Making science accessible: Matthew Blair ’26 is digitizing hundreds of issues of student-run magazine

Hundreds of issues of “The Yale Scientific Magazine,” the oldest collegiate scientific publication in the country, are now available to researchers in digitized format on EliScholar, the library’s online platform for scholarly publishing.

Matthew Blair ’26—majoring in the History of Science, Medicine, and Public Health—has been involved in the magazine since his first semester at Yale. At the end of the 2023 fall term, in addition to his role as editor, he became the magazine’s first-ever archivist.

“This digitization effort,” Blair said, “was undertaken with the belief—and in the tradition of the magazine—that accessible science is meaningful science.”

Blair’s goal was to create an online resource that makes the publication’s valuable content from past issues widely available to the magazine’s readership, the broader Yale community, and historians and researchers worldwide.

Creating the archive

The physical archive of the publication—which Alex Dong ’24, the magazine’s former editor in chief, established in 2023—is housed in the library of Benjamin Franklin College, Blair’s residential college. The archival issues came out of storage, the dust was brushed off, and through the long process of digitizing the text, nearly 150 years of historical, boundary-breaking scientific thought was once again brought to light.

“The long history of the magazine,” Blair said, “has been marked by journalistic excellence, scientific rigor, and the accessible communication of scientific thought.”

Blair drew on the many resources that Yale and Yale Library provide. He worked closely with University Archivist Michael Lotstein, Associate University Archivist Jeanne Lowrey, and others throughout the Yale Library system.  In the project’s early stages, Lotstein and Lowrey helped Blair turn his idea into a reality, advising him on best practices and standards for creating a digital archive.

Blair also worked closely with Customer Service Representative Trish Smith and her team at Yale Printing and Publishing Services to digitize the materials. Other partners in the project included Milton Young and Joseph Cerro in the Yale Science and Engineering Association; Bethany Seeger, Lindsay Barnett, and Melissa Grafe at Yale Library; Benjamin Gaunt at Eli Scholar; and Head Jordan Peccia and Maria Bouffard at Benjamin Franklin College.

To date, there are 377 issues of “The Yale Scientific Magazine” available in EliScholar, and the digitization work is ongoing.

About ‘The Yale Scientific Magazine’

In 1894, the senior class of Sheffield Scientific School (a school of Yale College) established the magazine as “Yale Scientific Monthly,” with installments issued from October to June. The magazine’s stated purpose was the “investigation, discovery, discussion, and statement of facts.”

The magazine disbanded in 1918, but after a nine-year hiatus, resumed print publication as “The Yale Scientific Magazine.” Today, run by a team of more than 200 students, the magazine publishes a quarterly print edition, reaching approximately 2,000 subscribers. 

In 2003, “The Yale Scientific Magazine” launched its website and, later, an online blog called “The Scope,” which covers a variety of interdisciplinary topics. The magazine also sponsors Synapse, a Yale Dwight Hall member group and student organization, which leads community-outreach efforts to cultivate interest in research and science in students of all ages.

About EliScholar

EliScholar is Yale Library’s digital repository of collections, journals, dissertations, and theses. In keeping with Yale University’s mission to “create, preserve, and disseminate knowledge,” it promotes the online publication, discovery, and accessibility of scholarly materials.

Through EliScholar, anyone in the world can freely access Yale scholarship in a wide range of disciplines. The platform highlights faculty publications, student research, conference proceedings, monographs, open-access journals, and student publications such as “The Yale Scientific Magazine.”

The University Archives is the official repository for the historical records of Yale University, which includes the records housed in EliScholar.

“The University Archives actively collects the publications of student organizations across the Yale community,” Lotstein said. “It is critically important that the historical record of Yale University include as many voices as possible, especially those of students and student organizations.”

Access hundreds of past issues of “The Yale Scientific Magazine” on EliScholar.

Visit the “Yale Scientific” website.