Identity area
Reference code
Title
Date(s)
- 1859-2002 (Creation)
Level of description
Extent and medium
13 archive boxes, 1 case enclosing Nobel Prize certificate in gilt-embossed leather folder, 1 small box of glass slides.
Photographs (loose and in albums); negatives; correspondence and visiting cards; newspaper cuttings (loose and in albums); financial papers; orders of service; menus; offprints; research notes; material relating to publications; biographical material; notes for speeches; school reports; diaries; scrapbooks; family trees and other genealogical material; honorary degree certificates; G. P. Thomson's Nobel Prize certificate; film reels; vinyl disc; VHS tapes.
Context area
Name of creator
Biographical history
Archival history
Immediate source of acquisition or transfer
Content and structure area
Scope and content
The papers in this collection are mostly those of J. J. Thomson, his wife Rose, and their children George and Joan. Papers of George's children John and David largely relate to biographies, commemorative events (particularly re the 1997 centenary of the discovery of the electron) and memorials to their father and grandfather, although a few personal papers of theirs are included.
See inventory for more details.
Appraisal, destruction and scheduling
Accruals
System of arrangement
Conditions of access and use area
Conditions governing access
NOTE. These papers have not yet been catalogued, but it might be possible to make them available for consultation provided at least a fortnight's notice is given. It may be that some items, owing to their contents or condition, cannot yet be produced. Please contact the Library for further details.
Conditions governing reproduction
Language of material
- English
- French
- German
Script of material
Language and script notes
Physical characteristics and technical requirements
Finding aids
These papers have not yet been catalogued, but a detailed inventory of them has been made. See the attached PDF.
Uploaded finding aid
Allied materials area
Existence and location of originals
Existence and location of copies
Related units of description
Earlier papers received at Trinity from the Thomson family were catalogued under the references THMJ I, THMJ II, and THMG.
Papers in the possession of Adam Thomson relating to the Paget family (including some papers of Rose Thomson, née Paget) were given to the University Library, Cambridge, and are now catalogued under the reference MS Add.10379. Papers relating to Sir George Adam Smith (father of G. P. Thomson's wife Kathleen) and family were given to the National Library of Scotland.
Notes area
Alternative identifier(s)
Access points
Subject access points
Place access points
Name access points
- Thomson, Sir Joseph John (1856-1940), knight, physicist (Subject)
- Thomson, Rose Elizabeth (1860-1951), wife of Sir Joseph John Thomson (Subject)
- Thomson, Sir George Paget (1892-1975), knight, physicist and Nobel laureate (Subject)
- Thomson, Kathleen Buchanan (1900-1941), wife of Sir George Paget Thomson (Subject)
- Charnock, Joan Paget (1903-1987), daughter of Sir Joseph John Thomson, author (Subject)
- Thomson, Sir John Adam (1927-2018), diplomatist (Subject)
- Thomson, David Paget (1931-2022), merchant banker (Subject)