The 'Drum Rock', St. Mary's, Scilly Isles. Weathering of granite.

BGS image ID: P241718

The Drum Rock', St. Mary's. Scilly Isles. Weathering of granite.

Dated 1895. Entry in BAAS Report for 1903. Photographer: R.H.Preston, Alverne House, Penzance. Original format: Full plate. From the British Association for the Advancement of Science (BAAS) photographic print collection.

In 1888, a photographer, O.W. Jeffs proposed to the BAAS that they should address the need for systematic photographic coverage of the geology of the United Kingdom. His proposal was accepted and the BAAS set up a committee under the chairmanship of James Geikie, for the ‘collection, preservation and systematic registration of photographs of geological interest in the United Kingdom’. The collection soon expanded and was housed in London, first in the Geological Survey and Museum Library at Jermyn Street and later at the new premises in Exhibition Road, where it complemented the Survey's own collection of photographs. The BAAS committee arranged the sale of prints and lantern slides, and every year lists of photographs were published in the BAAS Transactions.

The collection at BGS consists of over 7,000 photographs from an original total of over 9,000. Most photographs covering Ireland are held at the Ulster Museum and a few albums, Dorset, Hampshire, and Lancashire, remain unaccounted for - does anyone know where they are?

Bob McIntosh