The Bateman Manuscript Project was a major effort at collation and encyclopedic compilation of the mathematical theory of special functions.
The theory of special functions was a core activity of the field of applied mathematics, from the middle of the nineteenth century to the advent of high-speed electronic computing.
Mathematical tables to perform actual calculations needed to mesh with an adequate theory of how functions could be transformed into those already tabulated.
Harry Bateman, a distinguished applied mathematician, undertook the somewhat quixotic task of trying to collate the content of the very large literature.
In 2007, the Askey–Bateman project was announced by Mourad Ismail as a five- or six-volume encyclopedic book series on special functions, based on the works of Harry Bateman and Richard Askey.