Number 5 - Geological Curators Group

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THE GEOLOGICAL CURATORVOLUME 5. N0.5CONTENTSFOREWORDCONTENTS........................................................COLLECTIONS. COLLECTORS AND MUSEUMS OF NOTE . NO . 55.GEOLOGICAL COLLECTORS AND MUSEUMS IN CHELTENHAM1810-1988: A CASE HISTORY AND ITS LESSONSby H . S . Torrens and M . A . TaylorIntroduction .........................The first 'Cheltenham Museums': The Mawe and Tatlow Museum .The Cheltenham Literary and Philosophical Institution Museum . .Early geological collectors in the Cheltenham area (up to 1850) .The development of the CLPI's geological collections ......The Jenkins family: commercial dealers in Cheltenham .....The British Association visit of 1856 and its aftermath .....The Cheltenham Working Naturalists' Association and theCheltenham Naturalists' Association .............The Cheltenham College Museum ................The museum of Cheltenham Ladies College ...........The Cheltenham Natural Science Society ............The College of Saint Paul and Saint Mary ...........Cheltenham Art Gallery and Museum ..............Conclusions .........................References ..........................Appendices ..........................BOOK REVIEWS ........................GEOLOGICAL CURATORS' GROUPAugust 1990
When two of the most prolific contributors tothe pages of Geological Curator join forces,something exceptional might be expected toresult. When both authors are well known forthe 'missionary' zeal with which they pursuetheir commitment to help improve the standardsof care and use of geological collections, andhave a reputation for utilizing thoroughhistorical research to highlight the origins andshortcomings of present-day curatorial attitudesand resource management, then the focussing oftheir combined talents on the history of onetown's geological heritage is likely to prove ofmore than local significance. Such is mostcertainly the ease with the Cheltenham stary, astold by Hugh Torrens and Mike Taylor.Here, in a single English town, we can followthe development of almost the entire range ofcircumstances which led to the cycles of growthand decline of geological collections across19th and 2Dth century Britain - private,society, school, college, and local authoritymuseums are all documented. In past issues ofthis journal and elsewhere, Hugh Torrens hasbrought to light many sad collection historiesin which early enthusiasm was replaced first byindifference, then neglect and finally, all toooften, by total destruction. By so doing he hasquite deliberately helped to fire a generationof curators with the will to see thatprofessional standards of collection care areraised, resources are increased and publicaccessibility is improved, in the hope that pasttragedies are never repeated.Mike Taylor is one such curator whose pioneeringwork as the Area Museum Council for the SouthWest's Geological Officer (from 1983 to 1987)set the pattern for similar peripatetic schemeselsewhere. Here too Cheltenham provides aclassic example of how practical advice from aspecialist peripatetic curator, coupled withArea Museum Council support, can fire residentnon-geological museum staff with an enthusiasmto solve the problems of unwittingly inheritedneglect, and instigate an ambitious programme ofrescue curation.There are serious lessons here not only forgeological curators but also for museumprofessionals of other disciplines and forhistorians of science. Yet the story is justas fascinating (and highly readable) for thosewhose interests focus on the history ofCheltenham itself or encompass the broaddevelopment of British science and society. Asimilar (if less complete) story could be toldabout many other towns and cities across theFOREWORDcountry, But it is Cheltenham's very goodfortune that Hugh Zorrens and Mike Faylor choseto devote so much of their skills and energiesto documenting the geological heritage of itspeople and museums.Peter R. CrowtherEditor, Geological Curators' Group18 August 1990
Page 4 and 5: Gcolap,rcal Curator, Vol .5, No.5.
Page 6 and 7: THE CHELTENHAM LITERARY AND PHILOSO
Page 8 and 9: The earlv vears of the CLPIDavid Wi
Page 10 and 11: Fig. 4. A lithograph (260 x 200 m.)
Page 12 and 13: on the local geology (Lycett 1857).
Page 14 and 15: The known contents of the Museum to
Page 16 and 17: 'Geological Museum - superior in it
Page 18 and 19: that is a fact' (Matheson 1964, p.2
Page 20 and 21: A published source which now throws
Page 22 and 23: Fig. 8. The interior of the College
Page 24 and 25: The Second World War and its leeace
Page 26 and 27: The Society provided a forum which
Page 28 and 29: specimens as such. Only a few speci
Page 30 and 31: BIGOT, Prof. [A. P. D. (1863-1953)l
Page 32 and 33: numbers of specimens, and have labe
Page 34 and 35: Fig. 18. Sylvia Humphrey matching s
Page 36 and 37: in August 1985) the particular stre
Page 38 and 39: Eliot, W. 1871. List of Field Clubs
Page 40 and 41: Tatlow, J. 1821. Memoirs of John Ta
Page 42 and 43: The BM(NH) set has a note from C. I
Page 44 and 45: comparison of his ideas on fossils

Number 5 - Geological Curators Group

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