The Archive

THE ARCHIVES ARE OPEN from 10.00 to 16.30 on weekdays. Visits are by appointment only.

It would be most helpful if a list of the files to be consulted could be sent in advance for fetching.

The online catalogue of archive holdings is available on the Cambridge archives portal ArchiveSearch, which provides a single point of networked access to catalogues of many of the archives and manuscript collections held throughout Cambridge.

For enquiries, please contact Librarian, John P.C. Moffett [jm10019@cam.ac.uk], or the Archivist, Dr. Rosalind Grooms [rm260@cam.ac.uk].

The core of the collection are the 389 files of notes, correspondence and photographs covering every topic of Dr. Needham’s grand plan for Science and Civilisation in China, many with numerous sub-files.

In addition, there are important peripheral files relating to lectures given and conferences attended; travel; parallel publications; organisations; contacts etc., as well as files concerning the practicalities of publishing the work. This collection is fully catalogued.

The archive also holds a number of other collections, some of which are in the process of being catalogued. These include records of the establishment and management of the NRI, the archives of Dr. Lu Gwei-Djen, as well as some recent donations of archives from other individual SCC collaborators and organisations in which Needham played a key role.

Archives at other repositories related to Joseph and Dorothy Needham.

Another large collection of Dr. Needham’s archives – covering his biochemical work, UNESCO, private life, and other interests – are deposited in Cambridge University Library. They have been catalogued by the National Cataloguing Unit for the Archives of Contemporary Scientists (NCUACS) in Bath, who have produced a three-volume catalogue and a supplement. The catalogue can be searched here. For further enquiries about these materials, please contact the Manuscripts Reading Room, Cambridge University Library.

NCUACS have also prepared a catalogue of Dr. Needham’s archives relating to chemical and biological warfare, which are deposited in the Imperial War Museum.

Dorothy Moyle Needham’s archives are held at Girton College. A catalogue has also been prepared by NCUACS.