RCSI Heritage Collections

With the theme for this year's Heritage Week being 'It's in your Nature', this is the perfect time to delve into the history of the RCSI Museum, which held an impressive collection of zoological specimens. Much of the information in this post comes from Sir Charles A Cameron’s great work 'History of the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, The Irish Medical Schools etc' which in 2016 RCSI Heritage Collections made available to read and search on-line . It is an immensely readable tome and contains fascinating insights into the history of the college. We’ll also utilise other sources including J.D.H. Widdess' history of RCSI as well as the annual reports of the College. The museum began life late in the 18th century on Mercer Street; early contributions were made to it by Mr. John Halahan and Mr. William Dease . The first museum catalogue was prepared in 1795 by the professors of Anatomy. By 1819 the museum was somewhat neglected, Cameron tells us that ‘abou...

RCSI Heritage Collections receives many visitors from all over the world, all with a varying array of backgrounds. However, one thing these visitors do have in common is a keen interest in medicine and more particularly, a keen interest in the history of medicine. So, with that in mind where else would ones first port of call when visiting Dublin be??? RCSI of course, due to its rich history and breadth of material relating to that very topic. One recent visitor, Dr Peter Mohr, FRCP, a retired neurologist from the Manchester area and honorary secretary of the Historical Medical Equipment Society (HMES), wrote to us enquiring about our Historical Instrument collection. He was particularly interested in seeing Cruise's endoscope and its original casing which are housed in the Pathology Lab in Beaumont Hospital. Peter & his wife came to see this particular instrument and on that day told us the story of a very interesting woman, Dr Edith Willcock McCrea, a Fellow of RCSI, whose ...

Some of our students may be in the thick of studying for exams at the moment and wondering when is it all going to end?! Some are celebrating with their well-earned results in hand, honouring the long held tradition of  rushing the RCSI Library  on results day, in which case - congratulations! Whatever stage they are at, studying for exams is synonymous with college life. No need to fear them though! All that blood, sweat and tears will be worth it in the end. Here in Heritage Collections we hold an array of material relating to exams including past papers from the early 1900's onwards and examination results registers going all the way back to 1793. Ever wonder what type of questions were students being asked at RCSI exams 100 years ago?? Take a look: Sample First & Second Professional Examinations, 1917.  Click on image to enlarge. And after the exams come results! Going by these examples you can see that just like today, students back then were striving f...

Nowadays when venturing abroad an essential for most people is a travel guide, be it in the physical form of a guidebook or the electronic version on your phone or tablet. Either way they are a wealth of information about the city, country, continent you are planning on visiting. Travel guides, such as Lonely Planet and Rough Guides , have been around only since the 1970s but here in the RCSI Heritage Collections we have some that are a lot older than that! As you can imagine travel guides and books were essential reads back in the mid to late 1800s. If you were going to travel somewhere you had no idea what it was like and most likely had never met anyone from your destination before. Remember this was a time before internet and Google! So what fabulous travel guides do we have in store for you today? Well, off to our first stop...... Philadelphia ! Travel guide of Philadelphia dated 1824 From a medical point of view, Philadelphia was a city worth visiting because it was ...

Courtesy of David Carus It's tomorrow! RCSI will celebrate the culture of Dublin and Ireland as well as the cultures of a number of other countries. Culture Night will kick off with a series of special performances at the St Stephen's Green entrance to the College, where you can see a variety of musical and dancing performances that showcase the cultures of just some of the 60+ countries where our students come from. These will take place from 5.30pm until 6pm.  Inside the College, you can take a self-guided tour or talk to a member of the RCSI Culture Night team to learn about the rich heritage and history of RCSI and the part it has played in shaping both local and national history, including when the building was seized by rebels led by Michael Mallin and Countess Markievicz during the 1916 Easter Rising. We look forward to seeing you all tomorrow night. - Researched and written by Meadhbh Murphy

The RCSI Heritage Collections attended the Blog Awards Ireland 2014 awards night on Saturday 4th October in the beautiful Westgrove Hotel in Clane, Co. Kildare. Yummy Blog Awards Ireland 2014 dinner Unfortunately we did not win in our category of 'Best Arts & Culture Blog' but here's hoping for next year. Now.....let's see what other squishy, slithery and skeletal material we can unearth in our collections for our next post......

NEWSFLASH Detroit Public Library Reading Room  The RCSI Heritage Collections Reading Room has re-opened. So any and all researchers, academics, students and members of the public interested in consulting our collections please get in touch. For details on how to make an appointment click here  ,for enquires please click here  and to search our online catalogue click here Disclaimer: the RCSI Heritage Collections Reading Room looks nothing like the Detroit Public Library one seen above. But we can dream. 

The RCSI Heritage Collections were delighted to hear this morning that our blog has made the short list in the 'Best Arts & Culture' category for the Blog Awards Ireland 2014. Blog Awards Ireland 2014 Short List Nominee A gúna will have to be purchased!!

The RCSI Heritage Collections are delighted to announce that they have been nominated in the 'Best Arts and Culture Blog' category of the Blog Awards Ireland 2014. Check out all the other categories and nominees on the Blog Awards Ireland 2014 website.

Gillian Sheehan, Siobhan Wallace and Yinka Lambo enjoying the selection of RCSI Yearbooks on display Alumni who attended the RCSI Gathering enjoyed reminiscing over their yearbooks. Seeing photos of themselves and their classmates after decades evoked disbelief, mirth and sadness. Many of the photos and their captions are amusing, while it is hard to believe how the years change others and oneself. Friends no longer living were remembered and missed once more. Most people remarked that they still had their yearbook and knew where it was – even if they hadn’t laid hands on it for years. A few actually brought theirs along so classmates attending the reunion could sign them. Yearbooks are precious possessions. RCSI Assistant Librarians Mary Gavin and Mary O'Doherty at the Heritage Collections stand A full set of yearbooks from the first one brought out by the class of 1959-64 is a precious possession of the library too. Displaying these for our alumni to peruse g...

Photograph of Queen Victoria portrait slashed by rebels in 1916. During Heritage Week the College had large numbers of people walk through it's buildings hearing of the history contained within. A photograph featured in the Heritage Collections display caught the attention of Michael Parsons, author of the Fine Arts and Antiques column in the Irish Times. The photograph in question showed a life-size portrait of Queen Victoria after it had been slashed by the rebels to make puttees. The reason it caught Michael's eye was because a piece of this portrait was up for auction in Whyte's auctioneers on Saturday 14th September http://www.irishtimes.com/life-and-style/homes-and-property/fine-art-antiques/who-knifed-queen-victoria-s-portrait-in-dublin-in-1916-1.1518465 Countess Markievicz, Commander Mallin and over one hundred men, women and children took control of the College during the rising in Easter Week of 1916. One of these women was Margaret Skinnider a native of...

William Dease (1752-1798)       The impressive, whole-length seated statue facing the entrance door in the front hall of the College, represents William Dease (1752-1798) one of the founders of the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland. He was the College's first Professor of Surgery and it's President in 1789. The sculptor was Sir Thomas Farrell, RHA. It was presented by the subject's grandson, Matthew O'Reilly Dease. It was unveiled by the Countess of Aberdeen at an afternoon ceremony on 27th April 1886. William Dease was born in Lisney, Co. Cavan, in 1752 to a landed family which had suffered through support of the Stuart cause. He received his professional education in Dublin and Paris, settling in Dublin he soon attained a good practice. He was surgeon to the United Hospitals of St. Nicolas and St. Catherine, in Francis Street, which in 1766 had forty beds and 5 elected surgeons. Dease was an original member of the Dublin Society for Surgeons. A successful pr...

    The late J.D.H Widdess, Librarian and Professor of Biology, knew more about the College than any other person. His account of the Arms of the College explains how suitable armorial bearings were devised and used from 1784 until 1907 when it was realised that formal authority to use a coat of arms had never been obtained.   An application was made immediately to the Ulster King of Arms, the heraldic authority in Ireland, who had his office in Dublin Castle. A grant of arms was given on 20th March 1907 consisting of a shield, crest and supporters. Its official description in the language of heraldry is quite a mouthful:      'Argent on a Saltire gules, a dexter hand apaumée fessewise, couped at the wrist proper, on a Chief      ermine harp crowned between two fleams or; for CREST on a wreath of the Colours an Eagle     preying on a serpent proper; for SUPPORTERS two Irish elks each gorged with a C...

The Corleys holidaying in Peel on the Isle of Man in 1901 The photograph on the left is believed to show the wife of Dr. Anthony Hagerty Corley (RCSI President 1887) and her children enjoying the sunshine at the traditional Corley holiday spot of Peel on the Isle of Man. It was sent to the Heritage Collections by a distant relative of Dr. Corley's, Dr. John Richards from the University of Glasgow.  Dr. Anthony Hagerty Corley was born in Dublin on the 16 th March 1840. Corley’s professional training took place in the Ledwich School of Medicine, the Queen’s College, Galway, the Mercer and Adelaide Hospitals. He became a Licentiate of the RCSI in 1861 and graduated M.D . from Queen’s University Galway in 1863. Dr. Corley’s career flourished with lecturing positions in Anatomy and Surgery in the Carmichael College of Medicine; becoming a Fellow of the RCSI in 1863; surgeon to the House of Industry Hospitals in 1865 and surgeon of Jervis Stree...

The Library in the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, 1947   Please note that the Heritage Collections will be closed from 1st March 2013 until further notice to facilitate a major cataloguing initiative. Keep checking our blog for regular updates and interesting posts about our collections.