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The Fossil Historical Collections

There are three historical collections in the Palaeontology which have great importance for the history of the NHM. These are the Sloane, König and Pennant Collections. Over 100 specimens belong to the Sir Hans Sloane (1660-1753) Collection. The collection of Carl Dietrich Eberhard König (1774-1851), first Keeper of the Department of Natural History and Modern Curiosities, numbers about 50 specimens, described in Icones fossilium sectiles (1825). Finally, there is the collection of Thomas Pennant (1726-1798), an 18th century zoologist, antiquarian and correspondent of Gilbert White, which was donated in 1912 by the Earl of Denbigh. This comprises about 1000 specimens, some of which were described in Pennant’s manuscript Reliquiae Diluviannae, or a Catalogue of such bodies as were deposited in the Earth by the Deluge. Specimens in these collections are an invaluable resource for historical research and are the founding core of the British Museum and later The Natural History Museum. They mark the progress of early palaeontological exploration. Each collection contains fossils belonging to various groups, including molluscs, echinoderms, brachiopods, sponges, bryozoans, arthropods, fishes, reptiles, mammals and plants.

Data and Resources

Cite this as

Consuelo Sendino (2018). The Fossil Historical Collections [Data set]. Natural History Museum. https://doi.org/10.5519/0097768
Retrieved: 05:12 21 Mar 2025 (UTC) BibTeX

Additional Info

Field Value
Affiliation Natural History Museum
Primary contributors
Sendino, Consuelo ( 0000-0003-4823-2145)
Other contributors
Temporal extent 1953-1798
Update frequency Discontinued
Last updated 25 April 2018
Last resource update 25 April 2018 (Thomas Pennant (1726-1798) Collection of the NHM)
Created 25 April 2018
License Creative Commons Attribution