Enhancing the catalogue of the scientific papers of Professor Alexander Haddow, 1912-1978 (360G-Wellcome-206271_Z_17_Z)

Objectives: This cataloguing and preservation project will open up the research possibilities of the papers of Alexander John Haddow (1912-1978), entomological epidemiologist and key member of the investigative team who originally discovered the Zika virus. Details of work: The Project Archivist will improve access to the collection by providing an item-level on-line catalogue. This will allow users to discover the collections full research potential, not only of Haddow’s Zika virus research data, but also the data relating to many other mosquito-borne viruses found within the collection, including the Chikungunya virus. Primarily this will involve enhancing descriptions of the research data by indexing the viruses, vectors and data collection techniques used by Haddow and his colleagues. This will make them easily discoverable online to inexperienced users of archive collections like many in the scientific research community. To promote the collection’s long-term preservation, it will be repackaged in acid-free folders and boxes, and ferrous clips and staples will be replaced with brass paperclips. A detailed condition assessment of each item will be undertaken during cataloguing, and a preservation plan will be agreed with the Preservation manager. Taken together these two strands of work will prepare the collection for a future digitisation project.