BGS Archives GSM1/718: biographical notes on Geological Survey staff: selected Documents from the BGS Archives No. 2: a transcription of the original archive notes

To mark the centenary of the formation of the Geological Survey, Sir John Flett, Director of the Survey in 1935, wrote his "The first one hundred years of the Geological Survey of Great Britain". Published by HMSO in 1937 this work was to become one of the key texts for anyone carrying out research into the development of the Survey. One section, Appendix 2, is an invaluable reference list of those who served on the staff of the Survey between 1835 and 1935.The Prefatory Note in Flett's work acknowledges the contribution of Miss E M Guppy in the compilation of the staff list. While the list as it appears in the published work provides only brief biographical details on each individual member of staff, the BGS Library Archives include the full MSS notes (GSM1/718) made by Miss Guppy. These notes contain a much fuller entry for each person and give a fascinating insight into the careers of many of the geologists involved. To make this biographical detail more widely available and to protect the original documents from the hazards of repeated use, the MSS notes are being released as a Technical Report. The data was input at Murchison House by Gail Gray and Katherine Fergusson. Bob McIntosh supervised the process, extensively reformatted the text and set it up for printing. After locating the notes originally, Graham McKenna has edited the content and enhanced some of the entries with additional facts which were readily available. Researchers using the detail in the Report are advised that it has limitations in that it represents a snapshot in time, the 1930's, and that there is a wealth of other biographical information available on many of the persons included. Further information is to be found in subsequent obituaries and in fuller lists of published works in sources such as the BGS Library's on-line catalogue. BGS Library should be contacted to ascertain the full range of material available for each geologist.