Harriet Wheelock / Thursday 14 July 2011 New Archive Catalogues for July This month there are a small collection of archive catalogues ready for release, partly as I have been on my summer hols. This month three small collections of personal and research papers of medics have been completed and are ready for readers to access. All the catalogued material in the archive can be accessed via the online archive catalogue, and collection lists can be downloaded here. The Papers of Edward Hill (1741-1830) Edward Hill Edward Hill was born in County Tipperary in 1741; he studied at Trinity College Dublin graduating MB in 1771 and MD in 1773. An active member of the King and Queen's College of Physicians of Ireland he served as President, Censor, Treasurer, Registrar and Librarian. At Trinity he was Professor of Botany (1785-1800) and physic (1781-1830). At the end of the eighteenth century Hill was involved in a major controversy which split the College of Physicians. Hill led the faction that wanted the additional funds created by the Dun's Estate to fund the establishment of a herb garden, whereas others, led by Robert Perceval, wanted the money to go to a clinical teaching hospital. The dispute was resolved in 1800 with the School of Physic Act which established Sir Patrick Dun's Hospital, not a medical herb garden. Hill was an accomplished scholar with knowledge of Greek, Latin, French and Italian. His own personal library contained over 1,800 books, and he also completed one of the earliest catalogues of the College of Physicians' library. Title page of Hill's Library Catalogue The small collection of papers relating to Hill includes letters, invitation cards, papers relating to his education and the School of Physic Act (1800), as well as three notebooks. Within the College's own archive there is also Hill's beautifully written catalogue of the Dun's Library, which he completed when he was nearly 80. The Colebrook/Wright Papers Sir Almroth Wright This interesting little collection contains papers relating to two eminent immunologists; Leonard Colebrook and Sir Almroth Wright. Wright was born in Yorkshire in 1861, the son of an Irish clergyman. He studied medicine at Trinity College Dublin, taking his degree in 1883. Wright worked as Professor of Pathology at Netley between 1892 and 1902, before moving to St. Mary's Hospital where he founded the research laboratory. In both institutions he researched extensively into bacteriology and immunology. During the First World War he established a research unit to study the bacteriology of wound infection, attached to the British Army Hospital at Boulogne. As well as his research work, Wright wrote vehemently against the campaign for Women's Suffrage. He was also the inspiration for the central character in Bernard Shaw's The Doctor's Dilemma. Leonard Colebrook After the War Wright returned to St. Mary's, and continued working until the age of 85 in 1946. At St. Mary's Wright taught many of the leading immunologists and bacteriologists of the twentieth century including Sir Alexander Fleming and Leonard Colebrook. Colebrook was born in 1883 and studied medicine at St. Mary's Hospital, where attended lectures by Wright, who became a friend and research partner. In the RAMC during the First World War he researched into wound infections at St. Mary's and in Wright's laboratory in France. Following the war he worked on the prevention of puerperal fever, establishing the effectiveness of Prontosil. During the Second World War he worked on burn injuries, and from 1942-1948 was director of the Burns Investigation Unit of the Medical Research Council. The collection in the archive contains letters between Colebrook and Wright written during the First World War discussing their work, some of Wright's notes and publications relating to his views on women, and material relating to the publication of biographies of both men. Eoin O'Brien Research Papers Sir Dominic Corrigan This collection of papers relates to research carried out by Dr Eoin O'Brien on Sir Dominic Corrigan, and the biography of Corrigan published in 1983. It includes a number of articles written by O'Brien, on others, on Corrigan, correspondence and newspaper cuttings relating to the research and publication of O'Brien's biography of Corrigan, and draft scripts for proposed TV and radio productions.