Please note that this project is no longer live.

The Wellcome Trust Research Resources-funded project ‘Evergreen: Patrick Geddes and the Environment in Equilibrium’ ran from October 2016 until March 2020.

It was a three and a half year collaborative project between the Centre for Research Collections at the University of Edinburgh and Archives and Special Collections at the University of Strathclyde.  The aim of the project was to preserve, conserve, catalogue and virtually reunite two collections of papers of Sir Patrick Geddes held in both institutions.

Sir Patrick Geddes (1854-1932) was a pioneer of the environmental movement and one of the greatest social thinkers of his time.  His fascination with the organisation of human societies and their spatial manifestation in the city and country led him to develop a highly individualistic theory of societies and cities.

The collections, which are two parts of an original whole, are of international significance.  The prolific mass and polymathic nature of the collections reflect Geddes’s energy, ideas, relationships and working, and vividly document the development of all Geddes’s theories. Combined, the collections contain over 4000 plans, over 1400 photographic items and in the region of 175,000 other items comprised of papers, notebooks and correspondence, amongst much more.

The University of Edinburgh is a charitable body, registered in Scotland, with registration number SC005336. http://www.ed.ac.uk/home