Historical papers dump sites, part II

In summary, last year a thread was started to compile a list of open access historical papers. It was discovered that some of the papers were no longer open and it was later found out that this was due to "Open Access Week." Several suggestions were made for open archives, including PNAS, Einstein Collected Papers, and several German and French-language journals. Other suggestions included digitization projects from universities, online libraries, and personal websites. Some of these sources are unvetted and not all papers may be open access.
  • #1
jjustinn
164
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Late last year, I started a thread (https://www.physicsforums.com/threads/historical-paper-dump-sites.780669/#post-4907513) to solicit/compile a list of URLs with open access to historical papers; shortly after, I discovered that several of them weren't as open as they had been...This morning, I found out why: I happened to discover the during "Open access week" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_Access_Week).

So -- does anyone have any other (at least partially) open archives to suggest?

For my part, in the interim, I've branched into French- and German-language papers, and found a few more that are *actually* open...

- http://www.pnas.org/: Proceedings of the National academy of Sciences. Archive of an English-language journal that I'd never heard of, but apparently all open-access, and there are some gems...for example, Weyl's 1929 Gravitation and the Electron.

- http://einsteinpapers.press.princeton.edu/: Free online-only access to Princeton's Einstein Collected Papers series; in addition to the originals and English translations of both papers and correspondence, this includes all of their original content (notes, background essays, etc). Obviously only covers those years that have already been released (through 1923).

- http://www.digizeitschriften.de/index.php?id=239&L=2 : A ton of German-language journals; Annalen der Physik is a big one; you can also find a ton of papers by e.g. Boltzmann, Planck, Weyl, etc...but searching is a pain (I've had better luck using Google -- e.g. "h. weyl site:digizeitschriften.de")

- http://gdz.sub.uni-goettingen.de/en/dms/suche/ : Göttingen university (home of Born's group, among others) digitization project; seems to be a lot of shared content with digizeitschriften, and its interface is clumsier...the same Google search trick helps though.

- http://numdam.org/?lang=en : mostly French articles, focusing on math, but there is plenty of physics mixed in...for instance, a ton of Cartan, e.g. his "On the varieties of affine connection in general relativity", which lays out the Newton-Cartan theory. See in particular the Annales de l'Institut Henri Poincaire.

- http://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/ (or https://hal.inria.fr ?): again mostly French. The gem I found here was the Journal de Physique et Le Radium (which published e.g. Proca's major works)

- http://archive.org/: I left this out last time because everyone knows it, and its coverage is still very spotty.

- http://arxiv.org/: Also left out because it focuses on contemporary papers.

... And, for completeness, the sites I listed before (with updates)

- http://royalsocietypublishing.org: Not all open, but a good chunk of their papers are (1935 and before?). Searching across multiple journals seems to be problematic...but pretty much everything I've wanted has been from RSPA (http://rspa.royalsocietypublishing.org); [Broken] older stuff (e.g. Maxwell's papers) can be found at http://rstl.royalsocietypublishing.org.

- http://oxfordjournals.org: Seems to be more open than Royal Society, but still doesn't seem to be all open; but the Progress in Theoretical Physics archive in particular is great.

- http://neo-classical-physics.info: English translations, many from articles that aren't freely available in the original language anywhere I've found.

- http://web.ihep.su/owa/dbserv/hw.fulltextlist: Similar to the above, but more limited (and static?) selection.

- http://retro.seals.ch/digbib/browse4: mostly French; all of Helvetica Acta (Pauli & his assistants; Stueckelberg, ...)

- http://gallica.bnf.fr: Haystack of mostly-French stuff. Gems include: Comptes Rendus of the French academy of sciences, Annalen der Physik (though some crucial years are missing), 1933 Solvay Conference proceedings, surely others.

- (That user page at Princeton, which I won't link because the rest of the articles there are password-protected, so the good professor probably meant to protect these as well): Mostly experimental-physics articles, many unavailable elsewhere.

- http://www.new1.dli.ernet.in [Broken]: digital library of India: Mostly Indian papers.

- http://zfbb.thulb.uni-jena.de: Thuringia university library - digitized journal articles, especially Annalen der Physik

- http://e-collection.library.ethz.ch: The ETH library; as far as I can tell, a haystack w/ a few needles.

- http://www.fourmilab.ch/etexts/einstein/specrel/www/: Unvetted, but any site that has both Einstein and Kropotkin has to be good.

- http://www.trivialanomaly.com: unvetted; found on another thread here. A lot of dead links, but looks promising.
 
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  • #2
- http://www.mlahanas.de/Greeks/Science.htm: Unvetted, but looks good.- http://history.aip.org/history/: American Institute of Physics history center; seems to be mostly biographical material, but I haven't gone through it in detail.- http://www.library.yale.edu/einstein/: Yale's Einstein papers. Mostly correspondence, but worth a look.- http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn=urn:nbn:de:bvb:19-144240: Digital library of the Bavarian state library. Some gems (e.g. Weyl's 1923 Das Kontinuum), but mostly correspondence and reviews.- http://www.physik.uni-muenchen.de/lehre/vorlesungen/hist_phys/hist_phys.html: Munich university's historical physics page. A few papers, including some by Heisenberg and Pauli, but mostly lecture notes.- http://www.illc.uva.nl/Research/Publications/Dissertations/index.php [Broken]: Amsterdam dissertations, including some by e.g. Ehrenfest and Lorentz...but mostly not open access.
 

1. What exactly is a historical papers dump site?

A historical papers dump site is a location where documents, manuscripts, and other written materials are discarded or abandoned. These materials are usually old and no longer needed, and are often found in landfills, abandoned buildings, or even buried underground.

2. Why are these historical papers dumped instead of being preserved?

There are a variety of reasons why historical papers may end up being dumped. In some cases, the materials may have been deemed unimportant or irrelevant at the time and were simply disposed of. Other times, the cost of preserving and storing these materials may have been too high for the owner or institution responsible for them. Additionally, some papers may have been lost or forgotten over time and ended up in dump sites by accident.

3. What kind of historical papers can be found in these dump sites?

Dump sites can contain a wide range of historical papers, including personal letters, diaries, journals, legal documents, business records, and more. These papers can offer valuable insights into the lives and events of the past, making them important resources for researchers and historians.

4. How do scientists and researchers access and use historical papers from dump sites?

The process of accessing and using historical papers from dump sites can vary depending on the location and condition of the materials. In some cases, researchers may need to obtain permission from the dump site owner or government agency responsible for the site. They may also need to obtain any necessary permits or follow specific protocols for accessing and handling the materials. Once the papers are retrieved, they can be analyzed, catalogued, and used for research purposes.

5. Are there any risks or challenges associated with studying historical papers from dump sites?

Yes, there can be risks and challenges when working with historical papers from dump sites. These materials may be fragile and damaged from exposure to the elements, making them difficult to read and interpret. There may also be legal and ethical considerations to take into account, such as ownership rights and privacy concerns. Additionally, dump sites may contain hazardous materials or be located in remote or unsafe areas, posing potential risks to researchers.

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