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Women, plumbers and doctors: sanitation in the home
On World Water Day the book Women, Plumbers and Doctors caught my eye. It seems an unusual title for a book from 1885, but when you turn the front cover over it becomes apparent that this quirky title is a manual of household… Continue reading
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Item of the Month, March 2012: ‘How the Department of Health of the city of New York is fighting tuberculosis’
To mark World TB Day 2012, we’re travelling back to the United States at the turn of the 20th century to look at tuberculosis prevention in New York. In 1882 Robert Koch announced his discovery of the tuberculosis bacillus, formally… Continue reading
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A Doctor on Holiday: World Tourism Day
Regular visitors to this Blog will know, the Wellcome Library holds the personal papers of many doctors, surgeons, medical scientists and practitioners throughout the ages. These collections, especially from the 19th century onwards, frequently include entertaining journals, notebooks, letters and… Continue reading
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Do the English really have bad teeth?
While looking for interesting items from our collections to show a visiting group of dental professionals, I came across these examples of dentists’ advertising cards in our Ephemera Collection. All dating from around the early 1900s, they demonstrate an intriguing… Continue reading
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The American way
Lithograph after a design by Al Capp (1909-1979) Wellcome Library no. 679768i Behind the scenes, the Wellcome Library has been cataloguing a large collection of posters which the Library has gradually acquired over the last couple of years. They are… Continue reading
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Item of the Month, September 2009: George Washington’s order for supplies
Laudanum, Sago and Glue for the Father of his Country Two hundred and fifty years ago, on September 20th 1759, a young member of the landed gentry in Virginia sent an order for supplies to London. The document, now held… Continue reading