| Description | Listed as Council paper C/31(67)
Present at the meeting: Sir Harold Hartley in the chair; Professor E N da C Andrade; Professor W D M Paton; Dr D C Martin; Miss C V Wedwood; Dr N Kurti; Mr R H Ellis; Mr H M G Baillie in attendance.
1. Apologies for absence from Sir Robert Somerville
2. Chairman gives an account of the origin of the committee and its functions
3. Professor Andrade and Mr Ellis thanked by the Chairman for their papers, which the committee to discuss.
4. Mr Ellis explained his paper as the archivist's view of the committee's task. ' Collections of documents differed widely in their content and historical value, but to the archivist they all presented the same problems of location, preservations (or disposal) and access. Location meant finding out where papers were and registering their owner or custodian and their place of custody. Preservation means two things, (i) preventing or curing the deterioration of or damage to particular documents, and (ii) providing satisfactory storage. Access included the listing and arrangement of documents, so that they were easy to identify and consultand were not disordered by consultation. The Commission was constantly dealing with questions of this kind and was equipped to do so, and the Commission's experience and resources were at the committee's disposal. The records of science and technology were however a new field for the Commission, of which the Commissioners had little knowledge or experience, and the Commission woudl be quite unable to frame any detailed or extensive programme for such records without the support and guidance of the Royal Society.
5. The discussion which followed considered;
5.1 The terms of reference of the committee - agreed these should be 'to examine existing arrangements in the United Kingdom for locating, preserving, and making accessible records and documents (including personal correspondence) of value for the history of science and technology, and to make recommendations for action by the Royal Society and the Historical Manuscripts Commission'.
5.2 Photocopying
5.3 The SCONUL survey
5.4 The Master of the Rolls letter t Vice-Chancellors
5.5 Storage of scientific and technological records
6. The Chairman drew attention to the proposals made at the end of Mr Ellis's paper, and asked the committee to discuss the first proposal, viz that a 'location list' of collections of MSS of outstanding scientific importance should be prepared for publication;
6.1 Compilation of the list of scientists
6.2 Form of the proposed "Location List"
6.3 How to obtain data for the "location List"
6.4 Manpower and money needed
6.5 Preservation and access
7. Regarding the second proposal, that Lord Denning's approach to Vice-Chancellors should be followed up, Dr Kurti emphasized the great importance to future historians of the records of scientific and technological work carried out since 1930 and now in progress. He accepted the value of the proposed "Location List" but urged the committee to make provision also for the location, preservation and use of the records and papers of living scientists and their work.
8. Committee to recommend to the Council of the Royal Society and to the Historical Manuscripts Commission;
8.1 That a List or Guide should be prepared for publication, showing the location and summarising the content of collections of papers of or relating to certain outstanding figures in science and technology.
8.2 That the list of such scientists and technologists should be prepared by the Royal Society
8.3 That the Chairman and the representatives of the Historical Manuscripts Commission should investigate sources of finance and look for a suitable Editor
8.4 That Dr Kurti and Mr Ellis, with the Chairman, should make a plan for a further approach to Universities, and for extending this approach to scientific and technological societies and institutions and places of worship. |