The Papers of Mary Caroline Hughes (nee Weston)

This collection contains personal correspondence and notes, diaries, and scrapbooks relating to tours and visits made abroad in the 1880s and 1890s including the International Geological Congress of 1879 in Russia, and Geological congress in Berlin, 1885 and Zurich 1894. These contain a number of photographs, sketches and memorabilia.

Mary Caroline Weston was born 4th July 1863 at Crosby Ravensworth, the daughter of the Reverend G.F Weston and his second wife, Caroline James, the daughter of W.James, MP for Carlise.

She married Thomas McKenny Hughes, aged 20. She was one of the most prominent exhibitors at the Cambridge Drawing Society. She travelled widely with her husband, in Europe, America, and Asia visiting Colorado and even Mt Ararat.

In collaboration with her husband she compiled the volume on Cambridgeshire in the County Geography series, illustrated by her own photographs. A few years previously she had become a Christian scientist.

She died in Cambridge July 9th 1916. Her husband died the following year.

The collection is still to be arranged and 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.

Some of the material is fragile. Staff will advise.

This collection level description was created by Sandra Marsh of Sedgwick Museum in October 2010 using information from the papers, and those of Thomas McKenny Hughes [ref: HGHS].

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 Mary Caroline Hughes, MCHS

6 boxes and a full filing cabinet were identified as being records created or retained by Mary Hughes. These were repackaged into conservation grade boxes during the DDF project (2010-2011)

As no documentation could be recovered in legacy Museum correspondence files to ascertain the provenance or acquisition details, it is not clear when these records were physically transferred to the Museum.

The records had been transferred from the Sedgwick Museum [Downing Street, Cambridge] to the Geological Conservation Unit [Madingley Road] between 1991-2009.

No more records are currently expected.