DNA on Display: Strandlines community visits King's Archive

 On 23 February 2011, King's College London Archives hosted a local event organised by the Strandlines Digital Community. A diverse group spent the afternoon exploring many of the treasures of our archives including artifacts and documents from our DNA collection. Information and anecdotes about the collection were provided by Patricia Methven, Head of King's College Archives and senior archivist Geoff Browell. A project blog on the Strandlines website provides a more comprehensive coverage of the day plus feedback from a number of visitors (http://www.strandlines.net/blog/archives-afternoon-23rd-february-2011).

Strandlines event at King's College London archives on the 23 February 2011

As the DNA & Social Responsibility project assistant, I was delighted to see the level of interest and enthusiasm for the DNA collection, whether it was copies of 'Photo 51' or the 'wire model of DNA'. Not only were people awe-struck by the beauty and importance of DNA artefacts and photographs but they were also charmed by the more personal items of our collection such as 'Radium Island', the boyhood adventure story by Maurice Wilkins. Overall, it was good to see that visitors come away appreciating the long tradition of scientific innovation at King's and the beneficial role that the archives can play in the local community.

New Flickr Set and Project Update

Apologies for not updating any fresh content sooner but we have been busy here at King's College Archives regarding the Maurice Wilkins collection having participated in the recent "Story of London" festival where Maurice- and the scientific tradition of King's College London- were given star billing. The event allowed us to showcase some of the highlights of the collection and show off some of the numerous artifacts that we have alongside paper records with the collection. These include a number of X-ray diffraction cameras including the microcamera that Rosalind Franklin took 'Photo 51' with. Visitors also got to read extracts from the letters of Maurice Wilkins to Francis Crick and John T Randall from the early fifties and peruse are large photographic collection that ranges from X-ray diffraction images of DNA to official photographs of the 1962 Nobel Prize ceremony.

Hopefully there be shortly be a video of the evening that I can post and give a bit more body of the structure of the night and elaborate on its highlights (such as an unexpected appearance from Maurice Wilkins...).

In other news, I have just added a new Flickr set that gives a sample of the photographic images we have in the collection. The set can be found on the link below (or alternatively click on the photostream at the bottom of the page):

http://www.flickr.com/photos/51665752@N04/sets/72157625030543691/