HOST:

The history of science and technology, 1801-1914 - a collaborative retrospective conversion and conservation project

The project

HOST is a consortial project which aims to increase access by researchers to a range of significant printed and archival resources relating to the history of the non-medical sciences from 1801 to 1914. The project pursues three main strands of activity:

• Targeted retrospective conversion of catalogues, with all catalogue records created made available over local, national and international networks
• Targeted physical conservation of items
• Promotion of collections by both traditional and electronic means

The HOST project partners

The eight HOST project partners are:

• King’s College London (lead)
• University of Birmingham
• Whipple Library, Department of History and Philosophy of Science, University of Cambridge
• Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine
• University of Manchester
• University of Newcastle
• University of St. Andrews
• University College London

The collections

Between them the HOST project partners hold a wealth of printed and archival material relating to the development of the non-medical sciences, both pure and applied, in the nineteenth century. The subjects covered by the collections that have been targeted for the project are extremely diverse, ranging from vulcanology (at UCL) to railway engineering (at Birmingham) and from botany (at St. Andrews) to atomic physics (at Manchester). At King’s the papers of Sir Charles Wheatstone (1802-1875), one of the pioneers of the electric telegraph, have been catalogued, while at Imperial the project has enabled the papers of the scientific polymath and educator Thomas Henry Huxley (1825-1895) to be catalogued online and conserved. Other collections reflect the growing importance of universities in the development of the applied sciences in the wake of the Industrial Revolution; substantial collections of printed material on industrial chemistry at Manchester (Manchester was the first university to establish a chair in organic chemistry) and in mining and fuel technology at Birmingham (Birmingham pioneered the university teaching of mining engineering in the UK) fall into this category. At the Whipple Library and at Newcastle important collections of works of nineteenth century popular scientific education have been catalogued and conserved.

Project deliverables and progress

The project began in January 2000 and will finish in September 2002. The final project deliverables will be:

• A total of 38,910 online catalogue records for printed items
• Online catalogue records covering over 70,000 archival items
• Physical conservation treatment for 22,937 printed and archival items
• A wide-ranging programme of promotion and dissemination

Project Steering Group

The project is guided and monitored by a steering group, comprising the Project Director (Anne Bell, Director of Library Services, King’s College London), the Project Manager, a representative of the academic community (Dr James Secord of the University of Cambridge) and senior members of staff from the libraries of each of the partner institutions.

Project contact details

The project manager is:

Project website

http://www.kcl.ac.uk/depsta/iss/library/speccoll/host/

Content: Gill Davenport
Last updated 2 July 2002