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a list of digital archives for history of twentieth-century science
By Jon Agar, on 5 August 2020
(Many thanks to all the suggestions I received following my request on Mersenne and via Twitter, including: Brian Balmer, Anna Marie Loos, Benjamin Weil, Richard Conniff, Jim Bennett, Aileen Fyfe, Michael Barany, Christine Aicardi, Brigitte Van Tiggelen, Alex Aylward, Juliana Adelman, Alexandra Franklin, Bruce J. Hunt, Boris Jardine, Dominic Berry, Mark Solovey, Katherine McAlpine, Mat Paskins, Doug Millard, Emily Hayes, Mary Morgan, Joshua Nall, Ross MacFarlane, J.V. Field, Louise Devoy, Madelin Evans, Alice Bell, Sam Robinson, Jonathan Swinton, Matthew Cobb, Jason W. Dean, Alexandra Rose, Robin Wolfe Scheffler, Moritz Mähr, HealthHumanitiesUc, Hanna Lucia Worliczek, Asif Siddiqi, Michael Hutter, Jon Røyne Kyllingstad, Dorothea Zimmermann, Martina Schiavon, Kamiel Mobach, Cristiano Turbil, Jack Kirby, Rebecca Martin, Lucas Mueller, and Robert Smith)
Compiled by Jon Agar. Send me more and I’ll add them.
Digitised History of Science Collections
American Philosophical Society digital collection
British Library Oral History of British Science, see also the guide Voices of Science
Cavendish Laboratory, University of Cambridge
Churchill Archives Centre online resources, see also the subject guide for collections not yet online, as well as an online exhibition on Rosalind Franklin
Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Archives Repository
George Francis Fitzgerald papers at the RDS Library and Archive
History of Science in Latin America and the Caribbean (HOSLAC) database of primary sources
Joseph Needham papers, University of Cambridge
Le Bureau des longitudes (1795-1932) un patrimoine numérisé
Linda Hall Library digital collections
LUCERNA Magic Lantern Web Resource, includes 20th century slides, including Royal Geographical Society
Marconi collection at the History of Science Museum, Oxford
Marine Biological Laboratory digital collection at ASU
McMaster University, History of Medicine Digital Exhibits
Met Office Digital Archive and Library
Montreal Neurological Institute Archives
National Institutes of Health (NIH) for NIH Library and National Library of Medicine’s Profiles in Science and Office of NIH History
Princeton Mathematics Oral History Project
R.A Fisher digital archive at University of Melbourne
Robert Goddard papers at Clark University
Rockefeller Archive Center (see under Digital Materials)
Royal Geographical Society-IBG films at the BFI
Royal Observatory Greenwich, observatory memories and recollections of working at ROG
Science History Institute, digital collections
Science Museum Group Collection, lots of things including Babbage papers
Smithsonian Online Virtual Archives
UCSD Library Digital Collections including the papers of Leo Szilard
University of Toronto Scientific Instruments Collection
University of Washington links to lots of primary sources for science and medicine
Wellcome Library Digital Collections, plus others at Wellcome not in the main site including Melanie Klein, George Mc’gonigle, Sir James Cantlie, Eileen Palmer, Morrison and Hobson Families, Wellcome Historical Medical Museum, Henry Wellcome papers, Abortion Law Reform Association, Widow Welches Pills, Helena Rosa Wright, National Abortion Campaign, Population Investigative Committee, Population Concern, Pregnancy Advisory Service, Robert Hetherington, Helene Grahame, Birth Control Campaign, All-Party Parliamentary Group on Population, Development and Reproductive Health, Pioneer Health Campaign
Digitised Collections with Science Aspects
Asif Siddiqi’s collection of translated documents relating to Soviet space projects
Cambridge University Digital Library
Charles Booth’s London, at LSE (19th C social science)
Hagley Digital Archives: digital.hagley.org
Imperial War Museum’s Collection including films
Institute for Historical Research’s guide to open and free access materials for research
MIT ArchivesSpace digital objects
Moritz Mähr’s list of Awesome Digital History
Museum of University History at University of Oslo
National Archives, UK, select search within National Archives and then select Records available to dowload
National Security Archive, US including ‘The Atomic Bomb and the end of WW2‘
3 Responses to “a list of digital archives for history of twentieth-century science”
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Rebecca Martin wrote on 7 August 2020:
Apologies for missing this on Mersenne. The HOSLAC (History of Science in Latin America and the Caribbean) online archive might be of interest: https://mypages.unh.edu/hoslac/home
Particularly the sections on Brazil and Nuclear Power (1960+), Criminology (1880-1940), Eugenics (1900-1960), and possibly also Museums and Collections (1500-2000), although a number of other time periods are also covered.
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Lucas MM wrote on 12 August 2020:
The League of Nations, including the Health Organization, archives are being digitized, and the archivists can provide full online access upon request: https://libraryresources.unog.ch/leagueofnationsarchives
Perhaps the catalogue of the collection of scientific instruments and teaching materials at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich might also be of interest. The collection is still under construction and new holdings are constantly being added. Currently, the holdings are Aerodynamics, Mathematical Models and Astronomy. Subsequent collections will include geodesy, physics, computer science, electronics and geobotany.
https://wil.e-pics.ethz.ch/#1596634537232_2