Smithsonian Institution Archives

Finding Aids to Personal Papers and
Special Collections in the Smithsonian Institution Archives

Record Unit 7116
John Abbot Collection, undated

By William A. Deiss

Introduction

Historical Note

Descriptive Entry


INTRODUCTION

This finding aid was digitized with funds generously provided by the Smithsonian Institution Women's Committee.


HISTORICAL NOTE

John Abbot (1751-1840?), an Englishman, migrated to America in 1773, settling in Virginia. By 1776 he had migrated to Georgia, where he spent most of the remainder of his life. An ornithologist and entomologist, Abbot is best known for his drawings of birds and insects.

There are five sets of Abbot's drawings of birds in existence. Two sets are in the United States, one at the Boston Society of Natural History and the other at the University of Georgia. Three sets are in England, at the British Museum, the Manchester Library, and the Zoological Museum at Tring (Hertfordshire). There is some confusion on this matter, but evidently all three sets are technically in the possession of the British Museum.


DESCRIPTIVE ENTRY

This collection consists of 130 water-color drawings of birds, making up a sixth set of Abbot drawings. Presumably these drawings are of birds of Georgia. It is not known if these drawings duplicate any of the other known sets, nor is it known how they came to be in the possession of the Smithsonian Institution.

Box 1 of 2

Box 2 of 2


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Revised: June 18, 2003