Albany Museum, South Africa

About

The Albany Museum, South Africa, situated in Makhanda, South Africa, is affiliated to Rhodes University and dates back to 1855, making it the second oldest museum in South Africa. The natural history and geology collections of the Eastern Province Literary, Scientific and Medical Society were used as its nucleus. The herbarium is staffed by the South African National Biodiversity Institute and has material dating back to 1812, collected by William John Burchell, and a collection of 240 specimens donated by Constance Georgina Adams in 1919, as well as geological material gathered by Andrew Geddes Bain 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), and palaeolithic stone tools discovered by Thomas Holden Bowker (1808–1885) near the Great Fish River. The Museum currently is spread over seven buildings housing the Natural Sciences Museum, the History Museum, the Observatory Museum, Fort Selwyn, the Old Provost 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 in 1889. Schonland fille

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