The Archives of James Dinwiddie: A Guide
Collection Number: MS-2-726Fonds-level description created by Dalhousie University Archives staff
Electronic version prepared by Kathryn Harvey, April 2007
Collection Level Description
Title: James Dinwiddie fonds
Dates: 1767-1815
Extent: 2.16 metres of textual records
Dr. James Dinwiddie was born in 1746 at Dumfries, Scotland. He graduated from Edinburgh University in 1778. In 1779 he began writing his series "Queries and Hints", which were scientific journals covering a wide variety of subjects. His fields of research included history, physics, chemistry, engineering, military tactics, and many other diverse topics. In 1781 Dinwiddie embarked upon a lecture series around the United Kingdom on various scientific topics. In 1792 he was invited to join Lord Macartney's embassy to China, as an "experimentalist" and "mechanic". He performed several scientific experiments and demonstrated numerous apparatus for the imperial court. When the embassy left for the return voyage to Britain, Dinwiddie asked to be left behind and went to India. He continued to lecture in India, and was appointed Professor of Mathematics, Natural Philosophy, and Chemistry at the College of Fort William. Dinwiddie left Calcutta in September 1806, and resettled in London, where he continued to lecture and write in his scientific journals. He was an active member of the Royal Institution of Great Britain up until his death in 1815.
Return to the Table of Contents
James Dinwiddie's records were found in the basement of Mrs. Barbara Bisson's house at Halifax, Nova Scotia in 1997. How the records got there has yet to be determined. Dinwiddie's records were given to Professor David Sutherland of Dalhousie University's History Department in January 1998. He passed them on to the University Library and they were accepted by the Dalhousie University Archives. The donation was formally accessioned 7 January 1999.
Return to the Table of Contents
No further accruals are expected.
Return to the Table of Contents
Fonds consists of the personal papers of Dr. James Dinwiddie which include his lecture notes, scientific journals, notebooks, manuscript, early experiments for 1774, correspondence, and personal journals and also some records from the Royal Institution for 1808-1814. The papers also include the journals of W.J. Proudfoot and a biography of his father (and Dinwiddie's son-in-law) James Proudfoot.
Much of the material was already bound together and organized into various sections when it arrived, and for the bulk of this material that arrangement was maintained.
Return to the Table of Contents
A file list is available onsite. A website for the fonds is also available at http://www.library.dal.ca/DUASC/Digital-Collections/Dinwiddie/.
Return to the Table of Contents
All records are open.
Return to the Table of Contents
[Identification of item], James Dinwiddie fonds, MS-2-726 Dalhousie University Archives and Special Collections, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.
Return to the Table of Contents
w |