Industrial Museum of Scotland Sub-Collection at the British Geological Survey
Contents based on a poster by William Adams | Geoscience Collections Manager | wadam@bgs.ac.uk
Background
The Industrial Museum of Scotland (IMS) was founded in 1854 and reflected the impetus of Victorian ideals of education, with a focus on displaying the power of the British Empire and research into the exploitation of the world's natural resources for economic growth. The museum was renamed in 1866 as the Edinburgh Museum of Science and Art, situated on Chambers Street. Through a series of iterations and combinations with other collections, the IMS became part of what we now call The National Museum of Scotland (NMS). The British Geological Survey (BGS) has had a close relationship with the NMS, where in 1889 the museum allocated gallery space to the survey for the display of regional Scottish geology. This has led to both of our collections having a shared history, prompting the need for close collaboration between the two so we can understand our shared collections better.
Investigation
Samples within our Edinburgh Museum Collection (EMC) and our systematic collection with IMS labels were found with no recorded information on them being identified as IMS samples, accession details, who collected them and when. This prompted an investigation into the archives at the NMS where they hold the museum registers covering the dates 1854-1866 when the IMS was active.
Key Findings
Museum Register 1854-1858 revealed information that IMS samples with the label and number (279) are “Rock Specimens illustrating the geology of the counties of Haddington, Edinburgh and Linlithgow” and were named by “Mr A Geikie of the of the Geological Survey” and “Presented by the Geological Survey by Sir R Murchison” on the 30 October 1858. This has revealed that all samples were named/collected by Sir Archibald Geikie (1835-1924) and presented to IMS in 1858 by Sir Roderick Impey Murchison (1792-1871). Following an audit of our EMC, Systematic, and Unregistered collection at BGS, a total of 214 out of 308 of these IMS specimens have been identified, catalogued and are in the process of being made publicly visible. The information stored in the registers was essential in providing locality and rock descriptions for all samples. The date of collection, association with Geikie and Murchison as well as being part of the original IMS collection makes these some of the earliest collected and most historically significant samples that we hold at BGS Edinburgh. We are currently in the process of trying to identify the remaining 94 samples within ours and Keyworth’s collections.