Guest blog on transcription work

I’m Elisabeth Handley-Garland, and as a part of my placement work for my Cultural Heritage and Resource Management masters degree at the University of Winchester, I volunteered my time to help Dr Christina Welch with some of the transcription work of Alexander Anderson’s writing. It wasn’t something I had done much of before and was quite a challenge at first; historic cursive handwriting can be tricky to understand at the best of times, and my GCSE in Latin did me no favours with the botanical Latin nomenclature! As I worked through some of Anderson’s manuscripts however, the history and significance of the St Vincent Botanical Garden became clearer and more fascinating than I had originally imagined.

I started work on transcribing the lists of plants received by Kew Gardens from Anderson in St Vincent, comparing these to lists of plants already transcribed by others. It was very useful to have the lists previously transcribed by others in order to become familiar with Anderson’s handwriting, and also the common Latin names he gave them, and variations from which I could discern the more difficult writing.

The second document I was given was more complex, containing Latin descriptions of the plants alongside notes in English. Also included in this document were symbols which I recognised as alchemical or celestial sigils. After a bit of research I realised they were shorthand for whether the plants were annual, biennial, perennial, or herbaceous/fruticans. I was able to include these in the transcription work to help with the plant classifications.

The third set of documents were similar, but the writing style showed much more of Anderson’s character. He was keen to record which plants he thought looked the best, which had a good aroma, and what other characteristics he thought were important to note down. This also included uses of the plants by the indigenous peoples on St Vincent and other islands, such as for building, medicine, and dyes. He was also rather descriptive about the plants he didn’t like!

I thoroughly enjoyed working on this stage of the project. It’s clear that Alexander Anderson was deeply invested in understanding the plants of St Vincent and the wider Caribbean. His writing frequently mentions the socio-political circumstances on the island, which alongside the detailing of plant uses by enslaved and indigenous groups, helps contribute to the historic records of St Vincent. It was a great introduction to the wider project and the importance of the St Vincent Botanical Garden.

Tina here now; Elisabeth was one of a number of transcribers and the transcription work wouldn't have been possible without them so a huge thanks.

Below is an extract from Anderson's 'Hortus' that shows these sigils; one is after the words 'Clove plant, native of the E. Indies' (it looks a little like an h), and the others after 'True alexandrian senna native of Egypt, very rare' (this looks a little like 0-8). This article from 1962 gives a good explanation of the symbol's meaning so the first sign like an h on the Clove plant means woody, and the 0 on the second plant, the Alexandrian senna means annual; the other sign is tricky to make out so if you, dear reader, have any ideas please let me know