Category Archives: Library

Publishing maps: a cautionary tale

Posted on March 4, 2013 by

Visitors to the building may notice an addition to the Lower Library – a display about the fortunes and misfortunes of one the UK’s most famous geologists never to be a Fellow, William Smith. Smith’s most celebrated achievement, the first … Continue reading →

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Sedimentary my dear Watson?

Posted on February 25, 2013 by

During the last month or so, I’ve been cataloguing the ‘Merriman Collection’ (ref: LDGSL/1088) from our archives.  The collection of 412 glass lantern slides, primarily dating from 1880s-1910s, was donated to the Society by Mrs Mary Merriman in 2002 after … Continue reading →

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Murchison’s Peacetime Map of Siluria

Posted on November 19, 2012 by

Sir Roderick Impey Murchison spent much of the early 1830s stomping round Wales and the West Midlands immersed in an oceanic world of metre-long sea scorpions. A world which later gave rise to both leeches and creatures with backbones.  Above the … Continue reading →

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Early Geological Social Networking

Posted on July 3, 2012 by

When I imagine the early geological map-makers, I think of men on grand tours, taking geological hammers to prise fragments of rock from exposed strata.  Late at night they’d examine their findings by candlelight, take notes and draw sketch maps, … Continue reading →

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Digitising the map collection: new toys

Posted on October 20, 2011 by

‘Do you have a digital copy of that map?’  It’s probably the most common question I get asked in the Map Room. Currently our collection is almost 100% hardcopy mapping, collected by Fellows and librarians throughout the 200 years of … Continue reading →

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