Documenting the understanding of human intelligence: preserving and cataloguing the papers of Professor Sir Godfrey Thomson (1881-1955)

The papers of Professor Sir Godfrey Thomson are immensely important to the study of human intelligence. His research papers and teaching materials reflect his influences and initiatives, and how his career developed from training as a physicist in Strasbourg to holding the Bell Chair of Education at Edinburgh (1925 to 1951) and being chair of the Scottish Mental Survey 1947. His later work investigated the existence of potential links between intelligence and fertility, working with the Population Investigation Committee and the Eugenics Society. His papers were left to Edinburgh University Library so that the records could be fully documented, placed in context, properly preserved, publicised and made available to the research community. The papers, including a substantial amount of typescript material, have been digitised and there is an online catalogue.