The Clarendon Laboratory Archive
History
Little attention seems to have been paid to the preservation of apparatus and documents in an organised way until the 1960s when A.J.Croft listed much of the apparatus and filed such records as had been preserved. Some of the apparatus was placed on display in the corridors, but most, together with documents, was scattered throughout the building in unlocked cupboards, ducts and vaults, and consequently was vulnerable to loss; it is know that some items have gone missing over the last few decades.Although some of the longer serving members of the laboratory occasionally expressed regret over this situation, apathy reigned until the trigger was provided in 1994 by the professor of the History of Science, Robert Fox (who took physics finals in 1961). He arranged for his research student Katherine Watson to make a detailed list of all the items of archival interest in the laboratory giving such detail of them as could easily be ascertained, and their location in the building. This list was published in 1994 in Sources for the History of Science in Oxford, commonly known as The Green Book. The value of the various items, and the extent of the chaos, as far as their preservation was concerned, then became apparent. Professor Fox referred to the Clarendon Laboratory as being "... exceptionally rich in materials of historic interest.".
The present situation
To preserve the archive and to make it both a source of information to future historians of Oxford Science and a source of interest to members of the laboratory, it has been gathered together mostly in the Clarendon Laboratory room 271. other items are in display cabinets located in the Moseley Room, near the main entrance and in the second floor corridor. Room 271 contains display cabinets with the more interesting exhibits, cupboards with duplicate and less interesting items, filing cabinets of documents, photographs and audio tapes, and bookshelves with for example student enrollment records before during and after the Second World War, staff records, video tapes of interviews with retired members and some books of historic interest.All items have been placed in a database; this lists the item's description, its date and provenance (when known), relevant comments, present location and a cross reference to the Green book. Additionally, a set of keywords for each item assist in finding a specific item or class of items. The database currently holds over 1000 items. It is accessible via the computer in the archive room, the computer in the laboratory library and from the web - see below. It is planned to link the web version of the database to photographs from the archive. Some highlights from the archive are available and there is also an on-line tour.
Relation to other archives
The Museum of the History of Science ( >6 Kbytes) in Broad Street is Oxford's main repository of archival scientific material, but, with few exceptions (of which Moseley's apparatus is one), their interest ceases before the end of the 19th century. A certain amount of Clarendon material has been donated to the museum.The Science Museum in London also has a certain amount of apparatus and instruments donated by the laboratory, notably those associated with the pre-war low temperature work.
Accessing the Archive
Archive tourThose wishing to study the Archive in person should contact the Clarendon librarian.