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...

As the commemorations of World War I continue the RCSI Heritage Collections have decided to follow Monty Python's suggestion... Amongst the Heritage Collections you can come across such hidden gems as 180 glass plate slides taken by John Alfred Scott, Professor of Physiology in the College from 1889 to 1926. These slides are housed in 3 bespoke wooden boxes with handwritten labels attached.  Wooden bespoke box with manuscript labels containing Scott's glass plate slides (RCSI/IP/Scott) Scott's glass plate slides (RCSI/IP/Scott) John Alfred Scott was born in Dublin on 2 October 1854. He was educated in Waterford and after leaving school took up a job making apparatus for lighthouses. This occupation did not last long and soon Scott was enrolled and studying medicine in the Ledwich and Carmichael Schools. He received his medical qualifications from the College in 1881 and the Royal College of Physicians in 1882. In 1886 Scott obtained his Fellowship fr...