both the Royal College of Physicians and the Royal Society, and his manor in Chelsea included the Apothecaries’ Garden (now the Chelsea Physic Garden). At the centre of a worldwide network, he created an encyclopaedic collection of mineral, botanical, and zoological specimens, ethnographic objects, antiquities, prints, drawings, books and manuscripts, often inheriting or purchasing entire collections formed by others.

On his death in 1753 Sloane’s collection was acquired for the nation by an Act of Parliament which created the British Museum. But as the Museum re-organized its collections and acquired further objects, Sloane’s collection was dispersed among different departments and eventually also to the Natural History Museum in 1881 and to the British Library in 1973. This dispersal has hindered the study and understanding of ‘Sloane’s Treasures’, their sources, and their historical relationships with each other. This project will begin to address these problems.

Between February and September 2012, an Advisory group will be formed, workshops with invited attendees will be held (Natural History Museum, April, British Museum, May and British Library, July) and reports created, including recommendations for a larger project. The constitution of the Advisory group, summaries and videos of parts of the workshops, and updates on their outcomes will be made available, and news of project developments, including information on other research and public events related to Sloane and his collections, will be published here. If you are working on a Hans Sloane-related project or have an associated research or public engagement idea, contact a member of the project team.

Project Team
• Kim Sloan, Curator of British Drawings and Watercolours before 1880, The British Library, Department of Prints and drawings
• JD Hill, Research Manager
• Arnold Hunt, Curator of Modern Historical Manuscripts, The British Library
• Julie Harvey, Manager, Centre for Arts and Humanities Research, The Natural History Museum