Global efforts at bibliographical description and enumeration have always built on previous work. From Pliny to Gesner, to Otlet through Neugebauer, each generation of bibliographers reuses the remains of the previous. Necessary promotional—heroic chronology obscures both the achievements and the limitations of the previous project. Earlier projects often become mere rhetorical backdrops to celebrate how up-to-date we now are.

This paper proposes a way of thinking of the legacy of these moments of transitions and reuse by looking carefully at the National Union Catalogue of Pre-1956 Imprints (NUC56). Originally funded by the Rockefeller Foundation, later by the War Department of the United States, the project eventually acquired a combination of Federal funding and sales-supported revenue to publish a behemoth. Comprising over eight-hundred volumes with supplements, every up-to-date library had several copies for patrons and internal use. In terms of coverage, it has still never been equalled. Yet throughout twenty-first century, planners have been struggling with whether or not to throw away copies to reclaim much-needed space.

But rather than giving a history of digital boosterism obscuring human labour, I outline the cultural and intellectual outcomes of the project. Efforts at global bibliography, I argue, salvage the legacy of the NUC56--in particular--along with projects like it. This paper outlines the beginning of an approach to thinking of how we reuse the monuments of our predecessors.

This paper examines the implications of digitizing material objects from history of science collections, drawing on theoretical and historical perspectives to understand the transition of objects from physical archives to digital spaces. Inspired by the pivotal article “From Shelves to Cyberspace: Organization of Knowledge and the Complex Identity of History of Science” by Alfonso-Goldfarb et al., which explored the transformation of libraries through digitalization, this study seeks to extend the discourse to encompass material objects. The digital revolution has profoundly altered the ways in which knowledge is organized and accessed, introducing new user-oriented methodologies and breaking disciplinary boundaries. These shifts raise critical questions: What changes when physical objects are transformed into digital representations? How does this affect their epistemic and historical value? By investigating the technological, conceptual, and archival frameworks underpinning digitalization, this paper highlights the dual nature of this transition—its potential to democratize access and the challenges of preserving the materiality and context of objects. The study situates digitization within a broader historical process, emphasizing its role in reshaping the relationships between knowledge, users, and institutions. The aim is to explore how digitized objects might evolve into epistemic entities in their own right, while provoking questions and uncovering the tensions and opportunities that emerge from this transformation.

Prof José Luiz Goldfarb
Dr Raissa Bombini

In my talk I present an outline of the fundamental role played by archives, texts, transcriptions, translations & commentaries research, which include (when possible) original/copies of manuscripts. These kinds of projects point out the relationship between digital and non-digital archives/materials to be explored within historical foundations of physical and mathematical sciences research, as well. I present some examples of the historical foundations of the archival used materials and published. They may be helpful in understanding how certain archives and current bibliographical tools work for the benefit of scholars (in particular, historians) using them. I will face with the fundamental role played by archives, texts, transcriptions, translations & commentaries research, which include (when possible) original/copies of manuscripts. Examples on Torricelli's Opera Geometrica-1644, Galiani's Manuscripts Osservazioni on Principia (1700-1708), Lazare Carnot's Mechanics-1786–1803/Sadi Carnots Thermodynamics-1824 archives/unknown collections, and a Archive Web-Platform Project (in progress), et al. complete my presentation.

The context of this presentation is related to our work on the ever‐evolving Encyclopedia of Australian Science and Innovation. This is an integrated, expansive, and connected online resource that links bibliographies, archives, biographies, and the history of science and innovation. Our recent work has involved adding key events: such as the formation of Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) 1888 and the Australian National Research Council (ANRC) 1921; scientific expeditions to Antarctica, Central and Northern Australia, and the Pacific; and the meeting in Australia of the British Association for the Advancement of Science in 1914. Then researching, adding, and linking related bibliographic material; adding, amending, and linking biographies about the key players; identifying their innovations and inventions; and recording their contribution to Australian, Australasian or International science and technology.
While undertaking this work, we became acutely aware of the value of the front and back matter in journals, and that often this matter was left out when journals had been bound, and again when those volumes had been digitised.
This presentation will illustrate by case studies and examples, the value of this material in researching the history of science and technology, and confirm the need to retain, digitise and make findable prefaces, content, abstracts, information about editors and authors, membership lists, indexes and advertisements in journals.