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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. 117] Sr. EN. 9 As my son had always pleased me, I am very solicitous to do all I can for him. The Next presentation to Chelsey was as Thought of my Own, & knowing S’r hans’s potency there was Resolv’d to presume to Wait upon him, to Offer my Son, & you was so kind as to say, you would take it into your Consideration. I make bold to say that he is a Minister fit for that Great & Genteel Congregation, he being in my Judgm’t a very Useful & Beneficial preacher. I have been very Liberal in his Education, & he has spent his Time well. he is ab’t 11 years standing, of Queens, Cambridge, of a Clear Reputation there, a Ma’r of Arts, ab’t 30 years of age: made Deacon & priest by the Bp of London 3 years agoe. he preacht ab’t a year for Doct’r hudson at his Chapel in Queens square in the park, & since in many of the great Churches in London. You will be pleas’d to Excuse me S’r since I Give him his just Charact’r to Recommend him to yr favour, that he is a person of Sobriety, & good Life, & will show, & Teach ye people the Way to heaven, where ‘ere he is placed. I have done a Great deal for him, & am ready to do more, what you may require of me, shou’d be Glad to know yr mind, in order to Compleat his happiness, & ours, wch is now in S’r hans pow’r to do. I beg leave to subscribe my self, Sr Yo’r most obed’t humble serv’t John Eade St Martins Lane Octo’r. 3. 1730
Read more- Letter 3828


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4,545 Document summaries
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1,527 Medical Cases
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