Scientific Papers
History and scope of the post-medieval science, technology and medicine collections
The diverse resources for the history of science, technology and medicine in Special Collections encompass books and manuscripts from the medieval period to the present day. The following overview focuses particularly on post-medieval manuscript and archival collections under the care of the Western Manuscripts section.
Early modern collections
For the early modern period the Library holds papers of many individuals of note in the fields of science and medicine. Holdings for the 17th and first half of the 18th centuries are particularly strong, and several came to the Library as part of major antiquarian collections including MSS. Ashmole and MSS. Radcliffe Trust. Papers of 19th century scientists and physicians are also extensive. Descriptions of these papers are to be found predominantly in the printed Quarto and Summary Catalogues, and the following categorized list provides an overview of the principal individuals represented, including antiquaries whose papers are of relevance in this field.
Natural history
• William Baxter (1787-1871) botanist
• Jacob Bobart (1641-1719) botanist
• Brian Houghton Hodgson (1800-1894) naturalist
• Edward Lhuyd (1660-1709) naturalist and antiquary
• Martin Lister (1638-1712) zoologist
• Sir Henry Alexander Miers (1858-1942) mineralogist
• George Wareing Ormerod (1810-1891) geologist
• Richard Richardson (1663-1741), botanist
• William Sherard (1659-1728) botanist
Physical and mathematical sciences
• Edward Bernard (1638-1696) astronomer and scholar
• James Bradley (1692-1762) astronomer
• John Dee (1527-1608) mathematician and astrologer
• Sir Kenelm Digby (1603–1665) natural philosopher and courtier
• Simon Forman (1552-1611) astrologer
• Samuel Foster (d.1652) mathematician
• William Venables Vernon Harcourt (1789-1871) chemist
• Thomas Hornsby (1733-1810) astronomer
• Thomas Lydiat (1572-1646) chronologer
• Stephen Peter Rigaud (1774-1839) astronomer
• Sir Henry Savile (1549-1622) mathematician
• Mary Somerville (1780-1872) science writer and mathematics expositor
• John Wallis (1616-1703) mathematician
Medicine
• Sir Henry Wentworth Acland (1815-1900), physician
• John Bainbridge (1582-1643) physician and astronomer
• Frederick Augustus Dixey (1856-1934) physiologist
• William Musgrave (?1655-1721) physician and antiquary
• Thomas Sydenham (1624-1689) physician
Antiquaries
• Elias Ashmole (1617–1692), antiquary and astrologer
• John Aubrey (1626-1697) antiquary and topographer
Modern collections
Modern papers of relevance to science, technology and medicine fall into three categories: papers of contemporary scientists, archives of scientific organisations and the Marconi Archives.
Contemporary scientists
Papers of a number of contemporary (20th century) scientists are held in Western Manuscripts, most having a strong connection with Oxford University. The majority of these collections were catalogued by the NCUACS (National Cataloguing Unit for the Archives of Contemporary Scientists) in Bath University, and online catalogues are available through the National Archives’ A2A (Access to Archives) web pages.
The document references in these catalogues may look unfamiliar. They are those allocated by NCUACS - the Bodleian's hard copies of the catalogues are annotated with Western Manuscripts shelfmarks.
Archives of the following individuals are included.
• Edward Penley Abraham (1913-99) biochemist
• John Randal Baker (1900-1984) cytologist
• Thomas Brooke Benjamin (1929-1995) mathematician and physicist
• Geoffrey Emett Blackman (1903-1980) agronomist
• Sydney Chapman (1888-1970) mathematician and geophysicist
• Theodore William Chaundy (1889-1971) mathematician
• Sir Wilfrid Edward le Gros Clark (1895-1971) anatomist and anthropologist
• Charles Alfred Coulson (1910-1974) theoretical chemist
• Cyril Dean Darlington (1903-1981) cytologist and botanist
• Charles Sutherland Elton (1900-1991) animal ecologist
• Edmund Brisco Ford (1901-1988) geneticist
• Sir Alister Clavering Hardy (1896-1985) zoologist
• John Laker Harley (1911-1990) forest scientist
• Geoffrey Wingfield Harris (1913-1971) anatomist
• Dorothy Mary Crowfoot Hodgkin (1910-1994) chemist
(catalogue part one, two, supplementary catalogue in Special Collections Reading Room)
• William Hume-Rothery (1899-1968) chemist and metallurgist
• Sir John Cowdery Kendrew (1917-1997) molecular biologist (catalogue part one, two, three)
• Nicholas Kurti (1908-1998) physicist
• Kurt Alfred Georg Mendelssohn (1906-1980) German physicist and author
• Edward Arthur Milne (1896-1950) astrophysicist and cosmologist
• Noel Joseph Terence Montgomery Needham (1900-1995) biochemist and Sinologist
• Alexander George Ogston (1911-1996) biochemist
• Sir Rudolf Ernst Peierls (1907-1995) physicist
• Sir Rudolph Albert Peters (1889-1982) biochemist
• Sir David Chilton Phillips (b.1924) biophysicist
• Rodney Robert Porter (1917-1985) biochemist
• Herbert Marcus Powell (1906-1991) chemical crystallographer
• John William Sutton Pringle (1912-1982) zoologist (catalogue part one, two)
• Sir Rex Edward Richards (b.1922) chemist
• Frederick Soddy (1877-1956) chemist
• Christopher Strachey (1916-1975) computer scientist
• Leslie Ernest Sutton (1906-1992) molecular chemist
• Nikolaas Tinbergen (1907-1988) ethologist (catalogue part one, two)
• Sir John Sealy Edward Townsend (1868-1957) physicist
• Donald Devereux Woods (1912-1964) microbiologist
Scientific organisations
Two major archives of organisations of relevance to the history of science, technology and medicine are held, together with those of some smaller bodies, usually having an Oxford connection.
The British Association for the Advancement of Science was founded in 1831 to strengthen the relationship between science and the public interest. The archives of the Association cover all aspects of its work over most of its existence, with the records of the annual meetings predominating. Over one third of the papers relate to these meetings, the bulk of them ephemeral printed material. For the 19th century formal papers, like minute-books and ledgers, supplement the papers of the annual meetings. From the early twentieth century there are further files of back-up papers and correspondence.
The Society for the Protection of Science and Learning was founded in 1933 as the Academic Assistance Council, which aimed to provide short-term grants for refugee lecturers from Nazi Germany, and to help them in finding new employment. In 1936 the Council was re-established as the Society for the Protection of Science and Learning. Thereafter the scope of its activities varied according to circumstance; it is now known as the Council for Assisting Refugee Academics (CARA). The papers include personal files on scholars assisted by the Society, which form the core of the archive. They are arranged alphabetically within subject discipline and include many scientists, a number of them being eminent scholars in their fields.
Catalogues of the papers of these two organisations are available in the Special Collections Reading Room.
Archives of other organisations include those of the Oxford Enzyme Group and various Oxford University Scientific and Medical Societies.
Marconi archives
The Marconi Collection of archives and historic equipment was donated to the University of Oxford in December 2004. The Archives are under the care of Special Collections, while the equipment is housed at the Museum of the History of Science nearby.
The extensive Archives encompass records of a number of electrical companies covering the late nineteenth to early twenty-first centuries, including those of:
• Marconi’s Wireless Telegraph Company Ltd., later the Marconi Company Ltd.
• The Marconi International Marine Communication Company Ltd.
• The Vulcan Foundry Ltd.
• The English Electric Company Ltd.
• British Westinghouse Electric and Manufacturing Company Ltd.
• Metropolitan-Vickers Electrical Company Ltd.
• British Thomson-Houston Ltd.
• Associated Electrical Industries Ltd.
• The General Electric Company Ltd., later Marconi plc/the Marconi Corporation plc.
All these were ultimately absorbed into the General Electric Company, which latterly changed its name to Marconi. Together they provide key documentary resources for the history of the electrical industry in the UK and elsewhere. A particular strength is the history of wireless telegraphy and its applications from its earliest days, and especially Guglielmo Marconi’s personal contribution.
Cataloguing of the Marconi Archives, generously funded by the Wireless Preservation Society, has now been completed and the Marconi catalogue is available online. This is complemented by MarconiCalling, a website exploring the story of Guglielmo Marconi and his work using the wealth of documents, photographs and equipment in the collection.