SPECIALIST GROUPS
Dr Jane, in his Presidential Address of 1949, made several suggestions
which have since been acted upon and which greatly modified the structure of
the Essex Field Club, without detracting from its viability. He proposed the
formation of specialist groups, so that members with widespread interests could
get expert advice, as in pre-war days was always available from the many gifted
individual members such as Mr Scourfield, Miss Lister or Mr Paulson, to name
but three treasured in the writer's memory.
The first Group to be formed in 1959 was the Geology Group, to be rapidly
followed by Groups devoted to Botany, Mammals, and Herpetology, in the next
year.
RECORDERS
Another introduction, or rather re-introduction, of an idea first formulated
in 1885, was the system of Recorders. Although in 1885 a number of local
'recorders' had been appointed, with Mr William White as the Recorders'
Secretary, little or nothing resulted at the time and in May 1887, the Committee
of Recorders asked to be discharged, which was then done. In 1956, the system
of Recorders in various disciplines of Biology, Geology and Archaeology was
established by their gradual appointment and there are now seventeen mem-
bers, all specialists in their fields, ready to receive and write up reports of
discoveries by other members.
In this, the present system of Recorders differs from the 1885 arrangement,
whereby local resident members, were expected to record observations in any
discipline reported in their neighbourhoods, and this lapsed for want of sup-
port, as might have been expected.
THE PASSMORE EDWARDS MUSEUM
Mr E. E. Syms, acting in Mr Thompson's absence after 1949, could not
devote more time to the Museum than was necessary to maintain the specimens
in good order and the absence of a full-time curator and the continued closure
of the Passmore Edwards Museum to the public, demanded drastic steps by the
Council. Very amicable negotiations with the Borough of West Ham led first to
an offer of help on a more-or-less informal basis in March 1948, and after
closure for 14 years, the Museum was reopened to the public on 19 September
1953, curation being undertaken by a volunteer working party of four, Mr E. E.
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