Print & Material Sources

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.

• Sign up on Moodle

Michaelmas Term 2026

13 October: Treasures of the Whipple Library

Elizabeth White and Elizabeth Demong
Whipple Museum Learning Gallery

The Whipple Library is the University's specialist library for the History and Philosophy of Science, and is housed in the Department of HPS. As well as a working, modern research library, the Whipple holds a substantial, and growing, Rare Book collection. This collection spans the history of the printed word in the West, from our six incunables (books printed before 1501) to the 20th century. 

This first session of Print & Material Sources will introduce students to some of the treasures of the collection, including titles by some of the biggest names in science, works by Tycho Brahe, Galileo, Newton and more. We will examine the book-as-object and discuss book production in the Early Modern period. We will also introduce students to correct Rare Book handling techniques. This hands-on session is intended to both showcase some of the highlights of the collection and to equip students with the skills they need to conduct their own research on this kind of material.

20 October: Treasures of Churchill Archives Centre

Andrew Riley, Madelin Evans and Jessica Saunders
Churchill College

Churchill College's Archives Centre cares for an astonishing 20th-century archive, which includes the papers of major scientists such as James Chadwick, John Cockroft and Martin Ryle alongside those of former prime ministers and even Margaret Thatcher's handbag. In this session with archivists Andrew Riley and Madelin Evans we'll explore a range of Churchill's scientific holdings.

Special collections that we will view include the papers of IVF pioneer Robert Edwards, as well as one of the most significant documents in the history of modern astronomy: Jocelyn Bell Burnell's chart recording her discovery of pulsars. For those engaged in HPS, the Archives Centre provides unparalleled opportunities to examine the documentary foundations of 20th-century science and policy.

27 October: Treasures of the Whipple Museum

Hannah Price and Joshua Nall
Whipple Museum

The Whipple Museum of the History of Science is one of the most intensively-researched collections of its kind in the world, thanks to the academic community of the Department of History and Philosophy of Science. Robert Stewart Whipple's 1944 gift to the University was intended to create a "valuable teaching instrument and a cultural accessory to modern research". That means the Museum's collections are still actively growing today and they are yours for investigation. In this session, we'll explore some of the treasures of the collection as well as some recent acquisitions, many of which aren't on public display. Come prepared to handle objects.

3 November: Vigani’s Cabinet

Robin Walker and Joshua Nall
Queens' College

At Queens' College, Professor Robin Walker will open Vigani's Cabinet for us: an incredible early 18th-century collection of materia medica assembled by John Francis Vigani, the University's first Professor of Chemistry. A unique and rare survival, the cabinet holds a global collection that we will explore together.

10 November: Early modern book production

Elizabeth White and Joshua Nall
Whipple Museum Learning Gallery

The distribution of scientific information was revolutionised by the introduction of the printing press to Europe in the 15th century. Using treasured books from the Whipple Library special collections as examples, this session will examine the history of early modern printing and its role in scientific developments in the 15th, 16th and 17th centuries.

24 November: Hands-on history of book production

David Macfarlane
Historical Printing Room, Cambridge University Library

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…

Due to the size of the room and the amount of equipment crammed into it, this session is limited to 12 participants. This session will, therefore, repeat in Lent Term. You will not need to book both.