Putting Flesh on the Bones: cataloguing and digitising the Calvin Wells Archive (360G-Wellcome-206177_Z_17_Z)

Calvin Wells (CW) is regarded to be the founding father of palaeopathology in the UK. His archive comprises books, offprints, notebooks, correspondence, poems, photographs, negatives, slides, radiographs, microfilms and videocassettes relating to the medical humanities in general and palaeopathology specifically. The data within the archive pertains to archaeological human remains, many of which have now been reburied or lost. Access to primary data, notes and images will allow researchers to reassess CW’s work, while the broader archive offers insights into his fascinating life. On his death in 1978 CW’s archive was curated by his widow, Freddie Wells, and deposited with the University of Bradford. On arrival, the archive was split between the University library and the palaeopathology laboratory (then named the Calvin Wells Laboratory, now the Biological Anthropology Research Centre) and became intermixed with other paperwork and images in the lab. This project aims to disentangle the lab archive and true CW Archive, reunite the two halves of the CW archive, fully catalogue and conserve the material held and digitise images for preservation. The final archive will be deposited with Special Collections, JB Priestley Library, University of Bradford, allowing researchers to access and interrogate it easily.