Over Jameson's fifty-year tenure, he built up a huge collection of mineralogical and geological specimens for the Museum of Edinburgh University, including fossils, birds and insects. By 1852 there were over 74,000 zoological and geological specimens at the museum, and in Britain the natural history collection was second only to that of the British Museum. Shortly after his death, the University Museum was transferred to the British Crown and became part of the Royal Scottish Museum, now the Royal Museum, in Edinburgh's Chambers Street. He was also a prolific author of scientific papers and books, including the "Mineralogy of the Scottish Isles" (1800), his "System of Mineralogy" (1808), which ran to three editions, and "Manual of Mineralogy" (1821). In 1819, with Sir David Brewster (1781–1868), Jameson started the "Edinburgh Philosophical Journal" and became its sole editor in 1824.