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Refugees in Turkey (again)
With reports of 2.5 million Syrian refugees now encamped in Turkey, this 19th century print of refugees in Constantinople (Istanbul) shows that massed refugees in that part of the world are not a new phenomenon. The image, part of an… Continue reading
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Before Agincourt: a contemporary voice on war in a medieval medical manuscript
‘What have you got on the Black Death?’, students occasionally ask in relation to the Wellcome Library’s medieval manuscripts. Surprising as it sounds, the answer is ‘nothing’. How can it be that some 300 mainly medical books, many of which… Continue reading
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Tracking refugees in history
On World Refugee Day, we remember that refugees have always been with us. Doctors and health workers have worked with refugees throughout history – many have personal experiences as asylum seekers and migrants themselves. You can find traces of many… Continue reading
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Prevent and survive: medical activism in 1980s Britain
Dr Christoph Laucht’s research explores the ways in which medical professionals organised to protest against nuclear war in Cold War Britain. We invited him to share some of his findings from the archives. Britain experienced a revival of fears of… Continue reading
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Beds not Bombs: histories of the medical anti-war movement
To launch the Medact archive on 27 June 2014, Wellcome Library played host to a conference on the history of medical activism: ‘Beds not Bombs: Exploring the archives of anti-nuclear medical campaigning and protest’. Delegate Paul Sims reports back on… Continue reading
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‘Beds not Bombs’: the archive of the Medical Campaign against Nuclear Weapons
As East and West squared off at the height of the Cold War, the threat of a nuclear attack was all too real. Armed with stark facts about the potential impact of the bomb, a group of doctors and nurses… Continue reading
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War and the psyche
Readers who consult the online Archives and Manuscripts sources guides may have noticed some recent changes to the guides on war, medicine and health. In order to streamline these somewhat, the content has been rearranged, into War, Medicine, and Health: general and guides… Continue reading
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Napoleonic advancement in the Wellcome Library
Popular fascination with Napoleon’s military aristocracy, the two dozen or so assorted sons of small tradesman and junior army officers of the old regime who rose to Marshal’s rank, riches and titles on the back of Bonaparte’s campaigns, shows no… Continue reading