IDENTITY STATEMENT
Reference code(s): GB 0060 DF 5010
Held at: Natural History Museum
Title: Trustees of the Godman Exploration Fund
Date(s): 1919-1965
Level of description: sub-fonds
Extent: 12 series
Name of creator(s): Godman Exploration Fund
CONTEXT
Administrative/Biographical history:
The Godman Exploration Fund was set up in 1920 following the gift of £5000 by Dame Alice Godman, widow of Frederick Ducane Godman (1834-1919), the zoologist. In a letter dated 24 May 1919 she directed that the money should become the nucleus of a fund 'for the acquirement of specimens, chiefly by exploration', and that it should be vested in the hands of five trustees, one of whom should be the Director of the Natural History Museum and another the Speaker of the House of Commons. A deed to bring her wishes into effect was drawn up on 26 May 1920, and the first grant was made to F V Sherrin to support his zoological collecting in Queensland. From 1920 to 1932 all the grants went to zoological collecting, but from 1933 botanical, entomological and geological projects were also supported.
The Fund was augmented in 1929 when Michael Rogers Oldfield Thomas (1858-1929), the Curator of Mammals, died, leaving the residue of his estate to the Godman Trustees. This amounted in the end to just over £6000 together with the lease of a house in Carlyle Square, which was sold in 1959.
CONTENT
Scope and content/abstract:
Administrative and financial records of the five trustees who administered the Godman Exploration Fund. It includes their annual reports in which they accounted for money disbursed, details of their investments, and correspondence over the lease of a house that they owned.
ACCESS AND USE
Language/scripts of material: English
System of arrangement:
Arranged in 12 series.
Conditions governing access:
Conditions governing reproduction:
Physical characteristics:
Finding aids:
ARCHIVAL INFORMATION
Appraisal, destruction and scheduling information:
Accruals:
Archival history:
Immediate source of acquisition:
ALLIED MATERIALS
Existence and location of originals:
Existence and location of copies:
Related material:
There is a Godman Exploration Fund file at DF1004/432 which contains the early correspondence with Dame Alice Godman by which the Fund was set up. There is a file on the Oldfield Thomas bequest at DF1004/91.
Publication note:
DESCRIPTION NOTES
Note:
Archivist's note: Entry copied from the Natural History Museum online catalogue by Sarah Drewery.
Date(s) of descriptions: Sep 2008