The library holdings include collections of manuscript resources important both for the history of science in general and for that of Florence in particular. The undoubtedly most significant of these is the "Archivio del Reale Museo di Fisica e Storia Naturale di Firenze" (ARMU, Archive of the Royal Museum of Physics and Natural History of Florence). Also of note are the documents collected in the "Archivio dei Congressi degli Scienziati Italiani" (IRIS, Congresses of Italian Scientists Archive) and those related to the 1.st National Exhibition of the history of science (1929).
The library owns also the Fabbroni Collection (an archive of the letters and documents pertaining to the intense scientific-naturalistic research activity of Giovanni Fabbroni, the vice-director and then, from 1805 to 1807, the director of the Reale Museo di Fisica e Storia Naturale di Firenze), the Corsini Collection (including the extensive correspondence of Andrea Corsini, from 1927 the first director of the Istituto e Museo di Storia della Scienza) and many other small- and medium-sized collections that focus primarily on the activities and works of Italian scientists and historians of science, and consist mainly of manuscript but also typewritten and printed materials.
The cataloguing of the archival material is ongoing.
The archival description reflects the hierarchical structure of the collections, describing the single series and (if present) the files. The description of each document, accommodated in a content note, records its title, author, extent and date.
SEARCH the Archive
Links:
List of the manuscript archival collections
ARMU (Archive of the Florence Royal Museum of Physics and Natural History)
IRIS (Archive of the Congresses of Italian Scientists)
