Collection ALS - Papers relating to Dr. Charles Alston (Regius Keeper, 1716-1760)

Zone d'identification

Cote

GB 235 RBG/1/ALS

Titre

Papers relating to Dr. Charles Alston (Regius Keeper, 1716-1760)

Date(s)

  • 1716 - 1980 (Production)

Niveau de description

Collection

Étendue matérielle et support

2 boxes, 15cm

Zone du contexte

Nom du producteur

(1853-1922)

Notice biographique

Son of John Hutton Balfour, Isaac Bayley Balfour was Regius Keeper at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh between 1888 and 1922, specialising in Rhododendrons and Primulas and making improvements to the RBGE's teaching and laboratory facilities.

Histoire archivistique

This collection comprises a series of documents copied from manuscripts and documents held elsewhere. The bulk of the papers have been compiled by Regius Keeper Isaac Bayley Balfour as he was collecting historical documents relating to RBGE and its Regius Keepers at the beginning of the 20th century, but there are some papers collected in the 1970s-1980s.

Source immédiate d'acquisition ou de transfert

Zone du contenu et de la structure

Portée et contenu

Box 1 of 2 (A04)
•GB 235 ALS/1 “Botanist Royal,” biography of Charles Alston, by J.M. Alston. Typescript copy (London, February 1980) from the original(?), deposited in the National Library of Scotland.
•GB 235 ALS/2 Plantarum Medicinalium Etc., with ms. annotations. Text block with spine, loose front cover, missing back cover, 120 pp.
•GB 235 ALS/3 20th century copy of manuscript widow’s petition by Mrs. Alston to H.M. Treasury asking for an allowance to maintain the Physick Garden at Holyrood House, 1762.
•GB 235 ALS/4 Typescript and ms. copies of papers and correspondence, including biography of Charles Alston; history of the Alstons of Thinacre-Milne; list of Alston’s works; advertisement by John Hope for the publication of Alston’s Lectures on the Materia Medica, 1770; “Catalogus sive Index Plantarum.”
•GB 235 ALS/5 Typescript and ms. copies of papers and correspondence regarding the history of the RBGE, 1716–1909. Includes manuscript copies in Isaac Bayley Balfour's hand, of Alston's Royal Warrants from the Register of the Privy Seal, and Alston' typewritten entry from Allibone's Dictionary, and copies of letters from Kinnear (1890), and to D.W. Kemp (1904) and Britten (1909)
•GB 235 ALS/6 Typescript and ms. papers and correspondence, including biographical sketches and notes on the life of Charles Alston; catalogue of works by Alston, c. 1908–1913. includes correspondence from Isaac Bayley Balfour to Prof. Eggeling at Edinburgh University to ask permision to copy relevant information pertaining to Alston and presumably history of RBGE from documents held at the University.
•GB 235 ALS/7 Papers and correspondence, including letter from Charles Alston, 1726 (photographic copy); ms. letter to Prof Balfour from Alex. P. Stevenson regarding “the Alston M/S and the Bower,” 1907; extracts from Mackay’s Journey through Scotland (printed 1723, 1729); typescript and ms. notes on the appointment of Charles Alston as Professor at the University of Edinburgh.

Box 2 of 2 (A05) - items transcribed from Edinburgh University holdings c.1908
•GB 235 ALS/8 Typescript copies of Alston correspondence, including botanical descriptions, discussions of the “sexes of plants,” and experiments with lime water, originally dating 1715-1756. "Copies of 'Alston letters' from University Ms These are not enter[?] in the Ms Life" in Isaac Bayley Balfour's hand. Correspondents include Boerhaave, Thomas Simpson, John Mitchell, J. Fothergill, Phillip Miller, John Hawkeens, Keir, John Ellis, Archibald Hamilton, Alexander Garden, William Cullen and Richard Henderson.
•GB 235 ALS/9 Life of Charles Alston, including copies of correspondence (1724–1760). Correspondents include John Fothergill, John Hawkeens, Stephen Hales, Alexander Garden, and Philip Miller. Subjects discussed include experiments with lime water and its medicinal uses, herbal remedies, the making of elaterium (a plant extract used as a purgative), the properties of amber and ginseng, botanical lore, Materia Medica, and Alston’s hostility to the Linnaean system. Typescript with ms. corrections, 107 pp.; ms. notes entitled “Mr Jeffrey’s comparison of the MS. Life of Alston,” 4 pp.
•GB 235 ALS/10 Life of Charles Alston. Typescript copy (see above) "Alston's Life, from an old manuscript - Isaac Bayley Balfour's hand).

Évaluation, élimination et calendrier de conservation

Accroissements

Mode de classement

items were left in the folders they were found in, ordered, listed and numbered - June 2015 - by M.R. and L.P.

Zone des conditions d'accès et d'utilisation

Conditions d’accès

Conditions de reproduction

permission may be required from the institution holding the original documents.

Langue des documents

  • anglais
  • latin

Écriture des documents

Notes de langue et graphie

Caractéristiques matérielle et contraintes techniques

Instruments de recherche

Zone des sources complémentaires

Existence et lieu de conservation des originaux

University of Edinburgh, National Library of Scotland, Register of the Privy Seal...

Existence et lieu de conservation des copies

Unités de description associées

Descriptions associées

Zone des notes

Identifiant(s) alternatif(s)

Mots-clés

Mots-clés - Sujets

Mots-clés - Lieux

Mots-clés - Noms

Mots-clés - Genre

Zone du contrôle de la description

Identifiant de la description

GB 235 ALS

Identifiant du service d'archives

Règles et/ou conventions utilisées

Statut

Niveau de détail

Moyen

Dates de production, de révision, de suppression

Langue(s)

Écriture(s)

Sources

Zone des entrées

Sujets associés

Personnes et organismes associés

Genres associés

Lieux associés

Localisation physique

  • Boîte: A04
  • Boîte: A05
  • Tablette: C:1:2