The Research Resources in Medical History grant scheme, aiming to improve access to significant medical history collections for historians of medicine, has now been extended for a further five years to 2011.

A total of £600 000 is available each year, with grants of up to £100 000 for projects based on the cataloguing, preservation, digitisation and conservation of documentary collections, including printed books, photographic and film-based material.

Libraries, archives and repositories in the UK and the Republic of Ireland can apply, but not individuals. Collaborative projects involving historians of medicine are encouraged, including applications for small grants to identify key collections.

The scheme has two rounds of funding each year. Preliminary application deadlines are 1 January and 1 July. Full applications will be invited based on the importance of the collection to the history of medicine community.

To date, 90 successful projects have been funded (since 2001). A full list of projects is available online, but highlights include:

• digitising the admissions registersof Great Ormond Street Hospital for Sick Children (Great Ormond Street Hospital and Kingston University)
• cataloguing the papers of RD Laing (University of Glasgow)
• preserving 20th-century case notesof the Lothian Health Services Archive
• cataloguing the forensic medicine archives of Glasgow University Archives
• cataloguing and conservation ofthe archives of Broadmoor Hospital (Berkshire Record Office)
• cataloguing the archives of the Josephine Butler Society (The Women's Library, London).

See also

• Full details and application guidelines