The Scott Archive: Mystery of a Sealed Envelope (Part 1)

As an Archivist I am regularly struck by how privileged I am to read, almost on a daily basis, the personal papers of individuals whose collections are in the Society’s care. This feeling was particularly resonant when, earlier this year, I made an intriguing discovery whilst cataloguing the recently acquired collection of Dukinfield Henry Scott (former Linnean Society President and renowned botanist) and his wife, Rina Scott (former Fellow and an early pioneer in time-lapse photography).

Tucked in a large box of unsorted correspondence sat a small, unassuming envelope with the following words scrawled on the front

On turning it over, I discovered, to my great surprise, that the envelope was very firmly sealed. In all my years of cataloguing, I have never come across this before!

A number of questions immediately popped into my head:

• Firstly, of course, why was the envelope sealed? Had a conscious decision been made to conceal the contents, perhaps because it contained sensitive information?
• How did a letter that was written by W.C. Williamson to D. Oliver come to be in the possession of the Scotts?
• Who was the ‘me’ who had received the letter from F.W. Oliver in 1918?
• And when was it sealed? In 1918 (i.e. over a century ago) or in more recent years?

Resisting the urge to tear it open, I enlisted the help of the Society’s Conservator, Janet Ashdown, to open the envelope without causing any damage to the contents or the envelope itself. And in the next instalment of this blog, we will look at the steps that Janet took to do this!

In the meantime, I am able to answer some of my queries by delving in to other parts of the Scott archive. For instance, the handwriting on the envelope matches that of Dukinfield Henry Scott’s numerous letters and papers, making him the ‘me’ written on the envelope, and the recipient of the letter from F.W. Oliver in 1918.

But who are the two Olivers that are referred to – D. Oliver who received the letter from W.C. Williamson, and F.W. Oliver, who then passed it on to D.H. Scott?

From further research, I discover that D. Oliver (or Daniel Oliver) was actually the father of F.W. Oliver (or Francis Wall Oliver). Daniel Oliver was the Librarian and Keeper of the Herbarium at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, as well as Professor of Botany at UCL. Heavily involved with the Linnean Society, we have a number of scientific papers and accompanying artwork which he submitted to be read at meetings, in our archive. We even have a lovely portrait of him on our walls.

His son, Francis Wall Oliver, held the post of Professor of Botany at UCL and later worked at the University of Cairo. Both were Fellows of the Royal Society and the Linnean Society, as well as recipients of the Linnean Medal.

I also learnt, from reading more of the Scott archive, that F.W. Oliver was a close friend and regular correspondent of Dukinfield Henry Scott.

But none of this explains why the letter was passed on to Scott, or why it remains sealed, and, of course, what the letter actually says!

Stay tuned for the big reveal in Part 2 of this article, when we will (hopefully) be able to answer these questions.