| Description | Present at the meeting: Sire Harlold Hartley in the chair; Professor Andrade; Professor Kurti; Dr Martin; Mr Ellis; Dr R E W Maddison, Mr Baillie and Mr Storey in attendance.
1. Professor Kurti was warmly congratulated on his award of the Hughes Medal in recgnition of his work at the Clarendon Laboratory
2. Apologies for absence from Dame Veronica Wedgwood, Professor Paton and Sir Robert Somerville
3. Minutes of last meeting agreed and signed
4. ' Professor Kurti reported that arangements were well advanced for the publication of the results of the Pilot Study through the medium of an ASLIB meeting to be held in May 1970, which would probably be reported in ASLIB 'Proceedings'. It was agreed that the submission of a note to 'Nature' should be deferred until the visiting archivist project was finalised.
5. Draft Recommendations for preserving the personal papers of contemporary scientists and technologists, which had been circulated to members of the Committee, were then considered. [Listed in detail]
6. Dr Maddison reported on a number of enquiries he had made into the location of the papers of recently deceased Fellows of the Royal Society; in some cases material had already been deposited; in others the papers remained in private hands, and the present owners required them to b sorted; in a few cases no reply was received or it was stated that all or part of the MSS in question had been destroyed. Mr Ellis said that if examinations and sorting had to be done as a matter of urgency, for example as a preliminary deposit, Mr Storey could, at the expense of other work he already had in hand, provide some assistance, pending the inauguration of the visiting archivist scheme. Dr Maddison would make whatever arrangements were necessary with Mr Ellis and Mr Storey.
Dr Kurti raised the question of a backlog of material for processing being accumulated before an archivist is appointed, and it was agreed that he and Dr Maddison should prepare a note for the next meeting on the question of a date limit (perhaps 1960) to be set on the papers to be examined by Dr Maddison, to prevent the accrual of a large backlog of papers for processing derived from recently deceased Fellows.
7. Dr Maddison then reported on his progress in compiling the 'Guide'. He felt that he now had sufficient entries for the publication of an initial volume, but the Chairman stressed the importance of ensuring that, as far as possible, no major collection was omitted from the first volume. It was agreed that Dr Maddison should prepare and circulate copies of the cards to Committee members for their consideration before the next meeting.
8. Mr Ellis raised the question of publication. The Chairman pointed out that one, and possibly two, related Handbooks were to be published by the Stationery Office, so that it would be appropriate for Dr Maddisons 'Guide' to bear the same imprint.
9. University of Edinburgh project - a lette to the Secretary of te Royal Society from Dr Eric Forbes of the Department of History, Edinburgh University, which had been circulated to members of the Committee, was then considered. In it Dr Forbes outlined his plans for processing the papers of Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh.
After discussion, it was agreed that Dr Martin should request the President of the Royal Society iof Edinburgh to comment on the proposal for the benefit of the Standing Joint Committee, before the Committe itsef expressed any views.
10. Mr ellis reported that he proposed to give an account of the progress of the Standing Joint Committee's work, in his Presidential Address to the Society of Archivists on 19th November [1969]
11. Date of next meeting - the Committee agred to meet in about three months time, after Dr Maddison had circulated his proposed entries for the 'Guide'.
At end: Recommendations by the Committee for presenving the personal papers of contemporary scientists and technologists. Giving an introduction on the creation and work of the Committee to date, and listing the recommendations (1) to locate the personal papers of leading contemporary scientists and technoklogists, (2) to ensure the preservation of these papers, and (3) to facilitate their use for historical and other research, and proposing measures by which they can be achieved - ie Location, Preservation, arrangement and listing. Also discusses funding in the first instance from the British Records Association. |