RCPI Adopt a Book Scheme
Members and Fellows can play a part in the preservation of this unique part of the College’s heritage by contributing to the library’s Adopt-A-Book Scheme. Individuals can sponsor the restoration of an antiquarian book, which will then carry a unique bookplate recording the sponsor’s name. Details on the scheme are available from the Librarian, Robert Mills, at 01-6698806, robertmills@numbersix.ie
"The Medical Museum: or, a repository of cases, experiments, researches, and discoveries, collected at home and abroad." Vol. 1
By: "Gentlemen of the Faculty"
Published by: Richardson and Clark, London, 1763 Click for larger image
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The library is located at the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland, 6 Kildare Street, Dublin 2. The Librarian, Robert Mills, can be contacted at robertmills@numbersix.ie or at 01-6698806. Please go to the Reader, Research and Genealogical Services section to find out more about visiting hours, appointments and access to material.
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Collections – Books and Journals
The library is made up of a number of different collections:
The Historical Collection
The Irish Collection
Kirkpatrick Collection
Churchill Collection
Travers Collection
Irish Cardiac Society Collection
Modern Material
Irish Medical History
General Medical History
Journals
The Historical Collection
The Historical Collection is the College’s core collection of books acquired over the years beginning with Sir Patrick Dun’s initial bequest in 1713. The earliest books in the collection date from the early 16th century and the latest were published in 1850. The subject content is almost entirely medicine and related disciplines, such as botany, chemistry and physics. All the classic works of medicine are represented in the collection, including early printed editions of the writings of Avicenna, Galen, Hippocrates, Paracelsus, Vesalius, Harvey and many of the other founding fathers of modern medicine. A small group of Chinese medical books from the early 19th century are also part of this collection.
The Irish Collection
The Irish Collection consists of medical textbooks by Irish authors. It starts with Theobald Anguilbert’s “Mensa Philosophica”, published in Lyons in the first half of the 16th century and probably the first medical work by an Irishman to be printed. It also includes a copy of the very rare “Speculum Matrices: or the Expert Midwife’s Handmaid” by James Wolveridge (1671) and all the works of the great Irish doctors. The collection continues to grow as works by current Fellows of the College are added.
Kirkpatrick Collection
This is the private library assembled by Dr. T. C. P. Kirkpatrick (1869-1954) during a lifetime’s study of medical history. Dr Kirkpatrick, who served the College as Registrar for over 40 years and was unofficial Honorary Librarian for most of that period, bequeathed this collection to the College. It contains some 1,100 printed volumes, 3,500 pamphlets and 126 manuscripts, with a particular emphasis on Irish medical history.
Churchill Collection
The Churchill collection is devoted to obstetrics and gynaecology. It consists of some 600 books, the earliest dating from the 16th century, bequeathed to the College by the distinguished obstetrician, Dr. Fleetwood Churchill, who died in 1878.
Travers Collection
This is the private collection of Dr. Robert Travers (1807-1888), a Fellow of the College and Professor of Medical Jurisprudence at Trinity College Dublin. As well as many fine medical books, this collection also contains many rare and unusual non-medical works, dealing with history, natural sciences, theology etc.
Irish Cardiac Society Collection
This collection, which belongs to the Irish Cardiac Society, is maintained as part of the College Library. It consists of some 300 books relating to cardiology and includes some rare historical items.
Modern Material
While the Library now concentrates on books published before 1850, a considerable quantity of material published after that date does still remain in the collection.
Irish Medical History
This collection consists of books relating to the history and development of medicine in Ireland. It includes histories of medical institutions, biographies of Irish doctors and reference works on Irish medicine and is being constantly added to.
General Medical History
This collection consists of books dealing with the history of medicine from the earliest times in all cultures. It includes general histories of the development of medicine, histories of medical institutions, accounts of methods of treatment, biographies of medical personalities, dictionaries and other reference works.
Journals
The Library holds runs of over 400 different medical journals dating from the 18th century to the present day. As well as complete runs of such standard titles as The British Medical Journal, The Lancet, The Irish Journal of Medical Science and The Journal of the American Medical Association, the Library also contains substantial holdings of many short-lived English language journals and major foreign language journals from the 19th and early 20th centuries, many of them unique in Ireland.
These fine collections, giving a comprehensive coverage of the history and development of medicine in Ireland and in the wider world, combine with the College’s unique archive collection to make the Library an essential source for all those studying any aspect of the history of medicine in this country.
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Collections – Archives
The College’s large archive collection is made up of material from two main sources. Firstly, there are the records produced by the College itself and relating to the functions and activities of the College over the years.
Secondly, material has been produced by other bodies, generally with some association with the College, and deposited in the College for safe-keeping and preservation.
College History
College Library
Hospitals
Personal Papers
Other Medical Organisations
Genealogical Archives
Miscellaneous
The College – History
The College’s oldest historical item still in existence is the Grant of Arms, issued to the College in 1667. Almost as old are two account books, listing financial transactions of the College in the 1670s. The second Royal Charter, that granted by King William III and Queen Mary in 1692, is also preserved by the College. The minute books of College meetings (known as “journals”) commence in 1692 and exist in an unbroken sequence up to the present day.
The College Registers, listing Fellows, Honorary Fellows, Licentiates and Members also date from 1692 up to the present. These primary sources of the College’s history are supported by bound volumes of correspondence from the 18th century onwards and minutes of various committees set up by the College. A very large collection of legal documentation exists in relation to Sir Patrick Dun’s Estate, which played a key role in the financing of the College from 1713 up to the late 20th century.
The College Library
A substantial quantity of material exists in relation to the College Library. This includes Library Committee Minute Books, registers of borrowers and books borrowed, lists of purchases, donations, binding and accounts beginning in the late 18th century. Several manuscript catalogues of the Library exist, the earliest dating from 1800.
Hospitals
The College holds the archives of some important, historic Dublin hospitals.
Sir Patrick Dun’s Hospital was founded by the College in 1815 and closed in 1986. On its closure, all its records, archives and many artefacts were deposited with the College.
The Westmoreland Lock Hospital was founded in 1792 for the treatment of venereal disease and closed in the mid-1950s. The College now holds a very comprehensive collection of minutes, patient registers, reports and accounts of this Hospital from its foundation up to the end of the 19th century.
St Ultan’s Hospital was the first hospital for infants in Ireland. It was founded by Dr. Kathleen Lynn in 1919 and its records, archives and artefacts were deposited in the College when the Hospital closed in 1984.
Personal Papers
The personal diaries of Dr. Kathleen Lynn, the pioneering paediatrician and political revolutionary, were presented to the College by her descendents in the 1990s as the College was already preserving the St. Ultan’s records.
The College also holds the private papers of Sir Dominic Corrigan, the prominent 19th century physician. This large collection includes Corrigan’s diaries, case books, fee books and voluminous correspondence.
Other Medical Organisations
The archives of some other important medical organisations have also been deposited with the College. These include the Medico-Philosophical Society, the Dublin Sanitary Association, the National Association for the Prevention of Tuberculosis, and the Cow Pock Institution.
Genealogical Archive
A most important element of the College’s archive collection is the Kirkpatrick Archive, a collection of biographical information in the form of notes, news cuttings etc., on over 10,000 Irish doctors from earliest times to the mid-20th century.
Miscellaneous
A few other items in the College archives are worthy of mention. These include transcripts of lectures delivered by doctors in the early 19th century, some records from hospitals in India, a sales book from a firm of surgical instrument makers and a Dublin doctor’s diary for the years 1814 to 1816 containing case histories of patients, weather observations and temperature readings.
Portraits, Paintings and Artefacts
The Librarian has a catalogue of portraits, paintings and artefacts which can be viewed in the library. Online access to this material will be available shortly.
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Reader, Research and Genealogical Services
The Library is open for reader and research services and genealogy searches from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. on Monday to Friday by appointment only. Please contact Robert Mills, Librarian, at 01-6698806 or via email at robertmills@numbersix.ie to schedule an appointment.
Visitors to the Library, under the Librarian’s supervision, may conduct reading and research projects on the book and archive collection. At this time, the catalogue for the book, journal and archive collection is not available online. Plans are currently being put in place to make the entire collection available electronically with full Dewey classification and searchable by author, title, key word or class number. Please read the Library’s policy for users in advance of your visit.
The College’s extensive archive collection contains records of thousands of Irish doctors from the 17th century onwards and is an invaluable resource for those endeavouring to trace medical ancestors. Genealogical research may be carried out by visiting the Library (by appointment only) or the Librarian can carry-out a search on your behalf. Please read the Library’s policy on genealogical research.
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Tours of the Library
Tours of the library can be arranged with the Librarian, Robert Mills, at robertmills@numbersix.ie or at 01-6698806.
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RCPI Rules for Library Users