HOS-Geology. History of Geology Collecting Initiative

Scope and Contents

This archive holds the papers of the History of the Earth Sciences Society (HESS), including correspondence and society documents since its founding. At the request of HESS, it is an open archive to be augmented on an ongoing basis.

Scope and Contents Hugh S. Torrens, professor emeritus of Keele University, has received three coveted prizes in recognition of a lifetime of achievement: the Sue Tyler Friedman Medal of the Geological Society of London; the Mary C. Rabbitt History of Geology Award of the Geological Society of America; and the Tikhomirov Medal of the International Union of Geological Sciences. Torrens’ nearly 400 publications (listed at hugh.torrens.org and still growing) cluster around a common theme of the historical relations between industrialization and geology. Torrens’ passion has been to recover the voices of invisible and forgotten figures who may have left no books but whose labors led to major discoveries and achievements in geology, whether an iron worker in the English Industrial Revolution or a British mining engineer whose expertise was coveted around the world. Torrens reconstructs their lives and contributions from a signature on a machine, a debtor’s note, a travel log, or a bill of...

Scope and Contents

Geologist. The papers (approximately 1950-2022) of Léo F. Laporte, who was a geologist and professor at the University of California, Santa Cruz. The papers include research notes on George Gaylord Simpson, class and lecture materials for a course on Darwin, and some of Laporte’s correspondence. Also included are a CD copy of the Discovering Darwin Bicentennial Celebration (2009), a CD copy of Laporte’s Simpson website, and several class slides.

Scope and Contents Main topics: intellectual history of geohistory, Georges Cuvier, and Charles Lyell. Rudwick is a member of the British Academy and has received numerous lifetime achievement awards including the Sarton Medal of the History of Science Society. In the history of geology, Rudwick has been honored with the Mary C. Rabbitt Award of the Geological Society of America, the Sue Tyler Friedman Medal of the Geological Society of London, the Prix Wegmann of the Societé Géologique de France, and the Tikhomirov Medal of the International Union of Geological Sciences.Rudwick is known for pioneering contributions to the history of geological mapping, visual illustrations, the social construction of geology, and the rise of geohistory. Rudwick’s numerous books and articles remain points of departure for current research. His last book, Earth’s Deep History, makes an ideal first read for anyone on the subject. His magnum opus is a richly-illustrated, two-volume sequence...