The Bartlett Society was founded by C. H. Keeling on 27th October 1984 and is devoted to studying yesterday's methods of keeping wild animals.

We are a group of enthusiasts who have banded together in order to collect, study, preserve and record as much as possible of the history of wild-animal keeping in zoological gardens, private collections and elsewhere. We feel that there is no time to lose in the preservation of early press-cuttings, films, lantern slides, photographs, postcards, guidebooks and other such ephemera before these items are lost for ever. Some of our members specialise in a particular area of the subject such as the record of one species in captivity, the history of one particular zoological garden, the travelling menageries and so on; most of us are interested in the historical aspects of the whole subject, and the fascinating lessons which can be learned form the methods, successes and failures of times past.

The society is named in honour of Abraham Dee Bartlett the great nineteenth-century superintendent of the Zoological Society of London's gardens at Regent's Park - a post which he held from 1859 until his death in 1897 at the age of eighty-four. He had great wizardry with animals, and was always to be seen around the Gardens in his "working uniform" of top hat and frock coat - even when performing such a task as sawing off a deformed horn which was causing distress to a Rhinoceros.

Each year we hold a meeting on the Saturday which falls closest to the 27th of October (the birthday of A. D. Bartlett); at these meetings we discuss items which have been collected during the year, there are talks by various members and sometimes a showing of a historic film. We publish a yearly journal, the purpose of which is to record the discoveries and researches of the society, and in addition there are regular newsletters which provide a valuable contact for our widespread membership. We also have at least one outing each year to a zoological garden - preferably one with features of historical interest.

The society acts chiefly as a contact centre for people sharing a similar interest. Many members have impressive collections of zoological ephemera of different kinds, and within the society there is a great deal of expertise in various aspects of the subject.

Currently we have members scattered throughout the United Kingdom and quite a few in various countries of Europe, as well as a considerable number in America who have their own activities and newsletter.