Letter from Isaac Bayley Balfour, Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, to George Forrest in Yunnan dated 13 February 1905.
Balfour apologises for not writing earlier. "Today I am happy in being able to tell you that your case of plants has arrived - and what a treat you have given me! I know something of the difficulties of collecting but my experience of obstacles pales before your description of the conditions under which you have had to work. Yet what a result! Yous specimens are splendid and their interest botanically intense."
Balfour goes on to discuss some Primulas, including Primula japonica and Primula muscarioides (new to Balfour); Rhododendrons, including Rhododendron campylocarpum, and others unknown to Balfour. Saxifraga, Cassiope, Gentians, Corydalis, Clematis, Viburnum, Lonicera, Eukianthes, Pieris, Plumbago, Fritillaria, Lilium, Berberis, Polygonum, Trollius, Cornus, and Orchids including Cypripedium.
Balfour reassures Forrest that his collecting and accounts are all excellent, and finishes with a small update from Edinburgh: Tagg has just returned from a trip to Australia and the Treasury is appointing a committee to go into the whole question of our Herbarium and the necessary accomodation there and this I hope will result in immediate action. Mr. Jeffrey, Miss Traill and others continue to work there as heretofore.

Newspaper and paper wrappers from an unmounted collection from the herbarium of Dr. Hugh Francis Clarke Cleghorn.
A box of unmounted specimens from Cleghorn's herbarium and annotated as from ‘Cumbaukum Droog’ [Kambakkam Durgam] was discovered in the basement longstore at RBGE in 2025. It was assessed by Henry Noltie; the specimens were mounted and added to the herbarium collection, and the newspapers and folders used by Cleghorn to wrap his collection were seen as significant enough to be added to the Archive. Henry described the process in a Botanics Story: (right click, open link in new tab) https://stories.rbge.org.uk/archives/40144
The Collection includes manuscript lists relating to the Cumbaukan flora and a journal article cutting, made by Cleghorn, from the 1835 volume of the Journal of the Royal Geographical Society: an article titled an ‘Account of the Ragery Hills, near Madras’ by a Colonel Monteith.
The specimens were contained in newspaper flimsies dating between 1853 and 1859, most of which were placed in covers made of Indian ‘country’ paper annotated with the numbers and names of 20 plant families. Although the specimens were collected in December 1853, the majority of the newspapers date from 1858/9, presumably when Cleghorn undertook some herbarium curation. They are trimmed to uniform size, c 27 x 44 cm – some more or less whole sheets folded, others cut in half (when the titles are often missing).
The newspapers are of considerable interest, assuming that they were subscribed to by Cleghorn, rather than bought as scrap paper. Two certainly were his as they are inscribed with his name, title, and address while on tour as Conservator of Forests in Salem and Ooty. These tell us something about his reading habits and suggest a great thirst for news both Indian and from Britain. Also used was also a pamphlet advertising a Madras ‘Periodical Horse Mart’ revealing a previously unknown, though unsurprising, interest in horse flesh; and proof that he subscribed to the Gardeners’ Chronicle, suspected but previously unproven. Of the Indian newspapers was one published in Bangalore (The Bangalore Herald) and seven in Madras (Madras Circulator, The Commercial Gazette, United Service Gazette, The Athenaeum, The Madras Times, The Madras Spectator and the official government Fort St George Gazette). Of those published in Britain the largest number of sheets are from The Overland Mail, with smaller numbers from four others (The Indian News, The Morning Herald, The Record and The Examiner). There is also a single half-sheet from an unidentified Fife newspaper to show that he kept up with news from Scotland.
The articles in the papers dating from 1858/9 are of particular interest, with many articles discussing the aftermath of the Indian Mutiny. Interesting though the ‘news’ items are, the papers are equally intriguing for the advertisements and aspects of social history revealed. described here are only a few items that were noticed while cataloguing the plants: a meeting of the Madras Photographic Society attended by Sir Walter Elliot (6 April 1858); the opening of the organ by William Hill in St George’s Cathedral (13 September 1858); stained glass fanlights for the cathedral designed by Archibald Cole, Professor Fine Arts in the Madras School of Industrial Art, made by Nathaniel Wood Lavers of London (later Lavers, Barraud & Westlake) (21 January 1859); an advertisement by J. Deschamps offering three pianos by Erard (1 mahogany grand of 7 octaves; 1 mahogany grand square of 6¾ octaves; 1 rosewood cottage of 6¾ octaves) and 1 mahogany grand square by Broadwood (May 1854); J.J. Fonceca & Co offering ‘Likenesses either in Oil, Water Colors, or Crayon … Landscape and Cattle Drawings … charges so regulated with a view to place their services within reach of all (21 January 1859); an auction by Oakes, Partridge and Co. offered a by then very old fashioned ‘square piano by T. Tomkison, in good order’ (6 July 1853).

One file of letters from G.S. Puri, Regional botanist, Botanical Survey of India, Wester Circle, Poona to H.R. Fletcher at RBGE describing the development of the Poona herbarium, museum and experimental garden in around 1958. There is discussion of a seed exchange plus a short article on the activities of the Poona herbarium for publication in our journal [was it ever published?].

Around 40 ledgers were transferred from the RBGE Herbarium in October 2023, to which was added the earliest Donations ledger already in the Archives.
List of Ledgers transferred to Archives, October 2023

Accession RBGEA2023/019

Gifts/Exchanges

Donations to Herbarium, 1878-1914 (Feb) (commencing from the Donation List printed in Trans Edin Bot Soc v xiii pt2)

Collections Presented or Purchased, 1923-1930 – small notebook

Purchases / Gifts, 1956-1999

Donation Book – indexed by year – 1902-1958 – foolscap

Exchange book – 1956-1998 - arranged by institution we’re exchanging with – keeps track of exchange tallies to keep to and fro even. Some irregular exchanges listed here with note to see red Irregular exchange book for details (below)

Irregular exchanges, 1979-1999 – details (?) of irregular exchanges listed in above book. (looks like this book was meant for listing expedition accessions, but only 2 expeditions listed in 1998.

Incoming Loans

Loans Received 1956-1964 – small notebook

Loans Received 1964-1969 – small notebook

Incoming Loans (Store Copy) 1966-1986 – boards detached

Incoming Loans 1987-1999 – boards detached

Loans Record for RBGE staff, 1952-1999 – keeping track of what loans belong to RBGE staff members

Outgoing Loans ledgers

1: Loans from 1 April 1955 to 12 December 1958

2: Specimens on loan from 6 December 1958 to 1963, Nos 42/58 to 38/63

3: Specimens on loan, 1963-1965 - 39/63 to 20/65

4: Specimens on loan, 1965-1966 – 21/65 to 106/66

5: Specimens on loan, 1967 – 1/67 to 126/67

6: Specimens on loan, 1967-1969 – 127/67 to 25/69

7: Specimens on loan, 1969-1970 – 26/69 to 59/70

8: Specimens on loan, 1970-1971 – 60/70 to 89/71

9: Specimens on loan, 1972-1973 – 1/72 to 33/73

10: Specimens on loan, (Loans Out) 1973 – 34/73 to 137/73

11: Loans Out, 1974-1975 – 1/74 to 104/75

12: Loans Out, 1975-1977 – 105/75 to part loan 87/77

13: Loans Out, 1977-1978 – 61/77 and cont. loan 87/77 to 161/78

14: Loans Out, 1979-1980 – 1/79 to 177/80

15: Loans Out, 1980-1982 – 178/80 to 77/82

16: Loans 1982-1984 – 78/82 to 26/84

17: Loans 1984-1985 – 27/84 to 60/85

18: Loans 1985-1986 – 61/85 to 130/86

19: Loans 1986-1988 – 131/86 to 4/88

20: Loans 1988-1989 – 5/88 to 66/89

21: Loans 1989-1991 – 67/89 to 7/91

22: Loans 1991-1992 – 8/91 to 99/92

23: Loans 1992-1994 – 100/92 to 91/94(pt)

24: Loans 1994-1995 – 91/94(pt) to 134/95

Outgoing Loans – abbreviated Loan books

Loans Out, 1924-1976 – one-line summaries – fore-runner to day book?

Loans Out, 1977-1992 – one-line summaries – nos 1-134 1/77-134/92

Loans Out, 1992-1999 – 135/92 to 2493 one-line summaries – new numbering system starts in 1995 (no 2004) - next book in sequence - ‘Transactions’ or ‘Day Books’

Day Books / Transactions

Transactions, 1999-2007 – nos 2494-5239 – entries are now colour coded to denote what kind of transaction they are – black- loans out, red- loans in, blue- exchange in and out, green- gift in and out

Transactions, 2007-2012 – nos 5240-6766

Transactions, 2012-2019 – nos 6767-8331

Transactions 2019-2023 – nos 8332-8525, followed by Specify Numbers to 01555 at which point it was decided to discontinue paper ledgers as Specify now used to record all transactions.