The Albany Museum, South Africa, situated in Makhanda,

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

, is affiliated to

Rhodes University Rhodes University () is a public research university located in Makhanda (formerly Grahamstown) in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa. It is one of four universities in the province. Established in 1904, Rhodes University is the prov ...

and dates back to 1855,Chinsamy, Anusuya. (1997). "Albany Museum, Grahamstown, South Africa." ''Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs''. Edited by Phillip J. Currie and Kevin Padian. Academic Press. p. 6. making it the second oldest museum in South Africa. The

natural history Natural history is a domain of inquiry involving organisms, including animals, fungi, and plants, in their natural environment, leaning more towards observational than experimental methods of study. A person who studies natural history is cal ...

and

geology Geology (). is a branch of natural science concerned with the Earth and other astronomical objects, the rocks of which they are composed, and the processes by which they change over time. Modern geology significantly overlaps all other Earth ...

collections of the '' Eastern Province Literary, Scientific and Medical Society'' were used as its nucleus. The

herbarium A herbarium (plural: herbaria) is a collection of preserved plant biological specimen, specimens and associated data used for scientific study. The specimens may be whole plants or plant parts; these will usually be in dried form mounted on a sh ...

is staffed by the

South African National Biodiversity Institute The South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI) is an organisation tasked with research and dissemination of information on biodiversity, and legally mandated to contribute to the management of the country's biodiversity resources. ...

and has material dating back to 1812, collected by

William John Burchell __NOTOC__ William John Burchell (23 July 1781 – 23 March 1863) was an English explorer, naturalist, traveller, artist, and author. His thousands of plant specimens, as well as field journals from his South African expedition, are held by Kew ...

, and a collection of 240 specimens donated by

Constance Georgina Adams Constance Georgina Adams (6 August 1883 – 21 June 1968), also known as Constance Georgina Tardrew, was a South African housewife and collector of botanical specimens. Known by the nicknames Connie and Daisy, Adams was born in Cape Town and spe ...

in 1919, as well as geological material gathered by

Andrew Geddes Bain Andrew Geddes Bain (baptised 11 June 1797 – 20 October 1864), was a Cape Colony geologist, road engineer, palaeontologist and explorer. Life history The only child of Alexander Bain and Jean Geddes, both of whom died when Bain was still a ...

and W. G. Atherstone. It also houses a large collection of invertebrate, vertebrate and tetrapod fossils (some of which are from the world renowned

Waterloo Farm lagerstätte The Waterloo Farm lagerstätte is a Famennian lagerstätte in South Africa that constitutes the only known record of a near-polar Devonian coastal ecosystem. History and discovery The Waterloo Farm Lagerstätte is an approximately 360 millio ...

), and

palaeolithic The Paleolithic or Palaeolithic ( years ago) ( ), also called the Old Stone Age (), is a period in human prehistory that is distinguished by the original development of stone tools, and which represents almost the entire period of human prehist ...

stone tools discovered by Thomas Holden Bowker (1808–1885) near the

Great Fish River The Great Fish River (called ''great'' to distinguish it from the Namibian Fish River) () is a river running through the South African province of the Eastern Cape. The coastal area between Port Elizabeth and the Fish River mouth is known as ...

. The Museum currently is spread over seven buildings housing the Natural Sciences Museum, the History Museum, the Observatory Museum, Fort Selwyn, the

Old Provost The Old Provost is a military prison finished in early 1838 as part of efforts to fortify the small city of Grahamstown, in the Eastern Cape, South Africa. These efforts were part of the Governor of the Cape Colony's, Sir Benjamin d'Urban, 1835 d ...

military prison, Drostdy Arch and the Old Priest's House. The first curator was B. J. Glanville, who acted in an honorary capacity between 1855 and 1882. Then a small stipend was offered and the position was taken by Mary Glanville until 1888 when S. Mundy, a temporary curator took over and was replaced by

Selmar Schonland Selmar Schonland (15 August 1860 – 22 April 1940), originally spelt ''Schönland'', the founder of the Department of Botany at Rhodes University, was a German immigrant, who came to the Eastern part of the Cape Colony in 1889 to take up an app ...

in 1889. Schonland filled the post until 1910 and handed the reins to John Hewitt who managed the museum for an extraordinarily long term from 1910 to 1958. He was succeeded by T. H. Barry, appointed Director of the

South African Museum The Iziko South African Museum, formerly the South African Museum (Afrikaans: Suid-Afrikaanse Museum), is a South African national museum located in Cape Town. The museum was founded in 1825, the first in the country. It has been on its present ...

Cape Town Cape Town is the legislature, legislative capital city, capital of South Africa. It is the country's oldest city and the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. Cape Town is the country's List of municipalities in South Africa, second-largest ...

in 1964 and was in turn followed in 1965 by the entomologist

Charles Frédéric Jacot-Guillarmod Charles is a masculine given name predominantly found in English and French speaking countries. It is from the French form ''Charles'' of the Proto-Germanic name (in runic alphabet) or ''*karilaz'' (in Latin alphabet), whose meaning was " ...

(the husband of

Amy Jacot Guillarmod Amy Frances May Gordon Jacot Guillarmod (née Hean) (23 May 1911 – 1992), was a South African botanist and limnologist, noted for her work on the flora of Basutoland and some 200 publications, including numerous papers on wetlands, bogs and sp ...

), until 1977. Mr B Wilmot was confirmed as curator from 1977 to 1993, Mr W Holleman from 193 to 1999, and Dr L Webley from 1999.

Sources

*SESA, vol. 1

References

External links

* {{authority control Museums in the Eastern Cape Museums established in 1855 Natural history museums in South Africa Geology museums Buildings and structures in Makhanda, Eastern Cape Rhodes University University museums in South Africa History museums in South Africa 1855 establishments in the Cape Colony