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Author: Helen Wakely

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Helen Wakely

Helen Wakely is Archives Project Manager at the Wellcome Library.

  • Messages to Francis

    11/05/2011

    From letters sent to the eminent molecular biologist Francis Crick between 1987 and 2003: Dear Francis, wen I am olda, I wood lik to be a brilliant scientistt like you. Did you always want to be a scientist? Is it… Continue reading

  • People take pictures of each other

    21/01/2011

    People take pictures of each other, And the moment to last them for ever, Of the time when they mattered to someone. ‘People take pictures of each other’ by Ray Davies Picture the scene: A smiling bride and groom in… Continue reading

  • The deep freeze

    22/12/2010

    If your extremities feel like icicles right now, shudder at the chilly prospect faced back in 2004 by Francis Crick (who co-discovered the structure of DNA, in case you have forgotten). Three months before he died in July 2004, Francis… Continue reading

  • Item of the month, July 2010: The name of the rose

    28/07/2010

    Six years ago today, Francis Crick died of colon cancer in San Diego at the age of 88. Most famous for his 1953 discovery (with James Watson) of the structure of DNA, Crick was also a keen rose cultivator, filling… Continue reading

  • Free Seminars on Western Herbal Medicine

    12/05/2010

    Middlesex University (with the support of the Wellcome Trust) is offering two free one-day seminars in May and July on the theme ‘Researching the History of Western Herbal Medicine: Appraising Methods and Sources’. The events are designed to promote and… Continue reading

  • Saints, iconoclasts and recipies: a 15th century manuscript

    24/02/2010

    It is rare to find a manuscript from the early 15th century that combines folk remedies with religious iconography and a royal heritage to boot – even more rare is to find one that has been heavily defaced. Such a… Continue reading

  • The best things in life

    15/01/2010

    What would you consider to be the most valuable objects in your home? Your laptop? Photo albums? Favourite clothes? Probably not the contents of your bathroom cabinet. But for Elizabeth Freke, living in Norfolk at the turn of the 17th… Continue reading

  • Item of the month, December 2009

    01/12/2009

    As the season of good cheer inexorably draws nearer, it is customary to be bombarded with ‘essential’ lists of what to wear, buy or cook. If you fancy jumping off the consumerist bandwagon but would still appreciate a little festive… Continue reading

  • Our identity at our fingertips?

    26/11/2009

    Here’s a challenge to mark the opening of the new Wellcome Collection exhibition Identity: Eight rooms, nine lives. What can you deduce from these handprints about the identities of their authors? If you need to brush up your palm-reading skills,… Continue reading

  • Search our recipes by title

    06/07/2009

    We announced in April that the Library’s 17th century recipe books have been digitised in their entirety and mounted online via the Wellcome Library Archive and Manuscript Catalogue. Now we are in the process of making the recipe title transcriptions… Continue reading