An introduction to the challenges of looking after a collection of modern personal papers at St John's College Library, Cambridge.

1. MANAGING A Curious Collection A brief overview of the challenges of the Fred Hoyle Papers Katie Birkwood, Hoyle Project Associate, St John’s College Library, Cambridge Seminar in the History of Material Texts , Faculty of English, University of Cambridge Thursday 24 February 2011

5. Fred Hoyle c. 1963

37. The Hoyle Collection decanted into its 150 archival boxes

40. Hoyle Papers 2/5/2

42. Hoyle papers 2/5/2

46. Photographs, artefacts and documents from Hoyle’s childhood exhibited in October 2009

49. SOME HOYLE-PROJECT AUDIENCES

56. PRESERVATION

62. In the 1990s Hoyle communicated with colleagues primarily via fax

65. 1960s amateur film recordings of Hoyle and some of his colleagues

68. Bonus fact: nitrate base film (used pre-1951) is extremely flammable

69. Bonus fact: nitrate base film (used pre-1951) is extremely flammable

70. Bonus fact: nitrate base film (used pre-1951) is extremely flammable (But fortunately there’s none in the Hoyle Collection)

71. DIGITISATION?

76. Hoyle and his son Geoffrey in 1944

79. We think this is one of Hoyle’s great-great-grandmothers.

83. COPYRIGHT IS COMPLICATED

84. COPYRIGHT IS COMPLICATED One collection will have scores of different copyright holders

87. DON’T FORGET DATA PROTECTION

88. DON’T FORGET DATA PROTECTION REDACTED

94. L E A R N M O R E

95. L E A R N M O R E http://www.joh.cam.ac.uk/library/special_collections/hoyle/ Fred Hoyle and the Hoyle Collection

96. L E A R N M O R E http://www.joh.cam.ac.uk/library/special_collections/hoyle/ Fred Hoyle and the Hoyle Collection History of Science collections in Cambridge http://www.hps.cam.ac.uk/library/directory/

97. L E A R N M O R E http://www.joh.cam.ac.uk/library/special_collections/hoyle/ Fred Hoyle and the Hoyle Collection History of Science collections in Cambridge Archival collections in Cambridge http://www.hps.cam.ac.uk/library/directory/ http://janus.lib.cam.ac.uk/

98. L E A R N M O R E http://www.joh.cam.ac.uk/library/special_collections/hoyle/ Fred Hoyle and the Hoyle Collection History of Science collections in Cambridge Archival collections in Cambridge Archival collections in the UK http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/nra http://archiveshub.ac.uk/ http://www.hps.cam.ac.uk/library/directory/ http://janus.lib.cam.ac.uk/

99. L E A R N M O R E http://www.joh.cam.ac.uk/library/special_collections/hoyle/ Fred Hoyle and the Hoyle Collection History of Science collections in Cambridge Archival collections in Cambridge Archival collections in the UK Picture credits http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/nra http://archiveshub.ac.uk/ Images from the Hoyle Collection are reproduced by permission of the Master and Fellows of St John’s College Cambridge. http://www.hps.cam.ac.uk/library/directory/ http://janus.lib.cam.ac.uk/ Image of a fire is based on an original photograph, ‘Campfire’, by feichtnerc on Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/feichtnerc/5451012941/