This is great news
Viviane
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Subject: [nuncius] Marconi collection
From: "Robert Fox" <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Tue, December 7, 2004 10:43 pm
To: [log in to unmask]
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The following information was released by the University on 6 December
Marconi Corporation plc and The University of Oxford announce an agreement
to transfer the historic Marconi Collection to The Bodleian Library and
The Museum of the History of Science, both part of the University of
Oxford. Marconi has agreed to gift the Collection to the University where
it will have a safe and secure future, preserving the integrity of this
unique collection. Through the generosity of the Wireless Preservation
Society a full time archivist will be appointed to catalogue the
Collection over the next three years.
Dating from 1895, this is an unrivalled collection of Marconi artefacts,
apparatus and printed material, much of which formed the basis of early
wireless communication.
This includes:
The early patents, such as the famous “7777” patent which, in 1900, solved
the problemof multi-station operation without mutual interference; ·
Apparatus used in the first transatlantic wireless transmission of 1901;
· A wealth of historical documents including telegrams sent during
the Titanic disaster of 1912; whose subsequent Board of Enquiry endorsed
the recommendations of Guglielmo Marconi, fundamentally improving safety
at sea and saving countless lives, and
· Items relating to the birth of broadcasting, such as the
microphone used by the legendary Australian diva, Dame Nellie Melba to
broadcast the world's first live recital in 1920.
The Museum of the History of Science will put on permanent public display
some of the over 250 artefacts from the Collection. In an adjacent
building The Bodleian Library will house the thousands of papers, letters
and other printed material going back to 1895, making them available for
viewing and research access. The BAFTA award-winning website
marconicalling.com , based on the Marconi Collection, is also to be
transferred to the University. Oxford University have commenced planning
for a major exhibition of items from the Collection in the Spring of
2006.
It is expected that Oxford University will work together with the Essex
Record Office and the Museums Service in Chelmsford such that a
representative set of historic items from the Collection are on display at
an appropriate location in the town, the original home of the Marconi
Company from 1898 and the acknowledged “Birthplace of Radio”.
Further details available via the 'News release' link on the University's
home-page (http://www.ox.ac.uk)
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