He gained a London University scholarship in 1920 and went to Imperial College to study geology and zoology.
Bulman went on to a PhD degree jointly with James Stubblefield on the lower Palaeozoic of the Wrekin district, of Shropshire in 1926.
Work on the Palaeontographical Society's monograph British Dendroid Graptolites (1927 and 1928) earned him a Cambridge PhD degree in 1928.
[4] The collection contains correspondence with contemporaries including Harry B. Whittington and Barry Rickards mostly concerning Graptolite research.
There is also correspondence relating to the Paleontological Society and Palaeontological Association as well as international conferences and some committee meeting notes and papers.