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Welcome to The Sloane Letters Project

sloaneA pilot of this project, Sir Hans Sloane’s Correspondence Online, was first launched at the University of Saskatchewan in 2010 to coincide with the 350th anniversary of Sir Hans Sloane’s birth. The project was renamed The Sloane Letters Project when it moved to this site in 2016.

The correspondence of Sir Hans Sloane (1660-1753) consists of thirty-eight volumes held at the British Library, London: MSS 4036-4069, 4075-4078.  The letters are a rich source of information about topics such as scientific discourse, collections of antiquities, curiosities and books, patients’ illnesses, medical treatments and family history. Most of the letters were addressed to Sloane, but a few volumes were addressed to others (MSS 4063-4067) or written by Sloane (MSS 4068-4069).

So far, we have entered descriptions and metadata for Sloane MSS 4036-4053 and 4075, as well as several letters from each of the following: Sloane MSS 4054-4055, 4066, 4068-4069 and 4076. Several of these entries also include transcriptions. Further entries and transcriptions are being made available gradually.

Please, explore the website and database. You can search through the letters, learn about Sir Hans Sloane or the letters written to him, and peruse blog posts about interesting letters!

Random Letter

Author:
Recipient:

[fol. 233] Hon:d Sr On wednesday last I sent yu a pott of Moregame by James Hall a Bradford Carier which I should be glad to hear came safe to yr hands & in good order; in the Box you wil find a specimen of the grass found seven or eight foot deepe under pient earth which I thought I had sent yu the last year, but it was mislayd. I take it to be gramen pantense panicuslat mosse SRE [?] alsoe a specimen of Junens montanus phlustins RS: [?] with which these mountains abounds & in the same strata of earth where these are found the root of a Fern standing in its naturel posture cut of as you wil find by a small piece of ye wood put up with the rest; there is no doubt but these high mountains nigh Bingley have been formerly coverd with Wood though now there is not the least remains of it above ground how long this acquired earth must have been growing to the thicknesse of 7 or 8 foot I wil not determine but tis manifest that it consits only of roots leaves & flowers of the Comon heath I am sorry yt I have nothing material in Nat: History to sned yu but when ever I meet with any thing that I thinke worth yr notice it shall be communicated to you by your much obliged servat [sic] Ric: Richardson North Bierley Sept. 7th 1724
Read more- Letter 3066


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1,527 Medical Cases
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