Arthur William Baden Powell - Papers, 1901 - 1986

1901-1986

Parent

MS-1998-65
MS-1990-60

Provenance: The majority of the letters were handed to the Librarian (Ian Thwaites) by Walter Cernohorsky in 1987. These items had been kept by Powell in his office and were not integrated with the Malacology Department's correspondence. In addition, some letters were also handed over by Powell’s wife, Ida, in 1988.
The letters are a blend of both personal and scientific subjects, so it was difficult to assess the degree to which they should be regarded as Museum-specific correspondence. Powell kept copies of his own letters, particularly during the 1930s.
Two groups - Letters to W.H. Webster, 1902-1910, and A.E. Brookes, 1910-1924, appear to have been inherited by Powell.

Arthur William Baden Powell (known throughout his life as "Baden"), was born on 4 April 1901, at Wellington, New Zealand. He studied art under Frank and Walter Wright and at the Elam School of Art. He worked as a commercial artist and lithographer for 11 years (1918 - 1929) until he was appointed to the staff of the Auckland War Memorial Museum in 1929 as Conchologist and Palaeontologist. He was encouraged in his molluscan studies by Thomas F. Cheeseman and had acted as Honorary Conchologist for 13 years prior to his appointment to the staff. In 1936 Powell became Assistant Director, a capacity in which he served until his retirement in 1968. He continued his association with the Museum as Honorary Research Associate in Mollusca up until the time of his death on 1 July 1987, aged 86. Powell's malacological research interests were the New Zealand, Antarctic and Sub-Antarctic mollusca, specialising in the families Turridae, Speightiidae and Patellidae. [For further biographical details, see the 'Records of the Auckland Institute and Museum', Vol. 25, 19 December 1988. pp.1-38, and R.K. Dell's obituary in 'Proceedings of the Royal Society of New Zealand', 1987-1988, Vol. 116, pp. 68-77.]

07 Dec 2023