Documentary evidence

Most medical scientists depend on a regular supply of biological materials and ‘consumables’ - the cells, tissues, chemicals and so on they need to do their research. By contrast, the raw material of the historian, more often that not, is the documentation recording past human endeavour. The paper-based records of libraries and archives are very much the natural habitat of the historical researcher, although records in other media - film, video, oral history and electronic resources - are of growing importance.

An occupational hazard rarely faced by the medical researcher, however, relates to the fragile nature of much of this raw material. Books, journals, papers, reports, letters or other documents do not necessarily last forever. Without due care and attention, they may deteriorate to such an extent that the information contained within them is effectively lost. Moreover, archives or other collections are only useful if scholars can actually access the material. Classification or cataloguing and access systems are also important if researchers are to make best use of a potentially significant resource.

The UK is relatively fortunate in having a mature infrastructure of libraries and repositories. Nevertheless, it is clear that much material of potential interest to historians of medicine is in danger of being lost and, in addition, that many bodies simply do not have the funds to mount proper cataloguing and access programmes. An independent survey carried out for the Wellcome Trust last year by Michael Smethurst, previously Director-General of the British Library, revealed that many libraries and repositories are concerned about the fragile condition of their material, a view backed up by a parallel survey of researchers who use these collections. One Royal College library estimated that 70 per cent of its book stock needed urgent conservation treatment, while a university library with particularly rich holdings in the history of medicine felt that 50 per cent of its books and 10 per cent of its archives were in need of urgent attention.

The survey highlighted a serious and widespread problem, which the Trust’s new initiative with the British Library aims to address. The Trust is providing £1 million, over two years, to support programmes of work that improve access to important collections of material of potential interest to historians of medicine. Through a competitive grants scheme, which will be administered by the British Library, institutions throughout the UK will be able to apply for funds to improve accessibility to their collections – for example, through a programme of conservation work, or by undertaking a cataloguing project allowing access via the Internet, or by carrying out a survey of collections to create a new database. The preservation of the financial records of Burroughs Wellcome & Co. is just one example where a highly significant historical document has been brought to light by proper cataloguing and preserved for posterity. The new scheme will fit well with a number of other national strategies currently being developed by bodies such as the British Library and the National Council on Archives.

The examples given here are not intended to be prescriptive. Any institution will be able to apply, though they must be able to maintain access at the end of the project. The key point is that historians - now and in future generations - will be better able to access rich resources that shed light on the development of medicine and medical science. The initiative reflects the Wellcome Trust’s aim of ensuring that the researchers it funds - biomedical or historical - have access to the resources they need in order to carry out high-quality research.

As the philosopher George Santayana once remarked, those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it. More than that though, we need to understand the past - and for that we need both original material from the historical record and a highly skilled academic labour force able to interpret it.

The details of the initiative are currently being finalized. It will run for two years, in 2001 and 2002, and will be advertised in the specialist press.

See also

• Accounting for the history of Wellcome: Article describing the preservation of a Burroughs Wellcome & Co. account ledger
• History of Medicine Library

External links

• The British Library
• National Council on Archives