Henry Wellcome's Library re-launches

15 February 2007

The return to 183 Euston Road

The Wellcome Library, Europe's largest resource for the study of the history of medicine, will re-open in its new home as part of Wellcome Collection on 18 April. Popular fiction writer Sebastian Faulks will officially launch the new and vastly enhanced Library, which houses over 2.5 million items spanning 3000 years.

The collections of the Wellcome Library include: 700 000 books; a film and audio collection of 2500 titles; 600 archival collections; and more than 100 000 paintings, prints and photographs. Artefacts range from the 'Nuremberg Chronicle' (1493), a book depicting the history of the world containing 800 woodcut illustrations, to the horn of an arctic whale nearly 2.5 metres long. The entire material of the collection amounts to over 18 km, which is equivalent to 187 times the height of Big Ben.

"The Wellcome Library is utterly unique," says Frances Norton, Head of the Wellcome Library. "The collections, although ostensibly medical, cover the breadth of social, psychological, political and scientific history, across all cultures. They speak eloquently to us as people, about our own experience of health and disease, as well as providing evidence of the progress of medicine over time. The return to the Wellcome Building on Euston Road comes at a significant time, as we prepare for the opening of Wellcome Collection and embark on a programme of digitisation of the collections."

The Wellcome Library will occupy two floors of Wellcome Collection, a major new £30m cultural venue from the Wellcome Trust, opening in June 2007. Wellcome Collection explores the connections between medicine, life and art, to provide radical insights into wellbeing and the human condition. The building will house three galleries, displaying over 1500 exhibits and use contemporary and experimental techniques to challenge and inspire visitors to consider issues of science, health and human identity through the ages.

The refurbished Library accommodation provides easy access to far more of its collections, an attractive and spacious Rare Materials Reading Room with twice as many computers, viewing rooms and an e-learning room. The entire Library space of 2137 m2 will be WiFi enabled and will be open six days a week.

'Uncover' - a virtual library - will be unveiled in June 2007. 'Uncover' is a dazzling touch-screen installation that will allow browsers to explore the Wellcome Library's collections virtually – to create their own 'exhibition'; go on a tour of the collections; magnify, rotate and examine items; hear Library staff describe the significance of the item; send comments back to the Library and send images to others.

Author Sebastian Faulks, who will open the Wellcome Library at an evening reception on 18 April, comments: "I don't think I could have written my novel 'Human Traces' without access to the wonderful resources of the Wellcome Library. Uniquely among libraries I have used, the Wellcome Library seems genuinely to care for its readers and their work. I look forward to seeing the improved and expanded Library back in its imposing original home."

A significant part of the redevelopment is a state-of-the-art conservation studio, which will occupy the fourth floor of the building.

The Wellcome Trust Medical Photographic Library will also re-launch as 'Wellcome Images' – a digital image collection of 200 000 images depicting medical and social history as well as contemporary healthcare and biomedical science. Images will be available on demand in digital form and will be released under a Creative Commons licence for non-commercial use.

The Wellcome Library is founded on the collections formed by Henry Solomon Wellcome (1853-1936), whose personal wealth, founded on the pharmaceutical company he developed and owned, allowed him to spend the last four decades of his life building one of the most ambitious collecting visions of the 20th century.

Notes to editors

Mike Findlay
Wellcome Trust Media Office
T +44 (0)20 7611 8612
E m.findlay@wellcome.ac.uk

For further details on the Wellcome Collection contact:

Will Kallaway
T +44 (0)20 7221 7883
E will.kallaway@kallaway.co.uk

Anna Cusden
T +44 (0)20 7221 7883
E anna.cusden@kallaway.co.uk

Wellcome Library launch

The official launch of the Wellcome Library will take place on the evening of Wednesday 18 April. Press are welcome to attend. For more details contact the Wellcome Trust Media Office on the above number.

Book launch

In June 2007 the Wellcome Library will be the subject of a new book, 'Cures and Curiosities: Inside the Wellcome Library', introducing readers to the hidden stories that lie behind some of the collections. Short, self-contained chapters offer a lively snapshot of the diversity of the collection, lavishly illustrated with more than 150 photographs, and punctuated by personal observations from some of the authors who have used the Library, including Kathryn Hughes, Philip Hoare and Gillian Tindall. The book has been edited by the well known writer Anthony Gould, with a foreword by Sebastian Faulkes.

Sir Henry Wellcome and his Library

Henry Wellcome's primary collecting interest was focused on the history of medicine, which included not only ancillary subjects like alchemy and witchcraft but also anthropology and ethnography. He began collecting books seriously in the late 1890s, and by the 1920s and 1930s staff were needed to man his personal library. In 1945 the Library was moved into the Wellcome Building at 183 Euston Road, and in December 1949 it was formally opened to the public as the Wellcome Historical Medical Library.

The Library is open to the public six days a week, free of charge, and welcomes visits from anyone with a research interest in its collections.

The Library's collections are designated as being of national importance by the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council

Fascinating facts about Wellcome Library

• The Wellcome Library's collection consists of approximately 18 km worth of material, covering a length 187 times taller than Big Ben or 57 times taller than the Eiffel Tower.
• There are over 10 million metres of hand written and typed personal papers, photographs and ephemera in the archive collection.
• Famous users of the Library include Partricia Cornwell, Sebastian Faulks, Adam Hart-Davis and Tobias Hill.
• The Wellcome Library is one of the leading libraries in the UK that is actively engaging with born digital material (such as word-processed documents or web pages) to help maintain its position as a major research facility in an increasingly digital environment.
• The Wellcome Collection houses the finest Asian collection outside of India, consisting of 12 000 manuscripts and 4000 books.

The Wellcome Trust is the largest independent charity in the UK and the second largest medical research charity in the world. It funds innovative biomedical research, in the UK and internationally, spending around £500 million each year to support the brightest scientists with the best ideas. The Wellcome Trust supports public debate about biomedical research and its impact on health and wellbeing.

Wellcome Collection (the Wellcome Trust's former headquarters, the Wellcome Building on London's Euston Road), has been redesigned by Hopkins Architects to become a new £30m public venue opening in summer 2007. Wellcome Collection is a transformation of this building into a major new visitor destination, the first of its kind in the UK. Wellcome Collection, opening summer 2007, explores the connections between medicine, life and art using a contemporary and experimental approach. Audiences from all backgrounds and interests will be inspired to consider afresh issues of wellbeing and human identity. Wellcome Collection will comprise three galleries of permanent and temporary exhibitions totalling 1350 m2, a flexible events space, the Wellcome Library, a Conference Centre, a café, a bookshop and a Members' Club. The building will also house the Wellcome Trust Centre for the History of Medicine (part of University College London).