The Letters of George Francis Fitzgerald
Sarah Wall, RDS Library & Archives Volunteer, discusses her experience of cataloguing letters sent from W.G. Bond to George Francis Fitzgerald.
Hi, my name is Sarah, and I am in my third year of studying history and political science in Trinity College Dublin. I decided to apply for work experience in the RDS Library & Archives as I wanted to explore archiving as a potential avenue for when I graduate. I was interested in seeing the other side of source materials which I use for research purposes in my studies and wanted to understand the processes used to restore and grant access to such material, as well as getting to work with interesting sources in the process.
Throughout my work experience in the Library & Archives I have catalogued, digitised, and organised a number of historical collections, ranging from glass slides from Egypt to Dublin Horse Show advertisements. I had a particular interest in the George F. Fitzgerald collection of letters (linked here: George Francis Fitzgerald Letters · RDS), and specifically those written by W. G. Bond which I catalogued. Fitzgerald (1851 – 1901) is celebrated for his contribution to physics, albeit understated due to his tendency to make scientific recommendations to other physicists, such as his correspondence with Larmor regarding ideas about electron theory, rather than publishing them under his own name. Meanwhile, Bond is practically untraceable in comparison, making the contribution of this collection especially significant.
Through transcribing these letters, I was privy to the personal correspondents between the two electrical engineers, often concerned with scientific discoveries, academic politics, and the scientific journal The Electrician. The relationship between Fitzgerald and Bond seems to be rather professional with the subject being invariably related to science and business, yet the personal nature of the letters enables insight into private communications such as Bond’s criticism of ‘the policy of the managers of [The Electrician]’ as well as his requests to Fitzgerald for favours and advice regarding topics such as ‘submarine-cable’ transmission schemes. The different information to be gained within private and personal letters as opposed to public correspondence is exemplified in Bond’s query regarding whether any ‘indecent epistles from mathematicians’ came from Dublin. The professional undertone to their seemingly amicable and co-operative relationship is witnessed in Bond’s dissatisfaction with the ‘rate’ of Fitzgerald’s ‘remuneration’.
I used Dublin Core on Omeka to catalogue these letters, with transcription being the primary step in the process. At times it was challenging due to the technical and scientific jargon employed to discuss topics with which I am unfamiliar, combined with handwriting which could prove difficult to decipher in certain instances. However, after a number of attempts I settled into a method of transcribing that which was clear to me first and subsequently returning to decipher ambiguous words by comparing individual letters to those in clearer words, as well as using the wider context of the letter and additional research of names to clarify other mysterious elements. If I were to repeat the task, I would consider ordering the dates of the letters before beginning the transcription process as I feel this element of chronology may provide a helpful bigger picture, placing complicated scientific discussions in the context of ideas or issues being discussed by Bond and Fitzgerald over certain periods of time.
I was very inspired by this task due to the apparent lack of awareness of Bond’s work within the scientific community. The cataloguing of private letters between a well-known physicist and a seemingly unsung correspondent reveals an interesting avenue of research regarding the contributors to physics in the 19th century, as well as the operation of The Electrician, which Bond appears to have been significantly involved in. These exchanges may well fill in gaps regarding the development of scientific theory and academia, providing new thought processes and recommendations which may have been unheard of otherwise. Considering Fitzgerald’s acclaimed contributions to physics, it seems logical that his correspondents may well have influenced, developed, or benefitted from these ideas.
The importance of digitising historical sources is increasingly salient, with online sources becoming the default in much research, in my own experience at least. Through digitising collections such as the George F. Fitzgerald collection, the accessibility of research is increased exponentially, allowing for the academic field to be extended and developed. As well as this, the process of digitising itself brings the sources to life, with the cataloguing process allowing potentially unread primary sources to be perceived in a completely different context from that in which it was created.