Final Project Report

Final Project Report

Final project report ‘Towards Dolly: Edinburgh, Roslin and the Birth of Modern Genetics’ ‘The Making of Dolly: Science, Politics and Ethics’ Funded by the Wellcome Trust’s Research Resources scheme April 2012 – May 2016 1 Contents ‹ Page 2: Contents and project overview ‹ Page 3: The collections ‹ Page 4: Preservation and conservation ‹ Page 5: Public engagement ‹ Page 6: Academic and student engagement ‹ Page 7: Working with the science community ‹ Page 8: Associated projects ‹ Pages 9-10: Additional projects ‹ Page 11: Conclusions and acknowledgements ‹ Pages 12-35: Appendices Project Overview This report covers the work undertaken as part of two Wellcome Trust projects based around animal genetics collections at Edinburgh University Library Special Collections: ‘Towards Dolly: Edinburgh, Roslin and the Birth of Modern Genetics’ (April 2012- February 2014; January-May 2016), £135,607 (096694/Z/11/Z) ‘The Making of Dolly: Science, Politics and Ethics’ (October 2013 – December 2015), £101,191 (100731/Z/12/Z) The staff employed on these projects were Clare Button, Project Archivist (2012-2016) and Kristy Davis, Rare Book Cataloguer (2012-2014). Out of the work of these projects, additional funding was also secured for the following: ‘Scoping Beyond Dolly’ (July 2012), £10,000 (099447/Z/12/Z) ‘Science on a Plate: natural history through glass slides 1870-1930’ (October 2014-April 2015), £17,466 (105088/Z/14/Z) ‘Untangling the roots of animal genetics in Edinburgh, 1899-1939’ (forthcoming, June-November 2016), £26,261 (200428/Z/15/Z) 2 The Collections The collections which make up the projects encompass archives, rare books, objects, glass slides and artwork, and date from the 15th century to the present day. As well as the collections named in the original project schedule, an additional 9 collections have been donated over the course of the project (denoted by * in the list below). These have either been catalogued in full or at least described at collection level, with some input from volunteers. Catalogues are to the international standards ISAD(G) (archives) and DCRMB (rare books). Subject index terms were created from Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH) and Medical Subject Headings (MeSH), and authority terms were created in line with International Standard Archival Authority Record for Corporate Bodies, Persons and Families (ISAAR-CPF). When necessary, records have been screened for Data Protection and sensitivity issues, with closures or restrictions advised in line with current best practice. All catalogues are available online via the project website: collections.ed.ac.uk/towardsdolly. Full list of collections ‹ *Material relating to Charlotte Auerbach (1899-1994), geneticist ‹ Papers of Geoffrey Beale (1913-2009), protozoan and malaria geneticist ‹ Papers of Richard Alan Beatty (1915-2005), reproductive physiologist ‹ Papers of Grahame Bulfield (1941-:), geneticist, former director of Roslin Institute ‹ Offprint collection of F.A.E. Crew (1886-1973), geneticist and medic ‹ *Library of F.A.E. Crew ‹ Papers of James Cossar Ewart (1851-1933), zoologist and animal breeder ‹ *Papers and books of Douglas Scott Falconer (1913-2004), quantitative geneticist ‹ Papers of Alan Greenwood (1897-1981), poultry geneticist ‹ Records of the Institute of Animal Genetics ‹ *Papers of Eric Lucey (1923-2010), science filmmaker ‹ *Papers of Ian Mason (1914-2007), cattle geneticist ‹ Records of the Roslin Institute ‹ Roslin Institute slide collection ‹ Roslin Institute offprint collection ‹ Roslin Institute rare book collection ‹ *Papers of Michael Ryder (1927-2015), wool and textile expert ‹ *Papers of Alan Robertson (1920-1989), population geneticist ‹ Papers of James Henderson Sang (1912-2002), Drosophila geneticist ‹ *Papers and artwork of artist and designer Yolanda Sonnabend (1935-2015) ‹ Papers of Conrad Hal Waddington (1905-1975), geneticist and embryologist ‹ *Papers of Gerald Wiener (1926-:), geneticist ‹ Papers of Ian Wilmut (1944-), embryologist 3 Preservation and conservation Preservation All collections have been rehoused in archival quality enclosures, with basic remedial and cleaning work carried out where required. The Project Archivist and Rare Book Cataloguer were also given two preservation training and handling sessions by accredited conservator Caroline Scharfenberg. Caroline Scharfenberg and Kristy Davis Conservation Following a conservation survey on the collections, conservation work was carried out on a number of priority items by conservators Caroline Scharfenberg and Anna Trist: Roslin glass slide collection Repair of broken glass (5% of collection), surface cleaning and rehousing (100% of collection). Roslin rare book collection Six volumes - paper and binding repairs, surface cleaning, board attachments. Records of Roslin Institute and predecessor institutions Bound volume of press cuttings (1949-1964) - surface cleaning, paper repairs, removal of sellotape and secondary supports, rehousing in archival polyester sleeves. Papers of James Cossar Ewart Notebook (1895-1909) - rebind, clean, paper repairs. Records of the Institute of Animal Genetics Visitors Book (1924-1947) - cleaning, mould prevention, new endpaper and backboard, readhesion of lining. Anna Trist carrying out glass slide conservation 4 Public engagement Talks and events ‹ ACUS Art and Science seminar, Summerhall, Edinburgh (October 2013) ‹ Edinburgh International Science Festival (March 2014, 2016) ‹ Edinburgh University Library Doors Open Day (September 2014) ‹ Midlothian Science Festival (October 2015) ‹ Penicuik Historical Society (September 2014) ‹ Roslin Institute, Easter Bush Campus Open Day (October 2014, 2015) photographs ©Norrie Russell, Roslin Institute Social Media Twitter: @towardsdolly Blog: http://libraryblogs.is.ed.ac.uk/towardsdolly/ 5 Academic & student engagement Conferences and poster sessions ‹ 41st Congress of the World Association for the History of Veterinary Medicine (WAHVM) (poster and joint paper) ‹ British Society for the History of Science annual conference, 2014 (paper) ‹ International Council on Archives conference, 2014 (paper) ‹ Oral History Society annual conference 2015 (paper) University events ‹ EDINA seminar (joint presentation), October 2013 ‹ Open Meeting, Synthsys, Centre for Synthetic and System Biology (presentations) 2013, 2015 ‹ Innovative Learning Week (2013, 2015) ‹ ‘Library Pop Up’ event (October 2014) ‹ ‘Documents and their analysis in the Humanities, Arts and Sciences’ workshop, University of Edinburgh, June 2015 (poster) Articles (see appendices) ‹ Scottish Council on Archives Broadsheet Issue 14 (May 2012) and Issue 16 (July 2012) ‹ GenMedHist Newsletter No.16 (November 2012) ‹ SCONUL Focus 60 (joint article), 2014 ‹ Archives and Records Association, ARC magazine No. 301 (September 2014), No. 316 (December 2015), No. 318 (February 2016) ‹ Library of the American Philosophical Society, Mendel Newsletter Vol 20 (2015) and Vol 21 (forthcoming, 2016) ‹ Chapter on C.H. Waddington archive for forthcoming book compiled by EpiGeneSys (forthcoming, 2016) 6 Working with the science community The participation and support of the science community in and around Edinburgh has been crucial to the success of the project in a number of ways: - a growing network of contacts within the science community has led to the donation of additional collections, academic engagement with the collections and the generation of further projects and funding; - fruitful partnerships with research institutions have generated opportunities for collaborative public engagement work; - individuals’ subject-specific knowledge and expertise has been put to direct use in appraisal and cataloguing work. Context Professor Grahame Bulfield and Dr Alan Hart were able to identify buildings, places and people in the Alan Greenwood photograph collection (Coll-1057/6). Throughout the project, individuals provided a wealth of contextual information and personal insights to enrich understanding of the collections. Interpretation Professor Grahame Bulfield’s interpretation of C.H. Waddington’s laboratory notebooks (Coll-41/1) allowed for greater detail and accuracy in the catalogue entries. Appraisal Individuals’ knowledge of the context and relevance of particular experiments, data types and uses helped the design of a methodology for appraising large amount of historic experimental data in the Roslin Institute archives (EUA IN23). 7 Associated projects ‘Scoping Beyond Dolly’ (July 2012) This 12-day scoping project aimed to assess and report on the amount, condition and potential research value of the then-unappraised and uncatalogued quantity of genetics- related material held at Edinburgh University Library Special Collections, and to create a robust framework to allow this significant material to be appraised, catalogued and preserved in a future project. ‘Science on a Plate: natural history through glass slides, 1870-1930’ (Oct 2014 – April 2015) To digitally photograph a collection of 3,460 glass slides which chiefly document late nineteenth and early twentieth century animal breeding and agricultural studies; and to unite the digitised images with existing catalogue metadata to enable free online access and cross-searchability on the Centre for Research Collections’ image database. The slides were initially catalogued and conserved as part of the project ‘Towards Dolly: Edinburgh, Roslin and the Birth of Modern Genetics’, but their fragile condition had limited their physical accessibility to researchers. ‘Untangling the roots

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