Index Notebooks, 1855 - 1871

This series of sixteen Index notebooks appears as one single set, however, there are different series within - some groups, and individual specific indexes. They appear to have been created from 1855 and are an attempt by Lyell and his team (they feature several different sets of handwriting, especially the General Indexes) to facilitate access to information gathered and held in other series of records, including the Offprints, the Scientific notebooks and correspondence. One can assume that - once started in 1855 - that this indexing was ongoing, alongside reading and the work recorded as field observations in the Scientific notebooks. Users are advised to consult the two 'General indexes' for authors, or topics, and then use the series of 13 indexes to explore Lyell's reading and notes.