Cambridge holds some of the world's most important material sources for the history of science, and, in this seminar series organised by the Whipple Museum and Library, we'll explore them with the guidance of those who know them best. This is a special opportunity to handle and explore materials you might want to use in your own research, and to get an introduction to the breadth of the University's scientific collections.
All sessions run on Tuesday afternoons from 3.00–4.30pm. Places are limited: sign-up on Moodle will be first come, first served.
Lent Term 2026
20 January: Book Production in the Industrial Era
Jim Secord
Whipple Library (20 spaces)
The industrial revolution brought sweeping changes to the way that books were produced, disseminated, and read. Mass production enabled scientific works to reach a far wider audience than before, and new reproduction techniques permitted the rise of the learned scientific journal as the new standard means of sharing knowledge in the field. Using examples from the Whipple Rare Book collection, former Director of the Darwin Correspondence project, Professor Jim Secord, will discuss how this new era changed and shaped the way that science was done.
27 January: Forgery and Sophistication
Joshua Nall and Hannah Price
Whipple Museum (20 spaces)
Some of the objects in the Whipple's collections are not what they purport to be… How can we tell a fake instrument from the real thing? What are some of the tricks forgers and dodgy dealers use to scam unsuspecting collectors (including our own Robert Stewart Whipple)? Fakes, forgeries and sophistications are the subject of the Museum's new exhibition, opening in January, so there will also be a chance to think about the ways in which museums can share behind-the-scenes research with the general public. Attendees will then have the opportunity to test their own skills as antiquarian detectives and attempt to pick out the real from the fraudulent.
3 February: Book Production in East Asia
Mary Brazelton and John Moffett
Needham Research Institute (20 spaces)
The Needham Research Institute is a centre for the study of East Asian science, technology, and medicine. The Centre's Library features collections assembled from 1937 onwards by Joseph Needham and Lu Gwei-Djen, from sources both in China and the Western world. No other collection of this kind exists in the Western world, offering such a unique mixture of primary and secondary works in Chinese, English, Korean, Japanese and other languages on the history of East Asian science, technology, and medicine.
This session, led by Professor Mary Brazelton and Needham Librarian, John Moffett, will examine the history and practice of scientific book production in South East Asia, examining examples from the Library's holdings, and opening up potential avenues of research.
10 February: Middle Eastern Manuscripts
Yasmin Faghihi
Cambridge University Library (20 spaces)
The University Library holds spectacular pre-print collections from the Middle East. In this session, Yasmin Faghihi, the UL's Middle Eastern Manuscript Curator, will showcase a variety of scientific and medical manuscript material from throughout history. The session will examine the history (and philosophy) of book production in the region, and the role played by the written word even after the advent of movable type.
The treasures shown off in this session include some of the finest extant Islamic manuscripts in the country, and all the material is, by definition, unique. Not one to miss!
24 February: Treasures of Trinity College Library
Anne McLaughlin, Nicholas Bell
Trinity College (20 spaces)
No scientists of note are known to have attended Trinity College*. Scrabbling madly at their collections, Dr Anne McLaughlin, and Wren Librarian, Nicholas Bell, will attempt to prove otherwise.
*This may not be strictly true.
10 March: Hands-on History of Book Production
David Macfarlane
University Library (12 spaces)
In this session we will explore the Historical Printing Room of Cambridge University Library. The room contains a fascinating array of printing equipment and paraphernalia, including some of William Morris's original paper moulds, original Baskerville type punches, working examples of hand presses from throughout history, roller engraving presses, linotype and monotype machines, lithography stones, and original woodcut blocks from some very famous works.
Subject expert, David Macfarlane, will talk us through the operations of various ways of printing, emphasising the materiality and explaining the production process of books. If we are very lucky, we may get to do a little hands-on printing ourselves...
This session is a repeat of the one offered in Michaelmas Term.
RESCHEDULED: Please note that this session will take place on Tuesday 10 March at 3.00–4.30pm, a week later than originally scheduled.