On his death in 1819, James Watt left his papers, which included those of his grandfather, father, uncle, brother, and son Gregory, to the care of his surviving son, James Watt jr. There is some indication that the papers had been carefully assembled and stored before this. Watt had written to Watt jr. on 13 March 1785 with the following advice, which both appear to have followed:|'...let your memorandums be made in clear and orderly method so that by an Index you may easily refer to them, and keep your letters and other loose papers regularly folded up and docketed...' [MS 3219/6/1]. Further illustration of Watt's care of his papers is seen in the following sentence in Watt jr.'s introductory letter to the correspondence of the late James Watt on his discovery of the theory of the composition of water, ed. J.P. Muirhead (1846):|'When, upon my father's death in August 1819, I became possessed of his papers, I found copies of all his letters taken by his copying machine, arranged in volumes and carefully preserved; and the letters of his correspondents, relating to this subject, tied up together, along with the press copies of his letters to Dr Priestley of 26 April 1783 and to Mr De Luc of 26 November 1783.....'.|James Watt jr. sorted through his father's papers and many of the letters and papers have a bundle wrapper or label, and sometimes a summary of contents in his hand. |The papers of the Watt family came into in the custody of the solicitors Barker and Griffiths of Birmingham, as there is a schedule headed 'Schedule of Maps, Papers, Title Deeds &c. in the possession of Messrs. Barker & Griffiths, belonging to the Executors & Trustees of the late James Watt Esq[ui]re', possibly made in 1848, after the death of James Watt jr. [MS 3219/6/125]. Many of the items listed in that schedule, however, have not survived in the papers held in Birmingham City Archives, and some of the descriptions are very vague (e.g. 'Watt Papers, chiefly old Accounts & Letters'), so that it is frequently difficult to be sure exactly which papers are referred to. |James Watt jr., by his will, proved on 26 July 1848, bequeathed 'all my said late father's private letters and papers of every description as also my own' to the people he had appointed as his Trustees and executors. These were Elizabeth Stockdale Wilkinson, Gilbert Hamilton, and James Patrick Muirhead. J. P. Muirhead made extensive use of the papers when writing The Origin and Progress of the Mechanical Inventions of James Watt, published in 1854, and The Life of James Watt, which was published in 1858. Muirhead also prepared a memoir of Gregory Watt which was never published and began work on a memoir of Watt jr. which is incomplete. Evidence of his use of the papers is seen, for example, in a note on a wrapper around four incomplete letters in the bundle |MS 3219/4/62, which says: 'Fragments of letters from Mr Watt to Dr W. Small, found by me in this state in 1852. J.P.M.'. Muirhead marked numerous letters and papers with pencil numbers and annotations. Some of the marked sections were reproduced in his published works. Muirhead obviously borrowed some of the papers from the solicitors as there is a pencil note on another copy of the Barker & Griffiths schedule (in the collection of the solicitors Lee Crowder (Lee 124G), as part of several bundles of legal papers concerning the Muirhead family, also held in Birmingham City Archives). The note reads:|'Received from Mr Muirhead Nov. 1860 - previous to his going abroad.|2 Wooden Boxes|2 Dark Tin Boxes (not marked)|1 Dark Tin Box marked in White paint J W No. 6|1 Portmanteau'.|The box marked 'JW No.6' was probably that containing the papers relating to Gregory Watt.|The 'James Watt Papers'.|In the 1860s there was a legal dispute over the payment of succession duty, and all the family papers were called in to the Chancery court. The three trustees who had been appointed by James Watt jr. resigned and new trustees were appointed by the Chancery Court on 8 March, 1872. These were John Manners Tharp; the Rev. George William Murray; and Frederick Thomas Durrell Ledgard. The solicitors Wilson Bristow Carpmael took over from the firm of Griffiths & Bloxham of Birmingham, successors to Barker & Griffiths. A schedule of documents retained by Wilson Bristow Carpmael was prepared, and this is dated 1873. Its title is:| 'Inventory of Books, Manuscripts, Prints, Plates, &c. used by the Defendant, James Patrick Muirhead, for his Works and intended Works on the life and Inventions of the testator's Father, James Watt, and the life of Gregory Watt,.....'. [MS 3219/8/13].|According to the inventory, the documents were stored in seven containers: |Wooden box 1; Wooden Box 2; Tin Box 3; Tin Box 4; Tin Box 6; Trunk marked J.W.; small wooden box containing copper plates. A transcript of this inventory, with bundle references, has been made by the cataloguer and it has been possible to identify most of the bundles.|Muirhead continued to borrow papers from the solicitors as a note on the above inventory makes clear. On 29 June,1875, J.P. Muirhead received 'Tin Box 6'. This box contained the papers set out on pages 35-40 of the schedule prepared by Griffiths & Bloxham and consisted mostly of the papers of Gregory Watt. A separate copy of the|'Tin Box 6' list is now found at MS 3219/8/21. |The papers listed on the 1873 inventory were possibly then lodged at Heathfield House in Birmingham (previously the home of James Watt). In 1874, George Tangye and Samuel Timmins, Chairman of the Libraries Committeee of Birmingham Corporation, persuaded their owner, James Gibson Watt (1831-1891), to give the archive and the contents of Watt's garret workshop at Heathfield to Birmingham Corporation. The material was ready for despatch from Heathfield when a telegram from the owner arrived withdrawing the offer. In the event, this saved the archive from probable destruction in the major fire at the Library in 1879. The papers were later taken to the Welsh estate of the Watt family, and the contents of the workshop were acquired by the Science Museum in London when Heathfield House was demolished in 1924.|The papers previously in the possession of the Watt family, were purchased by Birmingham City Council in 1994, with major assistance from the National Heritage Memorial Fund and the V&A Purchase Grant Fund and private contributors. This collection was previously referred to as the 'James Watt Papers' (JWP). The letters and papers which were preserved as the 'James Watt Papers' had all been numbered, usually in red ink. It is not certain by whom this was undertaken. It may have been carried out by James Watt jr. or by one of the solicitors or by the Chancery clerks.|The Muirhead Papers.|The Muirhead family remained in possession of a considerable number of papers relating to different members of the Watt family. Lionel Muirhead, son of James Patrick Muirhead who was author of the biography of James Watt, donated the papers to Birmingham Reference Library on 8 September 1921. The Library regarded these papers as an addition to the Boulton & Watt collection, already held in the Library. The papers were referred to as the 'Muirhead collection'. There were four boxes [M I-IV], and some volumes of letter books etc. which were added to the Boulton & Watt collection. The City Librarian, H.M. Cashmore, wrote in the 1921 donation book: 'It is not possible or desirable to deal with these papers before the main Boulton & Watt collection is catalogued. They have meantime, been placed in four deed boxes, labelled with the donor's name, in Room IX. To some extent they have been parcelled and labelled, i.e. as far as could be done on a cursory examination. Books have gift labels inserted. Similar documents are placed together to some extent. E.g. there are three parcels of deeds. Correspondence has been left in parcels or portfolios where they were received in this collection. H.M.C. 7.X.1921'.|In addition, on 24 March 1927, Major A.J. Muirhead donated further volumes and printed items. It is certain from labels etc. that those items with the previous reference numbers M III /box 3/1-9 were part of this 1927 donation. These were the ledgers and day books of James Watt kept during the period of his instrument making business in Glasgow.|The 'Muirhead papers' had not been numbered when they were given to the Reference Library. |Previous listings.|James Watt jr.'s incoming correspondence in the 'Muirhead papers' was name indexed at some time after its donation to the library, possibly during the 1960s or 1970s. |The majority of the Muirhead papers were first box and bundle listed in 1987, under a twelve month project funded by the Wolfson Foundation.|The papers which formed the 1994 purchase, the 'James Watt Papers', had been surveyed and listed by the Business Archives Council in July and August 1987. They were given reference numbers which reflected the containers in which they were held, as follows: |G = the green tin box|W = the white suitcase|JW = the case labelled JW|3 = the tin trunk labelled 3|4 = the tin trunk labelled 4|6 = the tin trunk labelled 6|C1 = the cardboard box no. 1|C2 = the cardboard box no. 2|C3 = the cardboard box no. 3|etc.|This arrangement was not the same as that described in the 1873 inventory. For example; papers with a 'Tin box 3' reference in 1987 were, in 1873, spread through all the other containers.|This numbering system was preserved when a temporary catalogue was made in 1993 by Nicholas Kingsley, Birmingham City Archivist, before the papers were purchased. This catalogue arranged the papers under their creator (James Watt of Greenock, James Watt, James Watt jr. etc); then by record type (correspondence, business records, etc. and then listed them in chronological order. The purchase included letters, papers and drawings not on the list made by the Business Archives Council, which were presumably found after that had been undertaken. These papers were given the reference 'JWP C7/ '. |Later additions.|There have been later additions to the archive held at the Birmingham Reference Library. Those added up to 2002 have been included in this catalogue. |Three items were donated by the Science Museum, London, [MS 3219/9/2] for which there appears to be no surviving accession information. |A letter from James Watt to Richard Sharp, 27 February 1806, was donated on 09 February 1943, and assigned to Boulton & Watt, but at some date before 1987 it was transferred to Muirhead IV. |In addition, in 2000, the deeds relating to the Heathfield estate, and in 2002, a further receipt of James Watt of Greenock's, were donated.|Some papers and books and drawings were purchased by Birmingham City Council from the James Watt Sale at Sotheby's in March 2003 and have been added to the section 'Later additions'. These include items relating to James Watt, James Watt jr., Gregory Watt, William Creighton, and others where the ownership is not clear.|In addition, some further drawings previously sold as part of the James Watt Sale were purchased by Birmingham City Council in 2006 when offerred.
