Medicine

The development of medical science is arguably one of the most significant themes in history. Diseases have led to the downfall of empires and destroyed civilisations. Yet the emergence of new illnesses has often precipitated scientific discoveries and technological breakthroughs, facilitating major advances in medical treatments and generating novel solutions to old problems. 

At British Online Archives (BOA) we are developing our collection strengths in the fields of the history of medicine and the associated field of the history of science. Presently, we offer several fascinating collections that can be grouped under the broad theme of “Medicine”. 

These collections are extensive in terms of chronological scope, the archival material that they contain, and the historical trends that they illuminate. For example, you can explore the course and consequences of pandemics in the UK over five centuries, from the first state mandated quarantines to guard against plague in the early sixteenth century, to the invention of the first vaccine against smallpox in the 1790s. These sources evidence attempts to eradicate cholera via urban planning and regeneration during the nineteenth century, as well as the effects of the devastating influenza pandemic that followed the First World War. 

You can also survey the development of modern medicine. The collections grouped within this theme contain over two hundred dissertations and essays submitted to the Royal Medical Society throughout the period 1751–1801. This institution was founded by medical students at the University of Edinburgh in 1737. The records of Bethlem Royal Hospital, colloquially referred to as “Bedlam”, likewise chart the evolution of modern psychiatry over four centuries.