Small group of original artworks, including 15 pencil drawings of women practising chemistry.

Original drawings of women chemistry students. A wonderful group of artworks by the pioneering Oxford chemist Muriel Tomlinson (1909-1991), a number documenting her education during the 1920s. It includes fifteen pencil drawings of women at work in the chemistry laboratory, teaching, or sitting finals, and three drawings which depict the laboratories in detail. Together with other artwork by Tomlinson from the 1920s and 30s, including drawings, watercolours, and linocuts.

Tomlinson showed early promise in science. In 1921 she was awarded a free place at King's High in Warwick, where she was Head Girl in 1928, and she later explained that chemistry attracted her 'because of the delightful blue colour the word conjured up for me. To me, all words have colour' (Beidas, Landor Association biography). She was then awarded two scholarships to attend St. Hilda's College, Oxford, graduating with first class honours in chemistry. 'Her undergraduate tutor sensed her promise early on, and encouraged her to take her Part One examinations at the end of the second year. Later, Muriel realised that she alone, out of all the other (male) students of the subject, had been told to do this, the rest having to wait until the third year, and although this daunted her a little, she still obtained a first class pass' (Beidas).

These charming drawings were produced during the 1920s and it is unclear whether they represent the laboratories at King's, St. Hilda's, or both. Young women are shown at workbenches with a wide variety of apparatus, and there are also images of women lecturing, drawing on blackboards, and sitting tests (labelled 'matric'). A number of portraits from this period may be of fellow students and teachers, and one has been reworked several times. The archive also includes twenty-nine other drawings and watercolours, including a series of portraits dating to the 1920s and possibly early 30s; 28 linocuts very much in the style of the late 1920s and 1930s, including landscapes and village scenes, some of which have been made into attractive Christmas cards. There is also an official drivers' license photograph of Tomlinson mounted on a blank application form.

After completing her PhD Tomlinson was awarded a Mary Somerville Research Fellowship and in 1935 was appointed lecturer at Girton College, Cambridge. After the Second World War she returned to St. Hilda's as a don, where she established the biochemistry department and became 'responsible for practical work across the university' before returning to a focus on research and academic writing (Beidas). In later life Tomlinson was active with King's High, serving as a governor and member of the management committee, and two laboratories at the school are named in her honour.

25 pencil drawings dating to the 1920s on various papers, some lined, of which 18 are explicitly related to chemistry education and the others being portraits, possibly of fellow students or teachers, 29 other drawings and watercolours, 28 linocuts (a number of duplicates), drivers' license photograph, housed in a card chemise printed with a mushroom and dandelion pattern and with a colour paste-on of a landscape, excellent condition.