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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:

Dear Sr I have gottt the objects more usefull then curious and answerable to my purpose than a hundred & fiftie my designe is to demonstrate two membranes belong =ing to the tympane which no man can dispute att sight of these I hope they will appear so att London as they doe att Norwich, I don’t near yt the same membrane is composd of two lates united together but really two membranes distinct so farr as you see. What was by many supposd but were demonstrated to the best of my knowledge is here plain to the naked eye, blood vessels visible upon the exterior membrane that is the old membrane or [better?] which I have also seen upon the interior but the difficulty of the preparation makes me unable att present to show it, these I freely present to the RS[.] if I find any thing further about this matter or any other I shall not be wanting to communicate the same providing the Society will always think that I doe this and any thing also of this nature purely to con firme the world that I doe not so much rely upon notion & theory as matter of fact, and to serve them as much as I can towards the establishment of a natural historie of things, as I find these [ac= =cepted?] so I shall be encourag’d to proceed to further advances of this nature and at the same time do think my self very much beholden to you who am good Sr Yr most assured humble servt Archibald Adams I did once see the blood vessels of the small bones of the ear in Ruysch’s closet but upon the typmane I never did & believe me I value this object very much notwithstanding if I thought it 10 times the value I would give it thinking it may be more usfull in a publick repository yn in my pittefull apartment where non but [Mechanicks?] doe rome. I have above be pparations of the ear & many of em [are?] as plain as those but I hope these will suffice for the purpose. I hope you’l honour me with ane answer I send them in a wooden box by the post for security. Valeas. the object that have the blood vessels apparent must be exposd in the clearest light.
Read more- Letter 4399


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