The Papers of Edwin Arthur Peters

One album of photographs and prints of local scenes and places, people, and geological expeditions 1885-1893. Includes pictures taken in Wales, Yorkshire, Scotland, Cambridgeshire and Germany. There are images of quarries, churches, coves, colleges, and hospital wards.

Edwin Arthur Peters was born April 16th 1868, the 3rd son of Edwin Peters of St. Leonards on Sea. After attending Charterhouse School he was admitted to Caius College in October 1887. He took a first-class degree in the Natural Sciences Tripos at Cambridge and the M.D. degree in 1900. In 1903 he took the F.R.C.S.Eng.

Peters was a member of the Sedgwick Club, a geological club started in Cambridge in 1880 in memory of Adam Sedgwick, whom the Museum is now named after. Peters was secretary and president of the club in 1890 for a couple of months, and attended excursions to Torquay in 1888, the Cumbrian Lakes in 1890, and Plas Tan y Bwlch in 1891. It is noted in the 1890 Sedgwick Club minute book that Peters visited Professor Karl Heinrich Ferdinand Rosenbusch in Heidelberg, Germany to see the arrangement of the petrology museum. Peters was elected an honorary member of the club in October 1891, but appears to have no longer attended meetings after this time. There is however a group photograph taken in 1893 which is in the Album and may relate to a club expedition.

Peters became House Physician at Guys Hospital London before becoming a surgeon in the ear, nose and throat department of University College Hospital, and in several other London Hospitals, including the Bolingbroke and Paddington Green Children's Hospitals. He had a practice in Wimpole Street later on in his career. In the First World War he was captain in the RAMC, and is mentioned in dispatches. Peters was in charge of the nose, throat, and ear department of the Royal Victoria Hospital, Netley.

Mr. Peters's main literary contribution was his association with Richard Lake in the later editions of the well-known manual Diseases of the Ear, but he also contributed a number of articles on the special subjects in various journals. During his younger days he carried out investigations on the distribution of the peripheral nerves and the bacteriology of diphtheria. With the late Dennis Embleton he collaborated in an inquiry into the relation of sphenoidal sinus infections with cerebrospinal meningitis. He was intensely interested in the clinical side of his subjects and was a most regular attendant in his hospital departments. He always welcomed the visit of a colleague, and willingly gave of his knowledge in solving difficult problems.

In private life Peters had many hobbies-yachting, shooting, and carpentry among others-and he was devoted to country life. He was married twice, first to Alice Serjeant, by whom he had two daughters, one of whom was the well-known industrial dermatologist and the other an artist. Later he married Margaret Maims, by whom he had two children.

Peters was President of the Ontological Section of the Royal Society of Medicine in 1935. He died 29th January 1945.

The collection is still to be catalogued.

The papers are open for consultation by researchers using Sedgwick Museum of Earth Sciences. However, as the papers have not been appraised, there may be some closures.

The Geological Conservation Unit [Brighton Building] is open from Monday to Friday, 10:00-13:00 and 14:00-17:00. A prior appointment made at least two weeks in advance, and two forms of identification are required.

Please contact the Museum sedgwickmuseum@esc.cam.ac.uk to ask about the collection or to make an appointment.

Please contact the Archivist, Sandra Marsh sjm259@cam.ac.uk to make an appointment or make an enquiry about the collection.

The DDF Archive Inventory spreadsheet is available which contains basic box listing entries for the legacy records of the Sedgwick Museum and Department of Earth Sciences. Please ask staff for further information.

There are also some hand-written lists of the specific contents of this photograph-album which are yet to be typed up.

This album is fragile.

Please note that photocopying and digital photography, without permission, will not be permitted.

This collection level description was created by Sandra Marsh of Sedgwick Museum in May 2011 using information from the album, the papers of the Sedgwick Club, and an obituary in the British Medical Journal (Feb 1945), and associated correspondence which was attached with the photograph album.

Photocopies, photographs, and printouts from scanned images may be provided. Charges may apply. Readers may also use their own digital cameras subject to copyright legislation and in-house rules.

Researchers wishing to publish excerpts from the papers must obtain prior permission from the copyright holders and should seek advice from Sedgwick Museum Staff.

Please cite as Sedgwick Museum of Earth Sciences, The Papers of Edwin Arthur Peters, PTRS.

A box was identified as containing records created or retained by Edwin Arthur Peters. The album was re-boxed during the DDF Archive Project 2010-2011.

A letter was recovered alongside the item. The album was transferred (assumed gift) to the Sedgwick Museum [David Price, Director] in 1989 from Dr and Mrs Jefferson (acting on behalf of Mrs Bundey), from Southampton.

The records had been transferred from the Sedgwick Museum [Downing Street, Cambridge] to the Geological Conservation Unit [Madingley Road] between 2002-2009.

No more records are currently expected.

The papers of the Sedgwick Club (ref: SGWC) are also deposited in the Sedgwick Museum Archive. They include expedition photograph albums and minute books.