In April this year I was delighted to begin work on an exciting new donation to the library, the papers of Robert Williamson. Having recently completed a postgraduate in Archival Studies and working at the library since 2019 I was thrilled to be tasked with the archiving of this collection into our holdings. Professor Robert Williamson (b.1938) is a retired British- Australian Molecular Biologist specialised in the mapping, gene indentification and diagnosis of human genetic disorders. His father John Williamson was a prominent communist active in the USA and in the Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB) who later became the Librarian at the Marx Memorial Library.

The material includes ephemera, correspondence and organisational records covering the period 1945 to 1983 and focussed in the main on Scotland, England and the USA. The papers document the political activities, activism and professional roles in which Robert has been engaged throughout his life. Much of this material is concerned with the interaction of areas such as education, medicine and science with socialist thought and in relation to various progressive, left-wing and communist movements, organisations and political parties. This in particular includes the Anti- Apartheid Movement (AAM), the Committee of 100 and wider peace movements including the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND).

Initial sorting, box-listing and appraisal work began along with checks against our catalogue for material already held at the library, this led to the careful and considered work of arrangement. The papers were subsequently arranged into four series- Professional Papers, Communist Party of Great Britain (CPBG) Papers, Trade Union Papers, and Campaigning & Activism Papers.

Further contextual research was conducted whilst working with the collection leading to the materials description to file level with some item level description also being included. This was followed by full cataloguing to ISAD standards using our in-house archival management system. The collection is now fully searchable on our online catalogue and we welcome researchers to explore this rich collection.

Adam Sach, Volunteer & Archive Assistant