About the Gwillim Archives

The Gwillim Archives online contain watercolours of birds, fish, plants and flowers painted by Elizabeth Gwillim and her sister Mary Symonds, as well as landscapes and portraits by Mary Symonds, painted chiefly in Madras (now Chennai) between 1801 and 1808. The Archives also include the sisters' letters to friends and family from the same period.

Bird with a black head and short crest, brown forehead, black and brown wings, white front, long grey tail, and grey feet; stands facing left but looking right.

Gwillim, Elizabeth, 1763-1807 | 1763 à 1807

Pied Cuckoo (Clamator jacobinus) | Coucou jacobin

Small black bird with a white patch on the shoulder, brown wings, red belly, and black and yellow legs; stands facing left with tail angled upwards.

Gwillim, Elizabeth, 1763-1807 | 1763 à 1807

Indian Robin (Copsychus fulicatus) | Pseudotraquet indien

Bird with a speckled brown and white head, neck, and top of the breast, white throat and abdomen, small brown rounded feathers with white edges and orange accents on the back and wings, black legs and feet with 3 toes facing forward, and a straight black beak; stands facing left by a river.

Gwillim, Elizabeth, 1763-1807 | 1763 à 1807

Sanderling (Calidris alba) | Bécasseau sanderling

The Gwillim Archives have been brought together for the first time to exist as a cohesive collection online. The physical collections that make up the archives are held by three widely separated institutions - the Blacker Wood Natural History Collection at McGill University in Montreal, the South Asia Collection Museum in Norwich in the UK, and the British Library in London. They have been brought together by scholars and librarians at McGill University Library with funding from the Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada. For more information on the collections, see Project Institutions in About.

A large tree with multiple thin white trunks and upright exposed roots supporting the bases, long narrow green leaves, and pale green round fruits hanging at the top; to the left a man sitting, a man standing, and a smaller leafy tree; in the background more trees and small figures.

Symonds, Mary, 1772-? | 1772 à ?

Pandanus Tree - Sort of Bread Fruit | Pandanus - Arbre à pain

By a tall thin palm tree, a man holding a bundle on his head, a woman and child, and another man bending down; beyond them, a wide river with islets of palm trees; mountains in the background.

Symonds, Mary, 1772-? | 1772 à ?

[Untitled] | [Sans titre]

People by the entrance of a building fronted by a low stone wall topped with columns; children sit and stand on the wall; to the right, 2 figures and a child beyond a man under a tall tree; on the far right, figures in white by a wall, thatched houses, trees, and mountains in the distance.

Symonds, Mary, 1772-? | 1772 à ?

A Hindoo Village | Village hindou

On a rocky hill, a man with white trousers and a cloth draped around his neck holds a tall stick, next to a man with white cloth over his head holding a basket and a string of gold beads, and a man with blue cloth across his back sitting on the ground; all have a distinct white u on their forehead; in the background columned buildings and temples.

Symonds, Mary, 1772-? | 1772 à ?

Vishnu Brahmans | Brahmanes Vishnu