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MacArthur Collection Catalogue

• I. EARLY CAREER
• II. CYANIDE PROCESS: DISCOVERY AND EXPLOITATION
• III. PATENTS CASE
• IV. FITZPATRICK CORRESPONDENCE
• V. LATER BUSINESS
• VI. RADIUM
• VII. POSTHUMOUS INTEREST
• VIII. PUBLISHED MATERIAL
• IX. MISCELLANEOUS
• X. PHOTOGRAPHS

I. EARLY CAREER

1. 14 examination certificates awarded to JSM between ages of 14 and 22.

II. CYANIDE PROCESS: DISCOVERY AND EXPLOITATION

A. Scientific materials

1.4 AMS: `The Elementary Principles of the Cyanide Process', 4 p; 1 p of notes; text on gold properties, etc., 13 p; chapter headings, 1 p. In blue JSM & Co. envelope. Marked `MS of book' in JSM's hand.

2.TS (9 p) `The Elementary Principles of the Cyanide Process'. Introduction and Chapter 1.

3.TS (16 p) `The Elementary Principles of the Cyanide Process'.

4.5 AMSS (4, 1, 6, 4, 6 p) and TS with AMS emendations (7 p) on cyanides. In blue JSM & Co. envelope. Marked `Cyanide Book MS' in JSM's hand.

5.AMSS (6, 1 p) and TS (1 p) notes and calculations, post-1909. In blue JSM & Co. envelope. Marked `Cyanide papers/Phosphate papers' in JSM's hand.

6.Samples:
i.Leaf of gold.
ii.Gold sample. Coral-like appearance. Approx. 5.25 Troy oz.
iii.Square gold lump. Marked `38'. 4 Troy oz.
iv.Disk of silver-grey metal. Rough appearance. 2" in diameter. 4 Troy oz.
v.Disk of silver-grey metal. 1.5" in diameter. 3 Troy oz.
vi.Small rectangular piece of gold.
vii.Small brown envelope from Assay Office, Birmingham. Contains small strips of 18 ct. gold.
viii.Small brown envelope from Assay Office, Birmingham. Contains small lump of silver/gold alloy.
ix.MS evaluation (1 p) of gold items from Assay Office, Birmingham, 13 May 1971.
x.4 minute pieces of fine gold.
xi.Square lump of silver-grey metal. 1 Troy oz.
xii.5 small lumps of silver-coloured metal.
xiii.12 small pieces of shaped grey-coloured metal.
xiv.TLS (1 p) and invoice (1 p) from Joseph Gloster, silversmith, to the Dean, Balliol College, 18 April 1972.
xv.MS note (1 p) recording transfer of items, 3 August 1973.

7.Gold medal of the Institution of Mining and Metallurgy, inscribed `John Stewart MacArthur 1903'. 5.25 Troy oz. In black leather presentation box, gilt embossed.

B. Association with Drs. Forrest

1.Negative photostat copies of British cyanide process patent declarations, 5 leaves.

2.Leather-bound letter book. AMS copies of 23 business letters 15 May 1891 - 15 April 1897 written from South Africa (1891) and Glasgow (1892-7). Bulk of early letters to Forrests.

3.Printed slip `With Dr. Forrest's Compliments'.

C. Cassel Co.

1.2 cuttings from Glasgow Evening News on share arrangements between syndicate and Cassel Co.

2.TS Minute of `African Agreement' (4 p) between Cassel Co. and Wolstan Trubshaw, 21 November 1889.

3.ALS (3 leaves) from Ed Lippert to Charles McCulloch, 22 December 1892, + CU copy of TS of same letter (2 p).

III. PATENTS CASE

A. Earlier patents

1. MLU copy (1 leaf) from William Letts Oliver to the Cassel directors, 18 March 1890.

2. Cutting from Glasgow Evening News, February 1892.

B. Negotiations

1.CLS with MS emendations (1 p) from Solomon to William Webster, African Gold Recovery Co., 22 October 1894, + C copy.

2.CLS with MS emendations (2 p) from Solomon and Thomson to J.M. Buckland, General Manager of African Gold Recovery Co., 22 October 1894, + C copy.

3.TS/C proposed agreement with MS emendations (22 p) between Committee of Investigation of the MacArthur Forrest and Forrest Patents and Africa Gold Recovery Co. Ltd., 22 October 1894, + C copy (16 p).

4.MLU copy (2 p) from William Webster to Solomon and Thomson, 24 October 1894, + C copy.

5.CLS (2 p) from Solomon and Thomson to William Webster, 24 October 1894, + MS copy + C copy.

6.MLU copy (1 p) from William Webster to the Editor of The Star, 23 October 1894, + C copy.

7.MLU copy (1 p) from Francis Dormer, Editor of The Star, to William Webster, 24 October 1894, + C copy.

C. False cable

1.ALS (5 p) from Robert Chrystal to Charles McCulloch, 19 October 1896, enclosing CU copy of affidavit (2 p) made by Henry Walter Burton, 13 October 1896. C copies of each (3, 2 p).

2.i.Cutting of article `That Lying Wire'. The Star, 13 October 1896.
ii.TS of above (2 p). Identified in JSM's hand in top left.

3.i.Cutting of article `That Cyanide Scare. Excitement on the Bourse. Was it a Trick?'. Standard and Diggers News, 19 October 1896.
ii.TS of above (2 p). Identified in JSM's hand in top left.

D. Legal

1.Laws, 1887. Patent & Copyright Laws of the South African Republic. Flavell, Brown & Co., Pretoria.

2.Printed English Appeal Court judgement in the case of Cassel Gold Extracting Co. vs. Cyanide Gold Recovery Syndicate Ltd., 9 April 1895.
Contained in brown paper package. Contents marked in JSM's hand.

3.Printed judgement in case of Gold and Silver Extraction Co. of America, Ltd. vs. Mercur Gold Mining and Milling Co., 1986.
Contained in blue envelope. Marked`Copy/Mercur Decree' in JSM's hand.

4.Cutting (3 leaves) from The South African Mining Journal, 18 May [1895?].

5.`The Cyanide Judgement'. By John Stuart. The South African Mining Journal, 7 November 1896. 1 leaf.

6.`The Great Cyanide Case'. The South African Mining Journal, 7 November 1896. 1 leaf.

7.`The Effect of the Recent African Decisions on the American Cyanide Patents'. Letter from Walter D. Edmonds. The Engineering and Mining Journal, 28 November 1896. 1 leaf.

IV. FITZPATRICK CORRESPONDENCE

1.TLS copy (8 p) from JSM to Fitzpatrick, 9 August 1900,+ 2 TSS copies.

2.TLU copy (4 p) from Fitzpatrick to JSM, 12 October 1900, + 3 copies.

3.TS confidential draft of letter (4 p) from JSM to Fitzpatrick, November 1900, + 3 copies.

4.ALS (2 leaves) from William Webster to JSM, 29 November 1900, + TSU copy + CU copy.

5. ALU (1 p) from William Webster to JSM, 30 November [1900].

V. LATER BUSINESS

1.Financial statements. Stamped 22 February 1904.
i.Property and Income on Doornfontein Mynopacht, 1 September 1898-30 November 1903, 4 p.
ii.Account of JSM with Robert Chrystal, 23 January 1904, 1 p.

2.Statements and invoices relating to account of Robert Chrystal with William Dodds & Co., 1904.

3.ALS (1 p) from Robert Chrystal to JSM, 1 February 1904.

4.ALS (2 p) from Robert Chrystal to JSM, 14 March 1904.

5.MS employment agreement (2 p) between Nevada Star Mining Co. Ltd. and William Dempster, 31 December 1913. Contained in blue envelope. Contents marked in JSM's hand.

6. Papers concerning Wallaroo and Moonta Mining and Smelting Co. Ltd
i.CS (11 p) proposal for reducing copper production costs from JSM to the Secretary, Wallaroo and Moonta Mining and Smelting Co. Ltd., 27 August 1902.
ii.ALS (2 leaves) from C. Willcox to JSM, 25 September 1902.
iii.Printed notice (1 p) of General Meeting of shareholders of Wallaroo and Moonta Co., 20 September 1902.
iv.Printed Chairman's Statement (1 p) delivered at General Meeting, 30 September 1902.
v.TS copy of draft agreement (3 p) between JSM & Co. and Wallaroo and Moonta, September 1902.
vi.TSS agreement with MS additions (3 p) between JSM & Co. and Wallaroo and Moonta, 7 October 1902. Contained in blue JSM & Co. envelope. Contents listed in JSM's hand on back.

VI. RADIUM

1.Black notebook. Entries 19 February 1919 - 21 June 1919.

VII. POSTHUMOUS INTEREST

1.i.TLS (1 p) from ICI to JSM Jnr., 3 October 1938. Attached copy of telegram (1 p) from Rae, Glasgow.
ii.Canadian Industries Ltd. advertising magazine, December 1937. Contains `Gold's Golden Jubilee'. 3 copies.

2.TLU copy (1 p) from H.R. Raikes, Principal, University of Witwatersrand, to JSM Jnr., 2 August 1950.

BOX 2

VIII. PUBLISHED MATERIAL

A. Books

1.Alfred James. Cyanide Practice (2nd edition), E. & F.N. Spon Ltd., London,1902.
Front cover contains 2 AMS dedications by author to JSM Jnr. 1902.

B. Articles

1.The Critic, 10 June 1892.
Contains `A Dictionary of Mining Expressions and Idioms'.

2.Pretoria `Press' Annual. Pretoria, December 1895.
Contains `The Gold Industry of the Rand'; `The MacArthur-Forrest Cyanide Process. What it has done for the Rand up to 1896' with diagram.

3.Chamber's Journal, April 1928.
Copy inscribed by hand `Agnes A. MacArthur, Rowantree, West Kilbride'.
Contains `Side-Lights on the Gold Industry'. By Thomas E. Mackenzie.

4.The Co-ordinator, January 1931.
Contains `Fixity and Fluidity in the Price of Gold'. By Prof. J.W. Scott.

5.i.C of TS (7 p) `A Chapter in the Romance of Gold Extraction', + TS copy. "Dr. A. Simpson Wells, Cape Town" is inscribed on 1st leaf.
ii.ALS (1 leaf) from M.B.W. to Mrs. MacArthur, 11 January [1933?], accompanying above TS.
iii. `The Cyanide Process: Glasgow-Rand Memories'. The Star, 17 May 1933. "The late Dr. A.S. Wells of Cape Town" inscribed at head of article.

6.`A History of the Introduction of the MacArthur-Forrest Cyanide Process to the Witwatersrand Goldfields'. By J. Gray and J.A. McLachlan. Reprint from The Journal of the Chemical and Mining Society of South Africa, June 1933. 3 copies.

7.`Reverberating Smelting of Rich Gold Residues'. By C.C. Downie. Engineering and Mining Journal, November 1937. 2 leaves.

8.TS (4 p) of `Gold's Debt to Glasgow' from Glasgow Herald, 7 August 1939.

9.TS of article by Stephen Miall from A History of the British Chemical Industry. 2 copies (2, 3 p).

C. Cuttings

1.Cuttings album.
Mid 1880s-1939, loose and glued. 2 loose sheets of poems dedicated to `our dear Uncle John', June 7 1906.

2.The Star, 10 October 1891.

3.The Standard and Digger's News, 25 November 1891.

4.The Star, undated.

5.The Star, 28 November 1891.

6.`The Siemens and Halske Process of Gold Recovery'. Electrical Review, 16 October 1896.

7.Tasmanian Mining Regulations, [1900].

8.The Mining Journal, Railway and Commercial Gazette, 7 January 1905.

9.`Glasgow Students in the Transvaal'.The Glasgow Herald, 16 November 1909.

10.Obituary notice. Bulawayo Chronicle, 23 April 1920.

11.The Star, 16 May 1933.

12.Rand Daily Mail, 16 May 1933.

D.Miscellaneous

1.Tables: Association of Mines of the Republic of South Africa Total Gold Output for September 1896.

2.Diagram illustrating the McArthur-Yates Process from Machinery, 1 July 1896. 3 copies.

IX. MISCELLANEOUS

1.TLS (1 p) from William Neill to JSM, 30 November 1903.
Enclosed notes (1 p),initialled and dated 12 November 1903.

2. TLS (1 p) from Griffin and Tatlock Ltd. to JSM Jnr., 8 June 1939.

3.MS (1 leaf) `Account of the name of Nairn in the County of Dumbarton'.

4.MLS ( 1 leaf) from Andrew, University of Glasgow, to JSM Jnr., 31 April 1970.

X. PHOTOGRAPHS

Images of all photographs in series X except X.2 are online here.

1.B/W group. Inscribed `The Institution of Mining and Metallurgy. Annual Dinner, Hotel Cecil, London, November 25th, 1903'.

2. B/W portrait of JSM in later life. Glasgow. [not found - image not available.]

3.B/W portrait of Robert Wardrop Forrest M.D. about 1890.

4.B/W portrait of William Forrest M.B. C.M. about 1895. Glasgow.

5.B/W group, `Cassel Cyanide Group MacArthur Forrest Process about 1896'. Includes JSM, Alfred James.

6.B/W, `La Mina Colorada, Ures, office and storeroom'.

7.B/W portrait of JSM in later life.

8.B/W photo-advertisement by Bowers and Boyd for MacArthur-Forrest process and African Gold Recovery Co. Ltd.

9.B/W portrait of JSM. Melbourne.

10.B/W group, `South Africa 1896. Taken at the time of the Patents Case'. Includes JSM, William Forrest, McCulloch.

11.B/W group. Includes JSM, Alfred James.

INDEX OF NAMES

Andrew
Buckland, J.M.
Cassel directors
Chrystal, Robert
Dormer, Francis
Fitzpatrick, J.P.
Forrest, Robert Wardrop
Forrest, William
Griffin and Tatlock Ltd.
ICI
James, Alfred
JSM Jnr.
Lippert, Ed
MacArthur, Agnes
McCulloch, Charles
Neill, William
Oliver, William Letts
Raikes, H.R.
Solomon and Thomson
Solomon, Ed
Webster, William
Wells, M.B.
Willcox, C.

- SA Baker 1989, rev. R Kemsley 1994-5