Collection ORR - Mathew Young Orr papers

Minimal; ephemera, 1 box with 4 ledgers of plant lists

A note in Jennifer Woods's hand-writing found with the four ledgers states that the ledgers are a list of identifications made by M.Y. Orr between 1925 and 1952. They were left in his room which was then the conifer herbarium and taken over by David Wilkie and then in 1956 by Paddy Woods. These ledgers will not have been catalogued at any time.

•1 Box containing 4 ledgers (transferred to folders) of lists of identifications of plant material and pathologies made by Orr between 1925 and 1952.

In 2022, a copy of Kew's Hand-List of Coniferae, 1925 was added to the collection. It is in an RBGE Library binding but bound so that note pages have been inserted throughout the book. The note pages, and original pages of the book have been used to note where in the RBGE Garden the same conifers are located. There is a key at the start of the book that lists the RBGE lawns and borders with an abbreviation - it includes Inverleith House and Logan's border - the border that was situated between the male and female lavatories on the garden's east side at the time and was reputedly named after the toilet attendant who would have been a regular sight on that path.
Inside the front cover are inserted five bundles of papers relating to conifers, mostly keys to the genus, one having M.Y. Orr's name with it, hence the presumption that this book was once in his possession, and could well have been made, used and annotated by him.

Collection is open to researchers by appointment, see (right click, open link in new tab:) https://www.rbge.org.uk/science-and-conservation/library-and-archives/visiting-the-library/

Permission required from RBGE.

• English