Papers Panel 6. History of Science

Abstract

“Micro-monsters: Printing and Transmitting Newly Visible Worlds”: This paper investigates the transmission of new knowledge made visible through microscopy in the combination of image and text, using as its case study Robert Hooke’s Micrographia, Or, Some physiological descriptions of minute bodies made by magnifying glasses. With observations and inquiries thereupon (London: Printed by J. Martyn and J. Allestry, 1665). The printing of Micrographia’s text and engravings were heavily mediated by the author himself, whose careful drawings of what he saw beneath his microscope were precisely engraved under his supervision. What potentials for transmission and transformation of that knowledge were made possible through the process of printing? How did visibly precise detail in the engraved rescaling of these minute bodies change how the 17th century experienced the monstrous?; ““ Names swallowed by the cold”: Reconstructing the Libraries of Arctic Explorers”: In the 1960s, the University of Illinois purchased the libraries of Arctic explorers Sir John Richardson and Paul-Louis Mercanton in quick succession at the request of a physiology professor researching Arctic explorers with medical backgrounds. The libraries were broken apart into individual items, classified by subject, and dispersed throughout the university library. This paper describes how these items were brought together again and re-processed as a special collection in the 21st century to promote the study of these explorers’ libraries through the wider lens of current bibliographical scholarship and a more inclusive view of what constitutes the history of science; topics that include the history of reading, the creation of reference libraries by Arctic explorers, and the networks of readers and writers within pre-World War IIEuropean scientific circles.; “Ephemera Hoping to Save Lives: The United States Breast Cancer Research Stamp”: This paper will offer a historical review of the United States Breast Cancer Research Stamp, ephemera issued by the US Postal Service. How has the stamp raised public awareness of breast cancer, and how has it helped to find a cure? This historical analysis will examine the causes and effects of the forces that opposed issuing the stamp and the forces that championed it. This tiny bit of paper has sold in the millions. Presenter Cagna will also look at the issue of how stamps and letter covers, in both archives and special collections, can be preserved and valued as part of the historical record.