HOS-Geology. History of Geology Collecting Initiative
Record Group
Identifier: HOS-Geology
The History of Geology Collecting Initiative consists of papers, correspondence, and books of historians of geology, and other geology materials. Initial archives are now in processing, as follows: Martin J. S. Rudwick (intellectual history of geohistory, Georges Cuvier, and Charles Lyell); Hugh S. Torrens (Mary Anning, William Smith, mineral surveyors, geology and the British Industrial Revolution); Kenneth L. Taylor (geology in the Enlightenment, French geology, and Nicolas Desmarest); Léo Laporte (George Gaylord Simpson and paleontology, Charles Darwin); Alexander Ospovat (A. G. Werner and geology in 18th-century Germany); David B. Kitts (history of paleontology, philosophy of the historical sciences, and Charles Darwin); and an International Correspondence Archive (a collection of 19th-century letters mainly in geology and natural history).
Found in 3 Collections and/or Records:
Hugh S. Torrens Archive
Collection — Multiple Containers
Identifier: HOS-2021-001
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...
Dates:
circa 1600 - 2020
Léo F. Laporte Papers
Collection
Identifier: HOS-2021-010
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 the Laporte’s Simpson website, and several class slides.
Dates:
approximately 1960-2022
Found in:
History of Science Collections
/
Léo F. Laporte Papers
Martin J. S. Rudwick Archive
Collection — Multiple Containers
Identifier: HOS-2021-002
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...
Dates:
circa 1900
