{"id":1020,"date":"2025-05-02T10:20:07","date_gmt":"2025-05-02T10:20:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/libraryblogs.is.ed.ac.uk\/lyell\/?p=1020"},"modified":"2025-05-09T14:19:32","modified_gmt":"2025-05-09T14:19:32","slug":"happy-notebooking-reflections-on-the-lyell-access-and-engagement-programme-laep","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/libraryblogs.is.ed.ac.uk\/lyell\/2025\/05\/02\/happy-notebooking-reflections-on-the-lyell-access-and-engagement-programme-laep\/","title":{"rendered":"“Happy Notebooking”; reflections on the Lyell Access and Engagement Programme (LAEP)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Over the past five years, the University of Edinburgh has undertaken a transformative programme to catalogue, preserve, and enhance access to the Charles Lyell Collection. This final blog marks a key milestone\u2014sharing outcomes, showcasing the new catalogue and website, and offering tips for using this vast resource, while also pointing ahead to future discoveries.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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Lyell in 1842 as featured in ‘Lyell in America : transatlantic geology, 1841-1853’ by Leonard G. Wilson, Johns Hopkins University Press, 1998. Our research has not been able to confirm the whereabouts of the original image.<\/p><\/div>\n

In The Antiquity of Man<\/em>, Lyell investigated the meaning of prehistoric flint implements, using them to authenticate ground-breaking arguments about humanity\u2019s deep past. We\u2019ve used our own set of tools – archival methods, state-of-the-art digitisation equipment and digital infrastructure – to unlock the full scope of Lyell\u2019s legacy.<\/p>\n

AI has offered some useful and interesting tools. Transkribus<\/a> provided a scaffold for students learning to decipher Lyell\u2019s handwriting, while ChatGPT has at times supported the non-scientist Archivists. In fact, the title of this blog, \u2018Happy Notebooking,<\/em>\u2019 originated from an AI-generated parting, during an early discussion about the Lyell collection. Just as flint tools helped Lyell uncover ancient stories, our digital tools have helped us illuminate his world\u2014transforming his notebooks, correspondence, and discoveries into something accessible for future generations.<\/p>\n

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The archive catalogue<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

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A basic overview, by provenance, of the composition of the Lyell archive collection.<\/p><\/div>\n

Charles Lyell<\/a> is never referred to as an Archivist, but his collection serves as both evidence and documentation of the history of the Earth, and, of his role as its information manager. He\u2019s assisted in this work by his team \u2013 George Hall, wife Mary Lyell, and Arabella Buckley, maybe even other people we’ve not identified yet. For our project, the decision was taken to respect the provenance of the different accessions of Lyell material held at the University, but, the history of information management is writ large across the collection, and we\u2019ve also used the original organisation created by Lyell and his team, to arrange series.<\/p>\n

Our work to develop a comprehensive online catalogue<\/a> has:<\/p>\n