RCSI Heritage Collections

The wealth of historical, societal and cultural information you can gather from newspapers is immense. Not only do newspapers report on major incidents of global importance, but the local and bizarre are also included. RCSI Heritage Collections have a newspaper collection made up of scrapbooks with articles relating to the College which date from the 1880s. Some very odd articles have been included in these scrapbooks that don't really relate to the College. One of these can be seen below. It was taken from The Irish Times on 4th December 1914. As the saying goes "the article speaks for itself"!! Put your hands together! (RCSI/News/02) - Researched and written by Meadhbh Murphy

RCSI Heritage Collections are delighted to take part in Explore Your Archives 2015. This campaign strives to highlight the intriguing and magical nuggets of history waiting to be found and studied in archives throughout the country.   Explore Your Archives 2015 As we are heading into 2016 and a year of fabulous exhibitions, lectures, events commemorating the 1916 Easter Rising, our story box focuses on a unique item that directly relates to that time. Visit the Learn About Archives website to find out more about these story boxes and wondrous collections.   Plus check out the Explore Your Archive events page to see what is happening this week and over the coming months. Go forth and explore! The beautiful Vatican Archives - Researched and written by Meadhbh Murphy

As the RCSI Heritage Collections is full of interesting and intriguing stand alone pieces we have decided to start a series dedicated to these. First up is this..... Field surgical kit RCSI/MI/252 This is a field surgical kit that was used by surgeons during the Battle of Vitoria , in the Basque region of Spain. This battle took place on 21 June 1813 and it was between an army of British, Portuguese and Spanish soldiers under the command of General Arthur Wellesley, the 1st Duke of Wellington  and a French army under the leadership of Joseph-Napoleon Bonaparte , eldest brother of the Napoleon Bonaparte.  This battle was one of a series in what became known as the Peninsular War, which eventually lead to the defeat of the French and Napoleon. 'Victoria of Vittoria' by John Masey Wright 1814 Courtesy of the British Museum   How can we tell this kit was used on the battlefield, you ask. Well we have a receipt! Accompanying this item is the receipt below. ...