RCSI Heritage Collections

In March 2024, I joined RCSI Library as project archivist to appraise and catalogue a couple of discreet archive collections within their Heritage collections. The first collection I am tackling is RCSI's Faculty of Nursing and Midwifery, as they are celebrating their 50 th anniversary this coming October. My progress and some findings on this particular collection will be the subject of my first RCSI Heritage Collections blog.   The RCSI Faculty of Nursing and Midwifery was founded in 1974 and is one of the longest-serving providers of nurse education in Ireland. It provides registered nurses and midwives with education and training at the highest standard to support the maintenance of their professional development and competence. The Faculty of Nursing consists of a Dean and twelve members who constitute the Board of the Faculty and it is bound by the constitutions of the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland and the Council of the College. In addition, there is also full time a...

RCSI Heritage Collections has been awarded funding from the Heritage Council to celebrate the life and legacy of pioneering Irish surgeon Abraham Colles on the 250th anniversary of his birth in 2023. Abraham Colles (1773-1843) was a surgeon, physician, and anatomist, and a leading figure in the golden age of Irish medicine in the 19th century. He also had a strong connection with RCSI being a past pupil, professor and President of the College. Colles revolutionised the teaching of anatomy in medical schools around the world with the publication of his ground-breaking Treatise on Surgical Anatomy in 1811. This work prompted a radical departure from established approaches to the study of human anatomy and proposed a new model of teaching that lent itself much more readily to the realities of clinical practice for surgeons and physicians in the nineteenth century. This innovative approach to the teaching of anatomy paved the way for new discoveries and fresh observations regarding th...

From the 15-23 August, RCSI Library Heritage Collections is celebrating Heritage Week 2020: ‘Heritage and Education: Learning from our Heritage’ This year’s theme offers an opportunity to celebrate our centuries of educational heritage. The University is hosting online events throughout the week centred around the wonderful Women on Walls project, in which Heritage Collections was proud to be involved . You can learn more about these eight extraordinary women and the artists who painted them and listen to the podcast series. Here in Heritage Collections, we have an all ages, 4-page printable activity pack for you to download and print out at home, as many times as you like. You can colour in some of our 'Women on Walls' portraits, draw some inspirational portraits of your own and even help sort out some of our collections for us! Dr Mary Josephine Hannan by Celeste, aged 2 We would love to see your work! Share with us on Twitter or by Email .