Joseph Hooker Project

The project will focus on Joseph Dalton Hooker (1817–1911), in particular his correspondence with colleagues in India, including at the Kolkata botanical gardens. The transcription of the correspondence will complement several resources which are already in the public domain – including the Himalayan Journals (1854) and the Introduction to the Flora Indica (1855) and the sections of Hooker's herbarium which have been digitised. It will also run alongside the ongoing collaborations around the Wallich materials by Kew, the Natural History Museum, and the British Library. It will promote links between UK and Indian institutions and help prioritise fragile materials held in Kolkata for conservation and digitalisation. The Hooker transcription project will act as a pilot project for a larger academic project on the subject of colonial botanical gardens and the potential uses of manuscript and herbaria collections, including in studies of climate change, for which AHRC funding will be sought.