Buchanan, John (1819 - 1898)

Summary

John Buchanan was a highly skilled draftsman and scientific illustrator who worked as a pattern designer in the textile industry in Scotland before migrating to New Zealand in 1851. For the next ten years he was engaged largely in farming and gold prospecting, and as a field assistant for the Provincial Reconnaissance Surveys. He was employed by James Hector in 1862 as draftsman with the Geological Survey of Otago, and from 1865 with the Geological Survey and Colonial Museum, Wellington. The results of Buchanan's participation in numerous surveying expeditions were a substantial collection of botanical specimens (much of which is no longer extant), geological maps, and what is thought to be the first map of the New Zealand flora. Buchanan was responsible for the production of the illustrations for the Reports of Geological Exploration and the first 18 issues of the Transactions of the New Zealand Institute. His own publications included the illustrated Indigenous grasses of New Zealand (1878 - 1880).

Details

Chronology

1852 - 1862

Career event - Gold prospecting and field assistant for reconnaissance surveys in Otago Province

February 1852

Life event - Arrived in Dunedin, New Zealand

1862 - 1865

Career position - Draftsman, Geological Survey of Otago

1865 - 1885

Career position - Draftsman, Geological Survey and Colonial Museum, Wellington

1885

Life event - Retired

Related entries

Published resources

Books

• Buchanan, J., Indigenous grasses of New Zealand, Wellington [fascicles 1-3] (Wellington, N.Z.: Government Printer, 1878-1880), 192 pp. Details
• Buchanan, J., Manual of the indigenous grasses of New Zealand (Wellington, N.Z.: Government Printer, 1880), 175 pp. Details

Conference Papers

• Adams, Nancy M., 'The Botanical Collections of John Buchanan FLS', in History of Systematic Botany in Australasia: Proceedings of a Symposium Held at the University of Melbourne, 25-27 May 1988 edited by Short, P.S. (Melbourne: Australian Systematic Botany Society, 1990), pp. 231-234.. Details

Journal Articles

• Adams, Nancy M., 'John Buchanan F.L.S. Botanist and Artist (1819-1898)', Tuhinga, 13 (2002), 71-115. Details
• Buchanan, J., 'Sketch of the botany of Otago', Transactions of the New Zealand Institute, 1 (1869), 22-53, 181-212. Details
• Buchanan, Peter K.; and Cooper, Jerry A., 'John Buchanan's pre-1880 records and illustrations of New Zealand fungi', Records of the Auckland Institute and Museum, 55 (2020), 29-36, https://doi.org/10.32912/ram.2020.55.3. Details
• Galloway, David, 'Three letters from James Stirton to John Buchanan on New Zealand lichens, 1877-1882', New Zealand Botanical Society Newsletter, 108 (2012), 14-19. Details
• Galloway, David, '"Hoping to hear from you soon": John Ross's letters to John Buchanan (1860-1867) and early Glasgow-Otago botanical connection: part II (10 August 1861 - 1July 1867)', New Zealand Botanical Society Newsletter, 110 (2012), 10-6. Details
• Galloway, David, '"Hoping to hear from you soon": John Ross's letters to John Buchanan (1860-1867) and early Glasgow-Otago botanical connection: part 1 (9 May 1860 - 6 August 1861)', New Zealand Botanical Society Newsletter, 109 (2012), 17-26. Details
• Nathan, Simon, 'John Buchanan (1819 - 1898): New Zealand's first scientific illustrator', Journal of the Royal Society of New Zealand, 49 (4) (2019), 508-16. https://doi.org/10.1080/03036758.2018.1656261. Details
• Tyler, L., 'Art, science and photography: New Zealand illustrator John Buchanan', Australian and New Zealand journal of art, 13 (1) (2013), 90-103. Details
• Tyler, Linda, 'Illustrating the grasses and the Transactions: John Buchanan's development of technologies for lithography in natural history', ENNZ: Environment and Nature in New Zealand, 10 (1) (2016), 7-22. Details