Elias Ashmole

Elias Ashmole (May 23, 1617 – May 18, 1692) was an antiquarian, collector, politician and student of astrology and alchemy. He supported the royalist side during the English Civil War, and at the restoration of Charles II he was rewarded with several lucrative offices. Throughout his life he was an avid collector of curiosities and other artifacts, many of which he acquired from the traveller, botanist and collector John Tradescant, and most of which he donated to Oxford University to create the Ashmolean Museum. He also donated his library and priceless manuscript collection to Oxford.

References

A note on sources: Both Garnett's 1891 entry in the DNB and Michael Hunter's 2004 entry in the ODNB agree on the facts of Ashmole's life. Hunter's is, however, more detailed and makes use of a wider range of sources and benefits from more current scholarship. Beresiner's article has additional details on Ashmole's connection with early Freemasonry.

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• Beresiner, Yasha (2004). "Elias Ashmole: Masonic icon." MQ Magazine, Issue 11, October 2004.
• Garnett, Richard (1891, repr. 1973). "Ashmole, Elias (1617-1692)." Dictionary of National Biography (London: Oxford University Press).
• Hunter, Michael (2004). "Ashmole, Elias (1617-1692)." Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (London: Oxford University Press).
• The Tradescant Collection (2002). Oxford: Ashmolean Museum.