Identity area
Reference code
Title
Date(s)
- 1876 - 1920 (Creation)
Level of description
Collection
Extent and medium
Minimal; ephemera, 1 notebook, 1 book
Context area
Name of creator
Biographical history
Name of creator
Biographical history
Born Edinburgh 1836; died Peeblesshire 1887
Alexander Dickson graduated MD from Edinburgh University in 1860, lectured in botany at the University of Aberdeen and in 1866 was appointed to the chair of botany at Dublin University, returning to Scotland as professor of botany at Glasgow until 1879. He was then appointed professor of botany at Edinburgh University (the first appointee solely to this discipline) and Regius Keeper of the Royal Botanic Garden, a post he held from 1880 until his death. While in post he inherited a number of problems over integrating the Garden with the Arboretum which remained unresolved. He was regarded as an excellent research and field botanist, his studies including work on phyllotaxis, flower and embryo development and carnivorous plants. He published around 50 papers in a number of journals including the Transactions of the Botanical Society of Edinburgh, of which he was twice president. He died in 1887 while curling near his Peebleshire home.
Sources: Dictionary of National Biography; HR Fletcher and WH Brown ‘The Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh 1670-1970’; (Deni Bown, ‘4 Gardens in One’); (R. Desmond ‘Dictionary of British and Irish Botanists and Horticulturalists)
D.W.
Repository
Archival history
Immediate source of acquisition or transfer
Content and structure area
Scope and content
•Notebook containing manuscript essay on ‘The Fiographical Distribution of Algae’
•Copy of 'A Manual of Botany' by Le Maout and Decaisne, translated by Mrs Hooker and with an Appendix by Joseph Dalton Hooker, 1876, awarded to James Adam Terras by Prof. Alexander Dickson in July 1886 as a Special Prize for High Proficiency in the Class of Advanced Practical Botany (ELWU2) (seems likely Terras eventually donated the book to the Botanical Society Library?) (book in state of disrepair now)
Appraisal, destruction and scheduling
Accruals
System of arrangement
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
Allied materials area
Existence and location of originals
Existence and location of copies
Related units of description
Notes area
Note
Filed in individual ”T” folder boxed separately
Note
Manual of Botany filed in the Rare Book Room