{"id":1013,"date":"2025-03-07T11:15:12","date_gmt":"2025-03-07T11:15:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/libraryblogs.is.ed.ac.uk\/lyell\/?p=1013"},"modified":"2025-03-07T11:15:12","modified_gmt":"2025-03-07T11:15:12","slug":"reconstructing-order-collaboration-and-complexity-within-sir-charles-lyells-archival-legacy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/libraryblogs.is.ed.ac.uk\/lyell\/2025\/03\/07\/reconstructing-order-collaboration-and-complexity-within-sir-charles-lyells-archival-legacy\/","title":{"rendered":"Reconstructing Order: Collaboration and Complexity within Sir Charles Lyell&#8217;s Archival Legacy"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em><strong>The Sir Charles Lyell Project has technically finished, and our final blogs will offer some guidance for access and future use &#8211; BUT &#8211; we just want to share a really special update! During the project, further acquisitions were made, including two albums which were collated by Lyell&#8217;s family but since sold and held in private hands. Through the brilliant work of the Cultural Heritage Digitisation Service (CHDS) these albums are now available digitally for this first time. Please check out the CHDS blog to find out about the technical aspects of this work;<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-embedded-content\" data-secret=\"rmPV7dJ12A\"><p><a href=\"https:\/\/libraryblogs.is.ed.ac.uk\/diu\/2025\/03\/07\/getting-to-grips-with-goobi-on-the-lyell-albums\/\">Getting to Grips with Goobi on the Lyell Albums<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><iframe class=\"wp-embedded-content\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts\" security=\"restricted\" style=\"position: absolute; clip: rect(1px, 1px, 1px, 1px);\" title=\"&#8220;Getting to Grips with Goobi on the Lyell Albums&#8221; &#8212; Cultural Heritage Digitisation Service\" src=\"https:\/\/libraryblogs.is.ed.ac.uk\/diu\/2025\/03\/07\/getting-to-grips-with-goobi-on-the-lyell-albums\/embed\/#?secret=q8IXintvmU#?secret=rmPV7dJ12A\" data-secret=\"rmPV7dJ12A\" width=\"600\" height=\"338\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><em><strong> For some historical context and musings on their content, read on!\u00a0<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p>How easy do you find accessing your own papers and records? Can you find things immediately, or, does it take some searching through drawers and cupboards to find the information you need? How many times a day do you search through your digital files? Now imagine those actions, applied to a collection of scientific research, amassed during the 19th century, a time of seismic change in how people viewed and understood the world \u2013 and &#8211; imagine those actions performed by a number of people, over the span of 100 years.<\/p>\n<p>We are of course talking about Charles Lyell\u2019s comprehensive archive and published works &#8211; held at the University. With acquisitions dating 1927, 2019 and 2020, the archive bears evidence of his organisation, right from the start of his career. His travel journal dated Summer 1818 documenting his Grand Tour has title sections, allowing us to trace his itinerary, but pages are unnumbered, and there are no indexes \u2013 access tools that he\u2019d later employ. After attending Oxford University, and training as a lawyer, his approach to his work was always to gather testimony and evidence to make a conclusive case. In his quest to codify geology, and in writing the Victorian textbook of its age, <em>Principles of Geology<\/em> (Murray, 1st edition 1830 &#8211; 12th edition 1875), he collected masses of data, and, he needed to access it \u2013 on more than one occasion to prove the authenticity of his research. Indeed, we know that page numbering was a task that he allocated time to, as was numbering his specimens. Lyell\u2019s own organisation is demonstrable, but what happens when multiple people are involved, perhaps different homes, or stores, and with a timeframe of over 100 years? How much impact do people and time have on an archive?<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignleft size-large wp-image-1017\" src=\"https:\/\/libraryblogs.is.ed.ac.uk\/lyell\/files\/2025\/03\/0360428c-803x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"625\" height=\"797\" srcset=\"https:\/\/libraryblogs.is.ed.ac.uk\/lyell\/files\/2025\/03\/0360428c-803x1024.jpg 803w, https:\/\/libraryblogs.is.ed.ac.uk\/lyell\/files\/2025\/03\/0360428c-235x300.jpg 235w, https:\/\/libraryblogs.is.ed.ac.uk\/lyell\/files\/2025\/03\/0360428c-768x979.jpg 768w, https:\/\/libraryblogs.is.ed.ac.uk\/lyell\/files\/2025\/03\/0360428c-624x795.jpg 624w, https:\/\/libraryblogs.is.ed.ac.uk\/lyell\/files\/2025\/03\/0360428c.jpg 1205w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 625px) 100vw, 625px\" \/>Following the acquisitions of Lyell records in 2019- 20, the University purchased more, including <a href=\"https:\/\/archives.collections.ed.ac.uk\/repositories\/2\/resources\/87483\">two albums<\/a> compiled by Leonard Lyell, Lyell\u2019s nephew, containing letters sent to Lyell and others in the family including his wife Mary Horner Lyell, father Charles Lyell (1767\u20131849), father-in-law Leonard Horner (1785-1864), and brother Francis Horner (1778-1817). In both albums, most of the letters are accompanied by a facing photograph or portrait print of the letter\u2019s author. What is clear is that for the letters sent to Charles Lyell at least, the contents of these albums were <em>originally part of his correspondence<\/em> \u2013 we can spot the same summaries, written on the letter of envelope, meaning these letters were part of his original A-Z series &#8211; now catalogued in two tranches <a href=\"https:\/\/archives.collections.ed.ac.uk\/repositories\/2\/archival_objects\/21261\">1927<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/archives.collections.ed.ac.uk\/repositories\/2\/archival_objects\/199124\">2020<\/a> . By purchasing these albums, and in facilitating access to them, we are further extending the scope of Lyell&#8217;s network of \u2018able investigators\u2019.<\/p>\n<p>It is apparent from Lyell\u2019s archive, that Lyell\u2019s family surrounded and supported him in his work. Lyell had ten siblings, Mary had six sisters, one of whom married Lyell\u2019s brother. The family was close, sharing interests, travels and correspondence. It\u2019s gratifying then, to see them included in these albums, which serve to show Lyell at the heart of an educated, inquisitive and connected family.<\/p>\n<p>Despite being one of the figure heads in 19th century science, Lyell\u2019s archive reveals he did not work alone. His wife Mary created a number of the indexes in the notebooks &#8211; and there is admin support from his original clerk, George Hall (fl 1828-1843), and Arabella Buckley (1840-1929), his secretary from 1863. Their organisation has greatly assisted our progress in describing, and linking back up, the collection. We\u2019ve been able to utilise their ways of working for example, in cataloguing &#8211; recreating an almost entire A-Z series of voluminous correspondence, and using their summaries of each letter, found either on the reverse, or on the envelope &#8211; and the original page numbering has supported digitisation.<\/p>\n<p>Understanding this work is greatly enhanced by these albums, which are now catalogued, reference Coll-1997 photographed and available digitally <a href=\"https:\/\/images.is.ed.ac.uk\/luna\/servlet\/view\/search?search=Submit&amp;cat=0&amp;q=Coll-1997%2F1&amp;dateRangeStart=&amp;dateRangeEnd=&amp;sort=work_title%2Csequence%2Cwork_source_page_no%2Cwork_subset_index\">here<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/images.is.ed.ac.uk\/luna\/servlet\/view\/search?search=Submit&amp;cat=0&amp;q=Coll-1997%2F2&amp;dateRangeStart=&amp;dateRangeEnd=&amp;sort=work_title%2Csequence%2Cwork_source_page_no%2Cwork_subset_index\">here<\/a>, ensuring more work can continue.<\/p>\n<p><strong>The University has actively collected books, objects, instruments and art since its foundation and continues to invest to this day in ensuring that our collections are actively and responsibly developed, reflecting the University\u2019s teaching and research needs, as well as our collections\u2019 strengths and weaknesses. By doing so, we are also adding to Scotland\u2019s collective cultural heritage, building a collection for the nation. In an average year, the librarians, archivists and curators of Heritage Collections acquire hundreds of pieces of cultural heritage and are responsible for the development of the University\u2019s collections. If you would like to find out more,take a look at our editions of &#8216;Recollect&#8217;, which you can pick up for free on the 6th floor Main Library, George Square, or you can view copies <a href=\"https:\/\/eur02.safelinks.protection.outlook.com\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Flibrary.ed.ac.uk%2Fheritage-collections%2Fcollections-and-search%2Frecent-acquisitions&amp;data=05%7C02%7C%7C16f49f7d21d04d84075c08dd15215d06%7C2e9f06b016694589878910a06934dc61%7C0%7C0%7C638689955240758440%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&amp;sdata=PMWod7HlY6wXjAMf96dvN8nGu8VtdepUBcVPAL%2F1oQ4%3D&amp;reserved=0\">online<\/a>.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Sir Charles Lyell Project has technically finished, and our final blogs will offer some guidance for access and future use &#8211; BUT &#8211; we just want to share a really special update! During the project, further acquisitions were made, including two albums which were collated by Lyell&#8217;s family but since sold and held in [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":198,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pcnwkP-gl","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/libraryblogs.is.ed.ac.uk\/lyell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1013"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/libraryblogs.is.ed.ac.uk\/lyell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/libraryblogs.is.ed.ac.uk\/lyell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/libraryblogs.is.ed.ac.uk\/lyell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/198"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/libraryblogs.is.ed.ac.uk\/lyell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1013"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/libraryblogs.is.ed.ac.uk\/lyell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1013\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1018,"href":"https:\/\/libraryblogs.is.ed.ac.uk\/lyell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1013\/revisions\/1018"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/libraryblogs.is.ed.ac.uk\/lyell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1013"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/libraryblogs.is.ed.ac.uk\/lyell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1013"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/libraryblogs.is.ed.ac.uk\/lyell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1013"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}