MANUSCRIPT COLLECTION
MS 215
IAN WALTER BOOTHROYD THORNTON
1926-2002
Thornton was a zoologist, specialising in Psocoptera and the evolution of island ecologies. He travelled and researched widely across the Asia-Pacific including Hawaii, the Galapagos and Indonesia but especially the Krakatau islands. He was born in Britain and gained is PhD from the University of Leeds. He held University posts in Sudan and Hong Kong before taking up a Chair of Biological Sciences at La Trobe University, where he was Foundation Professor of Zoology 1968-1991 and later emeritus professor. His honours include Fellow of the Linnean Society of London, Fellow of the Royal Entomological Society of London, Fellow of the Royal Society of Victoria, Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science (1995) as well as honorary Doctor of Science degrees from both the University of Leeds (1984) and La Trobe University (2003).
A full biographical memoir is available at:
http://www.science.org.au/academy/memoirs/thornton.htm
215/1
1 CV and lists of publications (publications in the Fellows’ collection are numbered starting according to the list beginning ‘Appendix 1’ but gets slightly out of sync from #61; the memoir site (link above) has a complete and more accurate list)
University student notebooks and papers
2 Conferment of Degrees pamphlet University of Leeds 29 September 1984: Thornton’s Doctor of Science; letters dated 21 October 1993 and 9 November 1993 attesting to Thornton’s studies at the University
3 Proceedings of the Leeds University Union Natural History Society 1951-1952, with contribution by Thornton
4 Eight university notebooks: Zoology, Genetics, Ecology, 1949-1951
5 Thornton’s PhD thesis: ‘A Systematic and Ecological Study of three species of the genus Elipsocus (Insecta, Corrodentia)’ University of Leeds September 1953
215/2 University student notebooks and papers (cont)
1 Zoological drawings Volumes I-V
Sudan papers and correspondence
2 University (College) of Khartoum Hydrobiological Research Unit: First, Second and Third Annual Reports (1953-1954, 1954-1955, 1955-1956)
3 Sudan Government pamphlet Notes on Motoring through the Sudan 1953 with map; Sudan Wild Life and Sport Vol. I Nos. 1, 3, 4, Vol. II No. 1, 1949-1951
4 Notebooks 1954; photocopy of ‘The Wattle Bagworm’ by C. Fuller, South African Department of Agriculture 1913; some correspondence 1955-1958; lists of identification of insects 1954-1956
5 Scientific correspondence 1954-1956
215/3 Hong Kong papers and correspondence
1 University of Hong Kong Gazette Vol. XI No. 3 1964 and Vol. XIII No. 6 1966 with short notes on Thornton’s activities and publications, Vol. XV No. 1 1967 with biographical note
2 Galapagos expedition: correspondence, papers and report 1965-1967
3 Papers, charts, correspondence, photographs: White Tigers 1966- 1969
4 Correspondence, notes, press clippings: White Tigers 1976-1978
5 Correspondence, mostly with A.B. Wardrop and P.A. Parsons 1967 re: taking up Chair of Biological Sciences at La Trobe University
La Trobe papers and correspondence: field notes
6 Twelve field notebooks 1983-1999: Krakataus, Indonesia, Pacific, Europe
215/4 La Trobe papers and correspondence: field notes (cont)
1 Trip Diaries: New Caledonia (with photographs of birds) 1970, New Guinea 1970, Norfolk Island 1971, Bismarcks 1974, Chile 1976-1977, Galapagos (one photograph of seals) 1967, China 1966, India 1965
La Trobe papers and correspondence: Krakatau research
2 Zoological Expedition to the Krakataus Preliminary Reports 1984, 1985, 1986 (ed. Thornton)
3 Report of the 1990, 1991 and 1992 La Trobe University – LIPI Zoological Expeditions to the Krakatau Islands (ed. Thornton) (proof)
4 Press clippings on Krakatau and expedition 1983-1984 (Australian and Indonesian periodicals)
5 Press clippings on Krakatau and expedition 1983-1984 (Australian and Indonesian periodicals) (cont)
6 Map of Krakatau Volcano Complex 1986
La Trobe papers and correspondence: other papers
7 Correspondence 1991-2000: memorial lectures given, awards, retirement; research report to National Geographic Society
8 Conference handbooks: Royal Entomological Society of London Symposium: ‘The Conservation of Insects and their Habitats’ 14th-15th September 1989; Indonesia Australia Eastern Universities Project Basic Science – Workshop, Entomology, Bali 1994
9 Correspondence, notes and papers re: submission by Thornton to the Study of Research and Development in Primary Industry and the White Paper on Higher Education 1988
215/5 Material concerning books published
1 Material concerning Darwin’s Islands (New York: Doubleday/American Museum of Natural History, 1971): publisher’s agreement, photograph of Thornton, black and white photographs of fauna for illustrations, book notices and reviews
2 Correspondence concerning Darwin’s Islands: 1966-1974 (largely with the publisher)
3 Correspondence, book reviews, reviewers’ comments (Krakatau: The Destruction and reassembly of an Island Ecosystem Harvard University Press 1996) 1993-1996
4 Illustrations for book Krakatau: black and white photographs and some negatives of scientists, animals, landscapes; line illustrations
[70cm]
