RCSI Heritage Collections

Please welcome the second item to take the spotlight in our 'Intriguing Heritage Items' series...... The Surgeons' Mate or Military and Domestique Surgery  by John Woodall   The Surgeon's Mate by John Woodall dated 1639 Woodall himself can be seen in the bottom middle portrait This copy of John Woodall's book is housed in the RCSI Mercer Library and dates from 1639. Woodall was an English surgeon born in 1570 who lived for long periods in Germany, Poland, Holland and mainland Europe. In 1604 when King James I of England sent an embassy to Poland and Russia, Woodall was included because of his knowledge of these countries and their languages. The man leading this embassy was Sir Thomas Smith was Governor of the East India Company and soon to be employer of Woodall. In 1612 Woodall was appointed Surgeon General of the East India Company.  Woodall's career continued upwards and he was appointed surgeon to St. Bartholomew's Hospital in 1616...

Rolled up x-ray prints While wandering through the archives just before the Christmas holidays, the two rolled up bundles shown above caught our attention. Written on one of the bundles was the word 'X-rays' while on the other one can make ' Mauser in abdomen...' On returning from the holidays it was decided to investigate further. And what a belated Christmas present we found! All together there are 28 x-ray prints in fairly good condition. Not only that, the majority of them have details about the injury shown in the x-ray, where it happened, when it happened and how it happened written on the back. An archivist's delight! So when are the majority of these x-ray prints from you ask?? Black Week (10-17 December 1899) of the Second Boer War  The first print to be unfurled was the one with 'Mauser' written on it. The handwritten note states 'Mauser in abdomen - lodged in front colon - localised and extracted'. The print itself is below ...

The bells are jingling, people are mingling and the lights are twinkling so it is time for all of us at RCSI Heritage Collections to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! Our resident rein-dog hopes you enjoy the holidays! RCSI Heritage Collections will be closed from Wednesday 23rd December until Tuesday 5th January 2016. - Researched and written by Meadhbh Murphy

Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland c.1900 As this year draws to a close, Ireland is about to embark on a year of commemorations and celebrations in 2016 as it will be 100 years since the Easter Rising took place in Dublin and around the country. Every day, thousands of commuting Dubliners pass by RCSI's iconic building on the western side of St. Stephen's Green in the heart of the city, with its impressive 19th century stone-column façade. Even regular passers-by may not have noticed the subtle reminders of our history which are scattered across the columns - now gently smoothed by 100 years of weathering, are bullet holes from the 1916 Easter Rising. The centrepiece of RCSI's 2016 Commemorative Programme, which will coincide with the official state commemorations, is a special exhibition Surgeons and Insurgents - RCSI and the Easter Rising   and accompanying public lecture series.  The exhibition will tell the story of the events surrounding the bat...

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. ...