Library and Information Services

Support our Written in History appeal to conserve twelve important volumes of correspondence of the Assistant Secretary’s office of the Geological Society, 1834-1880.

The majority of the archive collections of the Geological Society, which cover the history and evolution of geological science in Britain and abroad, are catalogued and open to researchers. One significant series is not. These are the in-coming letters of the Assistant Secretary which date from 1834-1880. Seven volumes of the letters were conserved in the 1980s, but the remaining 12 have been closed-off to researchers due to their extremely poor condition. 

Conserving these volumes will cost £40,000 and it will ensure that the letters will finally be fully accessible for researchers and academics studying the development of geology at this important turning point in the history of science. Donations of any amount are welcome to help us reach our target.

About the Assistant Secretary's Letter Books

The typical quarter leather binding of the Letter Books

Historically, the Assistant Secretary was generally the first point of contact with the Society. As the post holder also acted as journal editor and frequently as Librarian & Museum Curator, the majority of the Society’s day-to-day business and administration came through his office.

The letters are therefore one of the primary records of the activities of the Society as a central repository of geological knowledge in the 19th century. Topics covered include:

• Fellows’ interaction with the Society, from their initial introduction, election, changes of circumstances, to finally resignation or notices of decease
• Submission and the editorial process of papers
• Circulation of the Society’s publications and maps
• Donations of material such as museum specimens, books and maps
• Recruitment of and recommendations for geologists for exploration surveys
• Notices and descriptions of new geological finds and other discoveries
• Award nominations and letters from awardees
• Contacts with international geological organisations and foreign geologists

Click on the below to see examples of the letters found in these volumes:

Election of Isambard Kingdom Brunel, 1844	Charles Darwin complains about his Library book, [1844]	‘GEORAMA or the World at one view’, 1846	Campaign to abolish slavery in the French colonies, 1847

What is the problem?

There are around 8,000 letters split across 19 volumes. Volumes 1-7 were conserved in the 1980s, but the remaining 12 letter volumes are still in their original format of cheap, guard-book bindings. Guard-books were a very common and economical way of collating loose papers, which would be pasted onto the page stumps inside.