Now that over seven months have passed since I started this project – it is time for another update! Most of my time so far has involved looking closely at all of the archive material relating to Major General Sir Frederick Smith, which is the first stage of cataloguing the collection. I needed to look […]
In my previous blog post about cataloguing Fred Smith, I had got as far as a huge database of information about all of the papers in the collection. In this post I will describe the next stage of the process – archival arrangement. An archivist’s job, when making historic material more accessible to researchers, is […]
After completing the listing and arranging of the Frederick Smith collection, I now move onto the nitty gritty of archive work – writing descriptions. You can see the descriptions I’ve completed so far on our newly launched archive catalogue, and I have linked to specific records on the catalogue as examples below. This stage essentially […]
After months of development and tweaking, I am now very happy to show the world our fantastic new Digital Collections website! My most recent blog posts have described the cataloguing process – with the end result of the online archive catalogue. The Digital Collections site serves the other main aim of the RCVS Vet History […]
Today, 19th April, marks 160 years since the birth of Frederick Smith in 1857. I’m going to take this opportunity to tell you a bit more about the man, and what I like about him, after spending over a year working with his papers. Potted History of Smith Smith was born in Hull, in 1857, […]
This year, RCVS Knowledge were very pleased to participate in an internship scheme organised by the Kings College London History department. MA student Abbie Latham spent a few months with us, reading and transcribing Fred Smith’s Boer War letters. She also recorded the following podcast, in which she explores aspects of the letters relating to […]
From February to April this year, RCVS Knowledge were very pleased to welcome Claudia Watts, an MA History student from King’s College London. As part of her studies, Claudia was tasked with selecting highlights from Fred Smith’s veterinary case notes, and digitising and transcribing them for us. The results are now published in our Digital […]
[Please note: Due to the high number of responses to this call for volunteers, we are currently unable to accept any more people onto the project. We hope to expand the project in the future, so please keep an eye on this blog for further opportunities.] The Vet History team have been quiet on this […]
This is the first of a series of blog posts by PhD student Jane Davidson, who began her studies with RCVS Knowledge and the University of Kent in Autumn 2019. Click here for more information about this project, or follow Jane’s Twitter feed and hashtag #phdbythesea I imagine that this period of change and disruption […]
This Friday is our Annual Royal College Day – which due to the COVID-19 pandemic will be the first to involve a virtual AGM! The Annual General Meeting has taken place since the very beginning of the RCVS in 1844, with official announcements published in the London Gazette, and voting for new Council members recorded […]
