Identity area
Reference code
Title
Date(s)
- 1913 - 2010 (Creation)
Level of description
Extent and medium
8 boxes - correspondence, field notes, photographs and maps from his plant collecting expeditions in Sikkim, Bhutan and Punjab between 1913 and 1916, and family / genealogical information.
Context area
Name of creator
Biographical history
Roland Edgar Cooper was born in 1890 in Kingston-Upon-Thames, but lost both his parents by the age of four. He came to be cared for by his aunt Emma Wiedhofft who was married to William Wright Smith, eventual Regius Keeper of the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh. It was this association that was to shape Cooper's career - he travelled to Calcutta with Smith in 1907 when he became in charge of the Herbarium there, travelling and collecting botanical specimens in Sikkim, Nepal, Tibet and Bhutan. In 1910, Cooper and Smith returned, and Cooper took the Horticultural course at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh.
In 1913, Cooper returned to the Himalayas to collect plants for A.K. Bulley of Ness, near Liverpool. He travelled through Sikkim in 1913, Bhutan in 1914-15, and the Punjab in 1916.
In 1921, after the First World War, during which Cooper served in the Indian Army, he was appointed Superintendent of the Botanic Garden at Maymo in the Shan Hills of Burma, eventually returning to Scotland in the late 1920's for the education of his son. From 1930-1934 Cooper worked at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh as the Garden Curator's assistant, taking the role of Curator (Head Gardener) himself in 1934, a post he held until his retirement in 1950. Post retirement, he and his wife Emily Bartusek moved to Westcliff-on-Sea in Essex.
During his career, Cooper became a Fellow of the Royal Scottish Geographical Society, the Royal Anthropological Institute, the Royal Caledonian Horticultural Society, the Botanical Society of Edinburgh (now Scotland), the Royal Society of Edinburgh and the Scottish Anthropological Society. He was also the vice-president of the Scottish Rock Garden Club, of which he was a founder member.
Repository
Archival history
Immediate source of acquisition or transfer
Some of this material was in the RBGE Archival material, but has been added to with material acquired in auctions or by donation.
Content and structure area
Scope and content
Eight boxes of material relating to Roland Edgar Cooper who was Curator (Head Gardener) at the Royal Botanic Garden between 1934 and 1950. Material consists of correspondence, field notes, photographs and maps from his plant collecting expeditions in Sikkim, Bhutan and Punjab between 1913 and 1916, and family / genealogical information.
Appraisal, destruction and scheduling
Accruals
System of arrangement
When cataloguing, the complete collection was arranged by subject area as follows:
REC/1: Plant Collecting (Notebooks: Itineraries, Field Numbers; Maps and published accounts)
REC/2: Correspondence and Papers
REC/3: Cooper's Writing, mainly unpublished (includes his autobiography)
REC/4: Cooper's photographs
Conditions of access and use area
Conditions governing access
Conditions governing reproduction
Language of material
Script of material
Language and script notes
Physical characteristics and technical requirements
Finding aids
See more complete catalogue by downloading pdf from RBGE Archives Collection website (right click, open link in new tab): https://www.rbge.org.uk/media/7572/GB235rec_rolandedgarcooper20.pdf
Generated finding aid
Allied materials area
Existence and location of originals
Existence and location of copies
Related units of description
R.E. Cooper's copy of the Benmore Garden Guide Book, dated 1933, is in the RBGE Garden Guides box.