Rita Calder was a mounter in the Herbarium and documented her mounting numbers in notebooks before the advent of an electronic Mounting Backlog spreadsheet now held on SharePoint. LIVE Mounting Backlog Spreadsheet.xlsx
These notebooks are handwritten and document the year and date collections were submitted for mounting and then when they were completed (1983 – 2008). From 2007 the new mounter Kate Eden also completed entries, obvious by a change in handwriting. They also make references to specimens which were repaired and which member of staff submitted them.
There appear to be two sets of books. The ones with In/Out columns are specimens mounted in any given month/year. The other books are a record of specimens coming into the Mounting Room in any given year. They record the country of origin and the donor or member of RBGE staff who submitted them. They could be viewed in the context of the Incoming Specimen/Donation books already held in the Archive.
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.
Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh (Creator)