Papers of Otto Boettger, 1886-1900

The collection comprises two detailed manuscript ledgers from Otto Boettger's practice as an optician (1886-1894), together with one volume of approximately 275 bound invoices, chronologically arranged, covering importations for his extensive engineering, surveying, optical and scientific instruments business (1892-1900). It presents a collection of unique records documenting a specialised profession in colonial Australia. The first ledger (20 October 1886 -15 July 1892), contains 21 pages of index and 102 pages of the ledger proper. Each page is designed to record the details of nine patients and the last entry is numbered 916. The second ledger (16 July 1892- 19 December 1894), contains 39 pages of index and 298 pages of the ledger proper, with each page containing details of seven patients (approximately 2086 individual records). The ledgers contain the name of the patient, often the address, the date of the consultation, the referring doctor, the prescription for the lens for each eye, and more often than not, specific details of the spectacle lenses or frames e.g. pale blue periscopic lenses / gold frame / twisted curled sides; Gold Pince-nez, Canadian; pantoscopic frame; and extra small children's frame made to order.