Tag: literature

Last year in Newcastle I was lucky enough to present a paper at my first Social History Society conference. It was such a rewarding experience that I could not wait to go again. This year it took place over three… Continue reading

In 1887, writing under the pseudonym of Aesculapius Scalpel, Hackney GP Edward Berdoe published a frightening novel portraying everyday cruelty and callousness at the fictional St Bernard’s teaching hospital.  Despite being a work of  fiction, the author claimed 75 per… Continue reading

When we talk about our archives and manuscripts, our focus is usually on their content.  People order archive items in order to read them, by and large, and our catalogues tend to focus upon the words on the page, and… Continue reading

Who is the most famous fictional doctor in the world? Birlinn Press would have you believe the answer is Dr Finlay: the creation of the Scottish author A J Cronin, whose Finlay stories they have recently republished (the Birlinn claim… Continue reading

We are pleased to announce that the papers of Roger E  C Altounyan (1922-1987) have now been catalogued and are available for research. Roger Altounyan was a member of a distinguished Anglo-Armenian medical dynasty. His grandfather, born in Turkey, undertook… Continue reading

16th June 1904: a young Dubliner goes on a first date with the woman who will become the mother of his children and (much later) his wife. Eighteen years later – that is, in 1922, ninety years ago – he… Continue reading

There can’t be many of our readers in the UK who are still unaware that this year is Charles Dickens’ bicentenary. 2012 sees exhibitions in Portsmouth, Dickens’ birthplace; in London, the city with which he is most closely associated; in… Continue reading

As we come to the close of the year, 2011 saw not one but two films concerned with attitudes to our ancestors – Rise of the Planet of the Apes and Project Nim. Fiction, as well as legislation, has a… Continue reading

Quick – what’s the connection between a hundred-foot rampaging gorilla and the Wellcome Library? Well, it wouldn’t be a common sight in the reading room, and although stepping out onto the Euston Road has its hazards they usually relate to… Continue reading

The results of the Wellcome Trust’s inaugural Science Writing Prize are due to be announced on October 12th. In the run up to this, you may have come across the series of blog posts on our sister site at the… Continue reading