Workshop on the Doug Richardson slide collection
Saturday 22nd February 2020
Dennis Fullwood opened the meeting with some information on Doug Richardson and the collection of nearly 2500 slides that he bequeathed to the Club so that some of them could be added to the loan sets. There are lots of slides of insects and their parts, and many other invertebrates, birds, fishes, reptiles, mammals, plants, fibres and crystals. Nearly all of the slides were made by Doug himself, but there are a few by other people, including Brian Darnton, Vaughan Dodge, Dave Skeet and E. Markham.
Doug Richardson with his trinocular Olympus CH-2 microscope
Almost all of the slides have been photographed and have had Quekett slide numbers added, and now we need the information on the labels to be transcribed into an Excel spreadsheet. The photos and data will then be added to the database of the Club’s slide collection. Jacky McPherson and Steve Gill have designed a suitable spreadsheet, and Jacky explained which parts of the label information should be entered in which fields on the spreadsheet.
Jacky McPherson explaining the data entry spreadsheet
We were able to examine slides from several large metal trays, using some of the Club’s stereo and compound microscopes. The Club does not normally allow any of its slides to be removed from the Natural History Museum. However, to encourage members to get involved with the transcription project, we were allowed to choose slides to take home, examine, and transcribe the label data.
Drawer of slides from the Doug Richardson collection
Drawer of slides from the Doug Richardson collection
Chris Thomas
Derek Brown
Grenham Ireland
Grenham Ireland, Pam Hamer and Derek Brown
Irma Irsara’s selection of slides
Paul Smith’s selection of slides
Alan Wood’s box of slides ready to take home
The writing on the slide labels is much more legible than on most slides, so it should not be difficult to transcribe the data. Any Latin names, locations and chemicals that are difficult to read can be checked on Google.
Slide of amphipod legs and gnathopods (Talitrus saltator)
Slide of sea urchin Aristotle’s lantern (Psammechinus miliaris)
Slide of spider palps (Amaurobius ferox)
You can find out more about Doug in a collection of his notes and photographs prepared by Steve Gill: Observations: Some works by Douglas Turnbull Richardson.
Report and photographs by Alan Wood