Records of remembrance

This week, staff from across the archives in the Centre for Research Collections got together to discuss the upcoming centenary of the First World War. We discovered traces of the war in collections across the University, from the memories of animal geneticist Professor Francis Crew held by the Towards Dolly project to the experiences of students preserved in the Edinburgh College of Art archives.

As we thought about items in our own collections, I remembered my first experiences at LHSA in 2009, when I came as a volunteer to catalogue the papers of Amelia Nyasa Laws (1899-1977), an osteopath who spent the last years of her life practising in Edinburgh and whose father, Dr Robert Laws (1851-1934), was the leader of the Free Church of Scotland’s Livingstonia mission in Nyasaland (now Malawi). Amelia was born in on lake Nyasa and from then on led a varied and well-travelled existence, and in 1916 became a masseuse in a French field hospital. You can see a picture of her here.

Amongst her papers was this catalogue for artificial limbs, which she may have acquired as a result of her war work or in dealing with the war’s aftermath when she came home to Scotland:

GD18\8\1: Catalogue of artificial limbs from the Surgical Requisites Association c. 1914-1918

 

On account of the centenary events, we have been receiving quite a number of enquiries based on Edinburgh’s experiences of the First World War. Some of these queries are centred on the 2^nd Scottish General Hospital, Craigleith, a former poorhouse adapted for use in wartime as a hospital. Although we have relatively few records on the institution in this period, those that we do hold are fascinating, including editions of the hospital magazine, the Craigleith Chronicle. There is one edition of the Chronicle available on our website, here.

GD28\6\3 Pages from the Craigleith Chronicle 1916

 

Other enquiries we have been receiving centre on Edenhall Hostel for Limbless Sailors and Soldiers, an institution originally founded in 1915 in Kelso in order to care for soldiers who had lost limbs in combat and to teach them how to use the artificial limbs that were made for them. On account of a shortage of beds at Kelso, the institution was moved to Pinkieburn, Musselburgh, in 1917. However, apart from a few photographs of interiors, we have relatively few original records from the early years of the Hostel at Pinkieburn, and we have been speaking to colleagues at Musselburgh Museum to help fill some of the gaps in our knowledge.

So if you can also help to tell us more about the early history of the institution (or even have some early records or photographs), do let us know! To jog your memory, Su Leslie has written a fascinating blog post on her own family connection with Edenhall here.

Notes on Sir Harold Stiles

This week’s blog sheds some light on pioneering Edinburgh surgeon Professor Sir Harold Jalland Stiles, 1863-1946. One of the third generation of East Lincolnshire doctors, Harold was told by his father that his older brother would succeed him into the family practice, therefore if he too wanted to be a doctor he would have to seek his own career. Successfully passing his preliminary exams, Stiles moved to Edinburgh in 1880, having become heir to dissecting arm, leg, head and neck specimens from his grandfather!

Graduating in 1885 with first class honours as the most distinguished student of his year, Stiles became the Edinburgh University assistant to Professor John Chiene for the next nine years. Stiles was appointed surgeon to the Royal Edinburgh Hospital for Sick Children from 1898-19 and also assistant surgeon at the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh. A disciple of Joseph Lister’s school of medicine in regard to antiseptics, Stiles is believed to be the first to introduce aseptic surgery to Edinburgh.

Important areas of Stiles’ work included pathology, anatomy, studies into breast cancer, hydrocephalus and tuberculosis, a main source which he concluded was the bovine tubercle bacillus. Therefore, to control the spread of tuberculosis he advocated regulating milk supplies. Stiles is also now recorded as being the first to carry out a pyloromyotomy operation as treatment for the congenital condition, pyloric stenosis in 1910, although the name of this operation was given to another surgeon, Rammstedt.

During the First World War, Stiles organised the orthopaedic department of Bangour Hospital, where he also branched out into studies of the peripheral nerves. He was knighted for his services in 1918. He was appointed to the Chair of Clinical Surgery at the Royal Infirmary in 1919 and became surgeon to King George V in Scotland for the period 1923-1925. He retired, quite abruptly to his home in Gullane in 1925 where he studied natural sciences, including geology and the flora and fauna of East Lothian until his death in 1946.

LHSA’s main records relating to Stiles are a collection of over 3400 case notes dating back to 1906. They remain of great interest, particularly due to Stiles’ pioneering activities. image

 

P\PLI\NI\030 Professor Stiles in about 1920.

Reference: Ross, James A, The Edinburgh School of Surgery After Lister, Churchill Livingstone, 1978

Seeing behind the scenes…

Today has been the first time we have offered events in the Edinburgh International Science Festival. As well as a couple of talks, we welcomed members of the public and University colleagues to the Centre for Research Collections to see behind the scenes in our conservation studio, Digital Imaging Unit and stores, with each space dedicated to a science-related collection, all of which have received Wellcome Trust funding for essential cataloguing and conservation.

Emily, our Project Conservator, described her work on the HIV/AIDS collections, particularly the challenges of treating modern materials, and demonstrated her clever storage solutions for those awkwardly shaped collection items! To find out more please see past posts on our blog at http://www.lhsa.blogspot.co.uk/ and her new project webpages at http://www.lhsa.lib.ed.ac.uk/projects/UNESCOcollections.htm.

 

Emily (right) talks about her work, with Serena (left), CRC Student Engagement Officer, leading the tour

 

 

Emma, a Project Archivist working with Godfrey Thomson’s collections, teamed up with Susan, our Senior Photographer, to describe digitisation work and Thomson’s own research into child intelligence testing. Both Emma and Susan have blogs where you can find out more: 

http://libraryblogs.is.ed.ac.uk/godfreythomsonproject/ http://libraryblogs.is.ed.ac.uk/diu/

Emma talks about the Godfrey Thomson collection

 

Clare (Project Archivist), who is cataloguing papers relating to animal genetics, and Louise (LHSA Archivist, and former Project Archivist cataloguing neurosurgical case notes) showed our visitors into two spaces within the Centre for Research Collections - our viewing room and one of our stores - as well as key items in the collections.

 Clare in the viewing room with some favourite collection items

Like Emma and Susan, they have blogged and posted information online about their work:

http://libraryblogs.is.ed.ac.uk/towardsdolly/
http://www.lhsa.lib.ed.ac.uk/projects/Cataloguingcasenotes.htm
 

 Louise with surgical sketches created for Norman Dott

If this has whetted your appetite, we are running the tour again tomorrow (Saturday 12 April) morning. Tours are free but ticketed so if you’d like to book a place, please keyword search ‘behind the scenes’ on the Science Festival home page: http://www.sciencefestival.co.uk/.

Modern Paper, Modern Problems

In this week’s blog, our project conservator Emily looks at the processes and materials used to create modern papers.

I have recently started working with one part of the HIV/AIDS collection that is mainly made up of loose paper documents from the late 80s and early 90s. There is a huge diversity of papers found in the collection, from glossy papers used for flyers to regular office notepad paper, folders made from thick card to faxes made from shiny lightweight paper. As a conservator, I wanted to find out more about how papers formed in the past 50 years are made and how they might deteriorate in the future.

A selection of papers found in GD22, before treatment.

Modern papers are mostly made from wood chips. This material was first used as a source for paper in the 1840s and was ground mechanically to create the fibres. However, this method does not remove the lignin which is found in wood chips. Lignin is a complex organic polymer that binds to the cellulose in wood to strengthen and harden it. Papers with a lignin content are prone to acidity, likely to become brittle and can darken on exposure to light. Most newspapers are formed from this type of paper and the image below shows a newspaper from the HIV/AIDS collection that has discoloured overtime. Traditionally, paper was created from linen rags which do not contain lignin, which explains why paper made in the past 100 years often show more signs of deterioration than papers made 500 years ago.

A newspaper from GD22/10. The paper has become brittle and the edges have discoloured.

Papers made from the late 1970s onwards are mostly formed from wood chips that have been softened using steam and pulped mechanically in a process called thermomechanical pulping. Since the chips are firstly softened, less energy is required than the previous solely mechanical method and less damage to the fibres is caused, resulting in a stronger sheet. This method also allows for chemicals to be added to the pulp to improve the sheet. For example, calcium carbonate can be added as a filler. This acts as an alkaline buffer against the formation of damaging acids within the sheet.

This method improved the quality of the sheet, but still does not remove the lignin. Today, most paper is created using the sulphate process. This was first used in the 1930s and involves treating the wood pulp with a mixture of sodium hydroxide and sodium sulphide to extract the lignin. This method produces a strong, less acidic sheet. Paper made with this process will age better than previous modern papers.

The characteristics of paper can also be changed using additives. For example, bleaches and optical brighteners can be used to lighten the paper and colourants or dyes are used to change the paper colour. Different finishing processes and coatings can also be used to change the surface texture of the sheet. For example, paper sheets can be glazed to make them super glossy for use in magazines or left uncoated to be used as stationary.

A collection of differently coloured office papers found in GD24.

 

The use of new materials and new manufacturing processes has increased the types of paper available in the past 50 years. However, these processes and materials effect of the longevity of the sheet and how it will respond to treatment. As such, the conservator must be aware of the methods and materials used to form modern papers in order to successfully treat them.

For more information on the deterioration of modern paper found in the HIV/AIDS collections and treatment of it, please see the project home page on the LHSA website: http://www.lhsa.lib.ed.ac.uk/projects/UNESCOcollections.htm

A useful chronology of paper making technology and materials can be found at the National Archives of Australia website http://paper.naa.gov.au/chronology/

Emily Hick

Project Conservator

 

Serving the Army in Scotland

My time as cataloguing intern on the Dott case note project is nearing an end with only two weeks to go. The majority of my time has been spent cataloguing. However as part of the internship I have also been involved in a number of other non-Dott related activities which have helped to broaden my knowledge of working both in university setting and in a medical archive, including participation in archive and conservation volunteer taster days, attendance at seminars, visits to other archives and training in reading room invigilation.

Working with the case notes from the Brain Injuries Unit at Bangour General Emergency Medical Service Hospital has been fascinating and cataloguing individual patient case  files has been a great experience. I have been able to gain skills in analysing these highly detailed medical records and honing in on the information required for capture in the catalogue; and have also gained valuable experience and confidence cataloguing using Encoded Archival Description (EAD) and indexing using medical subject headings. One of the many aspects I have found interesting while working with this collection has been realising the hugely important role Dott played as Consultant in Neurosurgery to the Army in Scotland. As well as diagnosing and treating the large number of military personnel sent to Bangour he also had to determine his patient’s suitability for continued service in the armed forces. Dott had to be rigorous in his assessments and on several occasions is quite clear that, despite recovering from the injury or illness which resulted in their admittance to the Brain Injuries Unit, discharge from military service and a return to their civilian occupation would be advisable and in the best interests of either the military or the patient and often both.

 

Although the information recorded in the catalogue does not include the patients civilian occupation, this and the other additional information about the patients including their background and military career provided in the case notes to supplement their medical details, has been another fascinating aspect of working with these records. This additional information gives an insight into how the war affected the lives of the patients, many of whom were conscripted and were performing very different roles from their civilian life, providing a valuable record of social history within their medical records.

As well as British military personnel the collection contains case notes of several men from the Polish Air Forces. The Polish Air Force was evacuated from occupied Poland to France in 1939, where units were re-established and the Polish airmen served alongside the French. When France was invaded in 1940 many of the Polish units went to Britain and served with the RAF, forming successful Polish RAF squadrons that operated under RAF command.  One particular case I have come across was that of a young Polish airman who was suffering crippling back pain that was preventing him flying. He was operated on by Dott and was flying again within a few weeks of his operation. He wrote to Dott expressing his gratitude for his care and treatment saying, ‘only because of you am I able to serve in the Air Force again.’ Also included in his case file were several Christmas cards to Dott. While it is a bit late/early for Christmas, I thought I would share these images of two of the cards sent by this Polish airman. One is a Polish Air Forces postcard which shows the fin flash insignia used by the Polish Air Force on the tail of the plane and the other is a greetings cards with the inscription, ‘Bog sie rodzi’ (God is being born), which is the title of a Polish Christmas Carol.

 

 

Christmas cards from LHB40 CC/2/PR3.644

The continued relationship between Dott and his patients is evident in many of the files, with patients writing to express their thanks, sending updates on their medical condition or asking for advice; and Dott often writing to request information about their progress after treatment. This correspondence displays Dott’s concern for his patients and their continued welfare long after their discharge from his care, with exchanges sometimes spanning 15 years or more.

I have thoroughly enjoyed my time working with this collection and although I have only catalogued a (very!) small proportion of the vast c.26,650 case files I feel very lucky to had the opportunity to get to know these records and learn about Professor Dott’s career and in particular his and his team's valuable work during the Second World War.

A new accession

Last week, we were delighted to pick up a new accession from the Princess Alexandra Eye Pavilion. It consisted of 12 operation and anaesthetic books and 8 registers of blind and partially sighted people, which date from approximately the 1950s to 2000. The image shows a selection of the volumes.

These records complement a number of LHSA’s existing collections including the records of RNIB Edinburgh and Lothians (Acc 13/017), case notes relating to the eye department of the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh and records from the Eye, Ear and Throat Infirmary (LHB32). The Eye Infirmary of Edinburgh was originally founded in 1834, separately from the existing Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh. Cases relating to the ear and throat were additionally served here from 1883 and the Eye Infirmary moved to the Eye Dispensary in Cambridge Street in 1922. During this period, some eye cases were also treated at the Royal Infirmary in Lauriston Place as LHSA holds some eye ward books from this time. On the formation of the NHS in 1948, the Eye, Ear and Throat Infirmary as it had become came under the control of the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh and Associated Hospitals Board. From 1949, in patients were only treated at the Royal Infirmary, however eye out patients continued to be treated at the Cambridge Street premises between 1949 and 1969, until the completion of the Princess Alexandra Eye Pavilion in 1969 when all ophthalmic services moved to this building. The new accession, therefore, covers the period when services for eye treatment were in transition towards the Princess Alexandra Eye Pavilion. We hope that the records will help to provide our enquirers with a more complete picture of eye care in Edinburgh over the years.

Exciting times!

Less of a blog post, more of an announcement this week as we see two new jobs in the LHSA team advertised. We’re delighted to be recruiting for Wellcome Trust funded Project Cataloguing Archivist posts to carry out the archival side of two projects that are already underway.

The first is an 8-month post to join Emily, our Project Conservator, working on our fantastic UNESCO-awarded HIV/AIDS collections. 'Policies, Postcards and Prophylactics: a project to catalogue and conserve LHSA's UNESCO-awarded HIV/AIDS collections (1983-2010)’ began in January this year and Emily has blogged about her work, so check out previous posts to get a flavour of the collections and some of the conservation issues involved. So far she has been treating collections that have already been catalogued so while Emily continues to repair and re-house the material, the Project Cataloguing Archivist will focus on cataloguing those collections that have yet to be listed to item level. We’re excited to be recruiting for this crucial final piece in the project puzzle!

The second is a 12-month position, within a project that was started in September 2013 by, our then Project Archivist, Louise: 'Cataloguing Norman Dott’s neurosurgical case notes (1920-1960)’. When our Archivist Laura took a year’s leave last month, Louise was seconded to fill her role, which means we are now looking for someone to take up cataloguing where Louise left off. Dott’s case notes are a fascinating resource, and this project aims to make them more accessible for research, whilst ensuring that patient confidentiality remains the highest priority. There is more information about this project at: http://www.lhsa.lib.ed.ac.uk/projects/Cataloguingcasenotes.htm.

To find out more about the posts, and the online application system, please search Edinburgh University’s job page (http://www.ed.ac.uk/schools-departments/human-resources/jobs), for vacancy reference number 027628 for the 8-month post, and 027629 for the 12-month post.