Archives & Manuscripts Cataloguing – March 2010

As we mentioned in early March, the blog will now feature monthly round-ups of archives and manuscripts material newly available to the public or newly visible on our online database.

The main newly available collection is that of the papers of Sir Harold Himsworth KCB FRS FRCP (1905-1993), medical scientist and administrator – mentioned briefly at the end of the February roundup, as it went live in the earliest days of March, between the end of February and the cataloguing roundup going onto the blog. Papers held are roughly split between Sir Harold Himsworth’s scientific career, in particular relating to diabetes, and his subsequent role within the Medical Research Council. Also included are papers on medical education in wartime, an enquiry into the use of tear gas during the Troubles in Northern Ireland, and writings on sociology and science. The collection has been described in more detail in a recent blog post by its cataloguer. (PP/HPH)

Just as Himsworth’s catalogue was completed at the end of the month, so this month we are able to provide some advance notice of another newly completed collection: the papers of the International Epidemiological Association (IEA) have been catalogued over the past few months, the catalogue being completed as March ended, and will be made available very shortly as soon as the final packaging tasks are completed.

Retroconversion, the process of turning our old word-processed catalogues into database entries, has also continued. The large catalogue describing the papers of the psychiatrists Rudolph Karl Freudenberg and Gerda Freudenberg (née Vorster) have now been retroconverted. These papers relate to psychiatric practice at Netherne Hospital, Freudenberg’s involvement with various professional bodies, and his writings on psychiatry, 1930s-1970s. (PP/RKF).

In addition, further detail has been added to the catalogue description of our material relating to the Austrian writer Leopold von Sacher-Masoch (1836-1895), whose novel Venus in Furs, exploring themes of sexual domination, led to his name being applied to the concept of Masochism. Detailed information about correspondents, previously only available in a hard-copy list in our Rare Materials Room, has been added to the catalogue record relating to Sacher-Masoch and his wife Aurora. (MS.6909)