Swan (Sir Joseph) Archive

Scope and Content

Sir Joseph Swan (1828-1914) was a North East physicist, chemist and inventor who is best known for his innovation in the photographic process and the invention of the incandescent light bulb. This small collection comprises of items retained by various members of the Swan family, until donated to Newcastle University in the 1960s/1970s. The collection includes personal family items such as medals and certificates, original Swan lamps and a silk dressing gown, together with items which appear to come from Sir Joseph Swan's home workshop including a number of photographic prints, presumed to date from Sir Joseph Swan's experiments with various photographic print techniques.

Access Information

Open. Please follow this link for further information about how to access items from this collection: https://www.ncl.ac.uk/library/special-collections/browse/collection_details/?id=188 .

Acquisition Information

Deposited by the Institute for Sustainability (NIReS) and various family members in 2014.

Archivist's Note

This EAD description created 7/3/2021.

Conditions Governing Use

No known copyright restrictions

Accruals

No further accruals are expected.