‘Chinese Wartime Science Through the Lens of Joseph Needham’ will be coming to Bristol on 6-7 February 2016. This pop-up exhibition will be displayed as part of the Bristol Museum and Gallery’s Chinese New Year festivities on 6-7 February 2016. I will also be on hand that weekend to answer questions and to give more information about our digitisation project launching soon on the Cambridge University Digital Library (CUDL).
The exhibition proved very popular when it was on display in September as part of Open Cambridge 2015. The Needham Research Institute welcomed about 70 members of the public who got to see the ‘Chinese Wartime Science’ exhibition, tour the NRI’s unique building and library collection, and attend a trio of talks given by the NRI’s librarian, John Moffett, and myself.
‘Chinese Wartime Science’ previews a selection of the material that will be available through the CUDL starting in April. This will include over 1,200 photographs and Joseph Needham’s diaries detailing his travels criss-crossing ‘Free China’ during the Second World War. Together, these provide a rich portrait of science, education, and everyday life in wartime China.
Since July, John Moffett and I have been working on this project with the Cambridge University Library’s crack team of digitisation specialists, who have created beautiful high-resolution digital versions of the photos and diaries. I have substantially updated and edited typescripts for the diaries detailing three of Needham’s cross-China journeys, which will appear on the CUDL alongside images of the original pages.
So be sure to visit the Digital Library in April to check out this fascinating collection, made possible by the BICC Cultural Engagement Partnership, and if you are in Bristol during the first weekend of February, please do visit us at the Bristol Museum and Gallery!