Papers of HUMPHREY THOMAS PLEDGE, C.B.E. (1903 - 1960)

The collection was received from Mrs. Ruth Pledge. It consists of manuscript notes, drafts and working papers; there is a small amount of correspondence.

The papers had been stored for 10 years following Pledge's death and many are marked by rust and corroded metal.

Pledge spent almost the whole of his working life in the Science Museum Library, as Assistant Keeper (1927 - 45) and Keeper (1945 - 60), and is best known for his book Science since 1500, London H.M.S.O., 1939, 2nd.ed.1966.

Some of the notes in the collection, written on grey paper, were probably assembled for this book; but it is clear that throughout his life Pledge had been accumulating material for an ambitious project which would be both an encyclopedia of world history and an interpretation and synthesis of knowledge. Work on this became his main concern from (c) 1940 until his death in 1960, as is shown by the dating of his notes. His wide range of reading and thinking produced copious notes, which he re-arranged and reallocated according to an increasingly elaborate system, while the many plans and charts he devised (see Items 27 - 36) show the scale of his intention and the problems he encountered.

An account of the origin and development of his ideas is contained in Section I, Biographical Material, Items 1 - 5. The 'intellectual autobiography' addressed to Dr. K.P.Oakley in 1955 (Item1) discusses the importance for him of the history of trade-routes, maps and charts; formal properties, sets, number and dimension; chronology and synchrony; 'degrees of acquaintance'; personalities such as Hilaire Belloc; literary forms such as the Maxim. These ideas or interests can be traced in the notes and working papers. Item 4 contains Pledge's own explanation of his methods of work, his use of different coloured papers, inks or pencils, signs and abbreviations amounting to a private language, and his own interpretation of alphabetical symbols. He admits that the esoteric nature of his system, to which puns, numbers and etymologies (real or fanciful) contributed, as well as his constant revision of his categories and plans, made the notes difficult to follow, and that some were too fragmentary to convey meaning.

Some sections of the work had reached draft stage, though still subject to extensive revision; they appear as Items 37 - 39,91,92. Some, though left in note-form, could be grouped under ascertainable subject-headings. A large number were clipped or pinned in clusters or irregular shapes; they have been retained as Items 101 - 105, although they cannot be assigned to a definite topic. Others were received as loose jottings and may have been displaced or disordered after Pledge's death; no attempt has been made to regroup them.

Listed by Jeannine Alton; Harriot Weiskittel

I. Biographical material: 1 - 5

II. Bibliographies: 6 - 7

III. Articles, addresses, essays: 8 - 13

IV. MSS drafts and synopses for proposed publications: 14 - 20

V. Drafts and notes for Maxims: 21 - 26

VI. Working papers and notes: 27 - 119

VII. Correspondence

Deposited in 1974

Summary of Pledge's career

b. 1903

1916 - 21 Educated at Tonbridge School

1921 - 25 Trinity College, Cambridge (Senior Science Exhibitioner) Natural Sciences Tripos, Class I

1925 - 26 Assistant Master, Wrekin School

1927 - 45 Assistant Keeper, Science Museum Library, South Kensington

1934 Married Ruth Brown

1939 Science since 1500, London H.M.S.O.

1945 - 60 Keeper, Science Museum Library

1960 C.B.E.