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THE STORY OF THE NATURAL HISTORY COLLECTIONS
OF THE UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH


Introduction

There has been a Natural History museum in the University of Edinburgh for just over three hundred years. During this time the successive collections have been split up by authorities and fought over by individuals.

Royal Museum: Old College c.1700

This history traces the period from 1697, when the first collection as such was established, through 1855 when the second collection formed the basis of a new national museum, to 1876 when a growing conflict between the museum authorities and the University led to a major split between the two bodies.


This split led to the establishment of two separate collections. One was governed by the Museum Council in the building which is now the Royal Museum in Chambers Street in Edinburgh.

King's Buildings c.1930

The other collection, essentially the University's third Natural History Collection was originally kept in Old College, South Bridge. It is now housed in the Ashworth Laboratories in the Institute of Cell, Animal and Population Biology (formerly the Zoology Department) at King's Buildings, West Mains Road, Edinburgh.