Accession No
6662.36
Brief Description
Envelope of loose drawings and associated ephemera, by Dr W. A. R. Dillon Weston, English, 1930s
Origin
England; Cambridgeshire
Maker
Dillon Weston, W. A. R.
Class
natural history
Earliest Date
1932
Latest Date
1938
Inscription Date
Material
paper, cotton
Dimensions
various, largest 100 x 200mm
Special Collection
Dr W. A. R. Dillon Weston Collection
Provenance
Inscription
See Description notes.
Description Notes
Envelope of loose drawings and associated ephemera, by Dr W. A. R. Dillon Weston, English, 1930s
NOTE: all objects have been transferred into melanex sleeves for conservation purposes; original envelope is stored separately.
6662.36.a -- A cut-out watercolour painting (150 x 85mm) of an apple or pear scab on a spur. There are two layers of paper sandwiched together, between which black material (cotton?) has been stuffed in order to simulate spores. The painting is in a tattered brown paper envelope labelled "PEAR Venturia pirinia" in black ink.
6662.36.b -- Watercolour painting of infected strawberry (?) leaves, roughly cut-out, 100x120mm.
6662.36.c -- Cut-out watercolour of an infected leaf. 180 x 60mm
6662.36.d -- Cut-out watercolour of an infected leaf. 105 x 80mm.
6662.36.e -- Cut-out watercolour of an infected leaf. 95 x 60mm
6662.36.f -- Cut-out watercolour of an infected leaf. 70 x 50mm
6662.36.g -- Cut-out watercolour of a branch with thorns (rose?). 100 x 20mm
6662.36.h -- Cut-out watercolour of an infected branch. 130 x 30mm
6662.36.i -- Cut-out watercolour of a tiny leaf. 30 x 10mm
6662.36.j -- Piece of paper with writing in pencil, "Asparagus - pleospora herbarum." 90 x 45mm
6662.36.k -- Piece of paper with type, describing blackcurrant specimens at a farm, dated 10 October 1933. 200 x 100mm
6662.36.l -- Piece of paper with "followed by Cladosporium" in type. 60 x 5mm
6662.36.m -- Piece of paper with "(Peronospora effusa" in type. 50 x 5mm
6662.36.n -- Piece of paper with "(Peronospora effusa" in type. 50 x 5mm
6662.36.o -- Piece of paper with "Downy mildew." in type. 35 x 5mm
6662.36.p -- Piece of paper with "Cucumber" in type. 20 x 5mm
6662.36.q -- Cardboard file index marker (260 x 20mm) with "SPINACH" in type.
6662.36.r -- Cardboard file index marker (260 x 20mm) with "PIGMY BEETLE" in type.
6662.36.s -- Cardboard file index marker (260 x 20mm) with "LOOSE SMUT" in type.
6662.36.t -- Cardboard file index marker (260 x 20mm) with "VIOLET ROOT ROT" in type.
6662.36.u -- Cardboard file index marker (260 x 20mm) with "SCAB" in type.
6662.36.v -- Cardboard file index marker (260 x 20mm) with "CROWN GALL" in type.
6662.36.w -- Cardboard file index marker (260 x 20mm) with "STRINGY ROOT" in type.
References
Events
Description
Dr. W.A.R. Dillon Weston spent all of his professional life in Cambridge. After obtaining his degree in Natural Sciences at St. Catharine’s College, Dr. Dillon Weston gained employment as a mycologist (an expert in the study of fungi) at the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries. Ministry Pathologists at that time were stationed at universities, where teaching and supervision of students were included as part of their duties.
During the 1930’s, Dillon Weston produced nearly 1,000 watercolour paintings of plants suffering from a wide variety of afflictions: mostly various fungal infections, but also pest attacks, nutrient deficiencies, and bad farming practices. These drawings were produced in connection with his position at the Ministry, which he described as forming a “link between the farm and the research station.” Farmers would send samples of afflicted crops to the Ministry, and Dillon Weston would diagnose the problem and offer solutions. This work was an example of the emerging school of “New” or “Economic” Botany, in which economically important plant diseases were studied with an eye to increasing crop yields.
Typed notes accompanying the paintings suggest that many of them were depictions of samples received by Dillon Weston at the Ministry, though it is unclear why he made them. Like his glass fungi models, also held by the Whipple (Wh.5826), the paintings may have been a hobby undertaken during bouts of insomnia. Some of the paintings are demonstrative or didactic in nature, and Dillon Weston may have used them in his lectures at the university, which he endeavoured to make “as interesting as possible,” according to a 1952 profile in Varsity, the Cambridge student newspaper.
The paintings demonstrate a careful attention to detail and a desire for accurate representation, which sometimes led Dillon Weston to push up against the limits of flat, two-dimensional representation. For example, he used painted cotton stuffing underneath layers of paper to imitate spores bulging up underneath a scab on an apple tree (Wh.6662.28, Wh.6662.29), and splashes of blue watercolour paint to demonstrate how far fungal spores can be spread by raindrops (6662.10).
12/09/2018
Created by: Matthew Green on 12/09/2018
FM:47362
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