Hawking Archive made available to historians and researchers

After being transferred to Cambridge by the Hawking Family in 2021, the scientific and personal archive of Professor Stephen Hawking has been fully catalogued and is now available to all who might benefit from access to it at Cambridge University Library.

The Hawking Archive contains not only his scientific papers but personal correspondence and mementoes which brings into focus an incredible life and career as one of the most famous scientists (and personalities) of the 20^th and 21st centuries.

Across 113 boxes of archive material is a treasure trove of tens of thousands of pages of papers relating to his work on theoretical physics, early drafts of his bestselling A Brief History of Time, as well as photographs and scripts from films and TV series like The Simpsons, The X Files and Futurama. Also included are souvenirs from his encounters with Popes, Presidents and the public.

There are also touching personal letters to and from his parents and wider family, including one of the first dictated using his now famous communication system, acquired after his tracheostomy in 1986.

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"I’m writing this letter on my new computer which also speaks but a bit like a Dalek with an American accent."

"It is very useful for communicating but it is too big to carry around. However I have another one which I may be able to get fixed to my chair."

Archive letter from Stephen Hawking to his mother and father, January 1986

Portrait of Professor Hawking, 2015. Credit: Andre Pattenden

The catalogue publication and public availability of the Hawking Archive coincides with a special collection of Hawking papers in the latest issue of the Science Museum Group Journal featuring a paper from the Library’s Dr Katrina Dean, Keeper of Archives and Modern Manuscripts, and Hawking Archivist Susan Gordon.

The journal includes other Hawking papers from experts at the Science Museum exploring one of the most significant scientific acquisitions in recent history.

The Science Museum is home to Professor Hawking’s former office – a unique collection of more than 1,000 objects transferred from the University of Cambridge in 2021.

A birthday greeting sent by then US President Bill Clinton

A birthday greeting sent by then US President Bill Clinton

Professor Hawking’s family wanted his work to be made freely available to future generations of scientists and struck a landmark Acceptance in Lieu (AIL) agreement with HMRC, the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, Cambridge University Library and Science Museum Group in 2021.

The agreement means that thousands of pages of Hawking’s scientific and other papers remain in Cambridge, while objects including his wheelchairs, speech synthesisers, and personal memorabilia are displayed at the Science Museum.

The letter written with his new communications system in which Hawking compares his new voice synthesiser to that of a Dalek

The letter written with his new communications system in which Hawking compares his new voice synthesiser to that of a Dalek

The Library’s cataloguing process has also revealed just how active a campaigner Hawking was for issues such as nuclear disarmament, disability rights and for scientific colleagues trapped behind the Iron Curtain during the Cold War.

While his campaigning work is known, the Library’s archive reveals just how committed Hawking was to this work on a local level, as well as nationally and internationally.

A letter written by a young Stephen Hawking to his father

A letter written by a young Stephen Hawking to his father

Among the Library’s papers are letters sent to officials at The Royal Society, The Royal Opera House, and Cambridge Arts Theatre – through which he demanded better disabled access to their buildings, often citing the Chronically Sick and Disabled Persons Act 1970, and writing persistently, sometimes over a period of years, to berate presidents and chief executives alike about the lack of progress made.

"I wrote to you a few years ago about the lack of facilities for disabled people in the Royal Opera House. I knew that you had recently spent a lot of money on improvements so I expected the situation would now be better.

"However, on my visit to the Meistersinger last night I found the arrangements were just as bad as ever. I had to be carried to my seat by two attendants, carried out and back again during the interval and carried out at the end when they succeeded in dropping me.

"It was not the fault of the attendants, they did their best, but there is no proper provision for the disabled."

A 1982 letter to from Hawking to Sir John Tooley, General Director of the Royal Opera House

A letter written by a young Stephen Hawking to his father

An image of Professor Hawking projected onto Senate House, Cambridge University. Credit: Sir Cam

As well as disability access, the archive contains material highlighting his worry at the threat of a nuclear World War Three, with letters from Cambridge’s Newnham Against the Bomb as well as Scientists Against Nuclear Arms, and Hawking’s CND badge.

Elsewhere, the archive shows how the famed cosmologist sought to preserve the human rights and freedom of movement for colleagues in the Cold War Soviet Union, including Andrei Sakharov, the physicist, human rights activist and Nobel Peace Prize Laureate.

Watch our 2021 film about the Hawking Archive featuring members of the Hawking Family as well as former colleagues of Professor Hawking

Hawking Archivist Susan Gordon, who has spent the past 28 months cataloguing the extraordinary collection of papers, said: "The Library’s Stephen Hawking Archive documents not only his journey to becoming one of the preeminent theoretical physicists of his time, but also how his efforts to communicate science to a general audience catapulted him to the status of pop cultural icon.

An extract from an episode of The Simpsons with Professor Hawking's lines highlighted in yellow

An extract from an episode of The Simpsons with Professor Hawking's lines highlighted in yellow

"The papers also reveal how the same tenacity Hawking displayed in his professional career was applied to advocating for causes he believed in, including disability rights and accessibility.

"He started using assistive technology for communication, both written and spoken, during the digital revolution and it was fascinating to see how he interacted with developments in computer technology.

"He was a very early adopter of the personal computer, with bespoke modifications and programmes made to assist him, and was also involved with researchers and inventors pioneering alternative communication technologies.

"The archive will be a unique resource for researchers interested in Hawking’s scientific work and academic life, his personal life, popular science communication, disability rights, assistive technology, and celebrity. No single thread sits in isolation, they were interwoven in the tapestry of Hawking’s life, including glimpses into how he felt about their convergence."

Hawking Archivist Susan Gordon

The paper Gordon and Dr Katrina Dean have written for the Science Museum Group Journal looks at the challenges presented to libraries and their archivists in acquiring archives of this nature, especially given the hybrid nature of traditional and digital content so prevalent in Professor Hawking’s scientific and personal artefacts.

"The Stephen Hawking Archive shows how working and communication methods of scientists and authors have changed since the 1960s, from producing handwritten drafts and letters to typescripts, slides, diagrams, word processed documents and digital files," added Dean.

"Hawking adapted his working methods due to the impact of his condition and the complications arising from it on his handwriting and voice. The archive shows how he collaborated with other scientists, worked with assistants, and used assistive communications technology.

"Working with the archive has impacted the way I think about creative and scientific processes, and what it means to create an original document. It highlights the importance of digital archives and the challenges of curating them."

Dr Katrina Dean, Cambridge University Library

Published on July 12, 2024
Additional images by Lizzie Woodman and Stuart Roberts

The text in this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License

Cambridge University's tribute to Professor Hawking following his death in 2018