A new volunteer joins LHSA

On Tuesday we were delighted to welcome another new volunteer to the conservation studio, Fiona. Both Fiona and our other conservation volunteer, Sandi (who joined us a couple of weeks ago), will be blogging regularly to let you know what they’ve been working on. So, over to Fiona….

I’m nearing the end of my first day as a volunteer here and feel a huge sense of satisfaction at what I’ve achieved!

This morning I have to admit I was feeling a little nervous, but I needn’t have worried at all! I was started off gently with a tour of the department and introductions to some of the (very friendly) people I’ll become familiar with while I’m here. I then settled down with a folder of information I need to know about handling the wonderful variety of documents and objects I may come across. I think the folder and I will become close friends - Ruth, Sandi and I are going to pad it out with our notes on treatments and a record of what we’ve been doing.

Next, Ruth showed me how to make a four-flap document folder to re-house loose sheets in. After making some notes and asking lots of questions, I had a very slow and careful try at making one to hold some fairly large sheets which had just been flattened after being stored rolled up for a long time. It worked! The sheets fitted nicely inside and it looked neat! I tried a second and as this time I felt a bit more confident, Ruth gave me slightly more complicated contents - some sheets that had been folded, making the pile very up-and-down in depth. With a little trimming to get a perfect fit, my second folder worked well too! I am very pleased and really enjoyed the crafting and problem-solving involved in folder making. It is nice to know the documents I packed up today will be there for someone to refer to in years to come.

Fiona working on her second folder

I can’t wait to come back and do some more!

Re-housing of Dermatology Index Cards

This week LHSA has received an accession of patient index cards: more than 100 drawers’ worth! These were originally from the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh Dermatology Department, but kept more recently at the Western General Hospital where NHS Lothian’s dermatology services are now based. The index cards date from approximately 1904-1967 and record the patient’s details with a brief synopsis of diagnosis and treatment. They often contain other information such as charts and correspondence. Included in the accession were also a small number of case notes and registration cards.


The drawers as they arrived were completely disordered, dirty and did not provide adequate protection for the contents, so a decision was made to re-house the cards immediately. Firstly, the drawers had to be ordered chronologically, decade by decade. It was found that there was a main year by year patient sequence plus a number of other sequences relating to x-rays and to particular practitioners, therefore it was decided to create one chronological sequence first, followed by these additional sequences and any drawers that had no identification.

Index Cards on arrival

The index cards were surface cleaned with a soft brush and checked for the presence of pests then placed in archival boxes in order. Each archival box can house the contents of more than one original drawer so a note was kept of which drawers’ contents had been placed in each box and a slip of archival paper was placed at the start of each run of index cards in the box with the original drawer’s title. Not all the index cards were of the same size therefore they were orientated accordingly to fit and two different box sizes were used. The archival boxes were numbered in pencil as they were filled and then the box content notes were typed onto a labelling sheet and neat labels were printed and attached to the boxes.

Index Cards during re-housing

Now that the index cards have been re-housed they take up less space, they are more accessible and are protected from further damage. The next step will be cataloguing them to make their research potential widely known.

New conservation skills & tired neurons

One of our new conservation volunteers, Sandi Phillips, tells us about her first day in the Archive this week…

“I’ll be volunteering one day a fortnight here for the foreseeable future. My first task was to read the Conservation guidelines, Health & Safety issues, treatments and proper documentation concerning any projects undertaken. Ruth, the Paper Conservator, then demonstrated how to make a 4 flap folder from archival card. It took me a long time to gain the correct spatial awareness for this task. Perhaps Ruth will keep my first effort to show future volunteers ‘how not to do it’! (Assistant Archivist’s note: if it’s any consolation Sandi, I struggle to cut card with a scalpel!).

Having created my first proper folder I then had to make a housing for a cardboard/metal clipboard which proved to be an even bigger challenge for my tired neurons. That said, I had an extremely enjoyable day working in the 5th floor studio which has got a brilliant view across the Meadows to the Pentland Hills. Everyone was very welcoming and I hope Ruth will have me back in a fortnight’s time.”

Sandi taking the measure of an archival box 

LHSA has several new volunteers starting in the next month and we hope they all enjoy their first day as much as Sandi. If you’re interested in volunteering with us and learning valuable archival and conservation skills, please fill in one of our volunteer forms, available at the foot of our Services and Access web page.

Medical masterpieces?

Today Laura and Ruth have been identifying items in the LHSA collection for potential future display in Edinburgh University’s ‘Masterpieces’ exhibition series.

The current programme for the Main Library’s Exhibition Room includes three exhibitions held over a number of years that showcase iconic items in the University Collections. The first exhibition, ‘Masterpieces I’, ran from December 2009 to March 2010, in which LHSA’s 1736 Charter for the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh was displayed. The next exhibition is planned for March 2012, and the shortlist of items going on display will be decided next week. Large exhibitions like ‘Masterpieces II’ need a lot of preparation prior to installation, and object selection is the first stage of a long process.

Contenders to go on display include letters by Florence Nightingale, first editions of texts on midwifery and the Leith Roll of Honour for the First World War. Material from LHSA’s HIV/AIDS collections have been granted automatic entry into the exhibition because of their recent addition to the UNESCO UK Memory of the World Register!

Looking at the Leith Roll of Honour for possible inclusion in the 'Masterpieces II' exhibition for 2012

For more information about the Infirmary’s Royal Charter, please see our website.

‘Singing the Reformation’ is the current display in the Main Library Exhibition Room (30 George Square), entrance is free. Further information is available at
http://www.ed.ac.uk/schools-departments/divinity/research/projects/wode-psalter/wode-exhibition.

A visit to the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh Library

This week, Stephen visited the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh (RCPE) Sibbald Library. Iain Milne, the Sibbald Librarian, gave a party of visitors a tour of the facilities. This was organised by Edinburgh Library and Information Services Agency (ELISA) Staff Development Group.

The RCPE was a society of medical practitioners who began meeting up to agree standards of good practice and thus improve the profession. The Library has been in existence since 1682, just one year after the RCPE’s formation, and was intended to provide a literature resource of the most current medical theory and practice.

The Library moved to its present location in Queen Street in the 19th century and continued to be a contemporary resource until the 1960s, when this status was gradually eroded by the free availability of medical journals from the United States. Since the late 20th century the Library has mainly been used as a historical resource. It is housed in an A listed building of beautiful wooden panelling, balustrades and marble statues.

Alison Scott, Archivist, explained some of the work she has been doing. The Wellcome Trust have funded a project to catalogue the archive collection, which includes international correspondence and notes regarding the diagnosis of patients by the famous 18th-century physician, William Cullen. A University of Glasgow project is digitising the Cullen papers and it is planned that they will be available online next year. Alison worked at LHSA until earlier this year so the visit was a good opportunity to see where she has moved on to.

Visits to other libraries such as these are important as it means that LHSA staff have a better awareness of what other local resources on medical history are available, and can direct archive users to exactly the information they need. Many records in LHSA were produced by Fellows of the RCPE, therefore there is considerable crossover between the collections of the RCPE and LHSA.

To find out more about the RCPE Library please see http://www.rcpe.ac.uk/library/.

The Power of the Pence

 “The days are dark and fateful. As a nation we carry on under the devastating realities of a world at war…our Hospitals, more than ever as sanctuaries of healing and restoration, are prepared to render the uttermost service to the maimed and injured, thus saving lives and bringing immediate relief to stricken humanity…Meanwhile, the call comes to all within the Infirmary’s region and sphere of service to help to sustain this great work on the home-front in keeping with the courageous spirit of the times”.

You may have guessed that Russell Paton’s Communications Team didn’t ask him to condense his message into 140 characters or less. Thankfully the Organising Secretary of the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh wasn’t tasked with communicating to the Twitter generation but with writing a foreword for ‘Our Record of Service’, a souvenir brochure published by the Hospital in 1941 which we have accessioned into the Archive this week. 

Front Cover

At that time “the largest voluntary hospital in the Empire”, it published this booklet to celebrate its efforts on the home front during WW2 and to encourage readers to contribute to its funding. At a time before the introduction of the National Health Service, all of the pennies raised counted. 

Appeal for donations

Priced at 6 pence “or whatever more you can afford”, it contains messages from the Lord Provost, the Board of Managers, nursing and medical staff about the importance of the Hospital within Edinburgh and Scotland. The articles describe the work of the League of Subscribers, the numbers of patients treated annually and where they came from. Alongside these are beautiful illustrations, including a cartoon by the notable artist Tom Curr. There are poems and even a look at what the future maternity services of 1991 might look like. If you’d like to view the booklet, or any other parts of our collections, please contact us.

LHSA says au revoir to one of our long-standing volunteers

This week Mariko Wanatabe leaves her volunteer position with LHSA after working with us for a day a week since March 2010. In that time Mariko has been trained by Ruth, the Paper Conservator, in basic cleaning, repair, pressing and re-housing techniques and has worked on a wide range of LHSA collections under Ruth’s supervision.

Mariko has helped check and house new accessions, and provide long-term storage for some of the objects. She has surface cleaned, repaired and re-housed architectural plans, and humidified and pressed loose sheet hospital staff records, which have then gone on to be catalogued.



Mariko repairing an architectural plan

Mariko’s volunteer work has provided her with some excellent experience for her future career in conservation and has also helped support one of our core services – ensuring that the collection remains in good condition and is accessible for future research.

Mariko leaves us to take up a place at West Dean College to train to be a book conservator – we wish her all the best and hope to see her again when she is next in Edinburgh!

We’re also delighted to announce that the ‘Unsung Heroes’ exhibition in the CRC’s display wall has been extended until 28 October 2011. New artworks by Edinburgh College of Art staff and students are exhibited alongside the items from LHSA’s collections that inspired them. The exhibition is free, and open 9-5pm Monday to Friday in the Centre for Research Collections (Edinburgh University Main Library, 30 George Square, EH8 9LJ).