Today we present the staff profile of two new members to St George’s Library, Carly and James.
Hello my name is: Carly Manson
My role in the Library is: Archivist
Talk to me about: Anything relating to the History of St George’s Hospital and the medical school. I work in the Archive where we keep lots of old manuscripts, photographs, rare books, and artefacts ranging from the 16th-21st century. Our earliest item is a rare book dating back to 1562.
The Archive collection connects St George’s to its historical past and can be used to enhance new research in the history of medicine, uncovering stories of our famous alumni such as Edward Jenner, John Hunter and Edward Wilson (amongst many others).
Archives are primary research material and it’s very important that they are looked after properly- they are unique and irreplaceable! A project has recently been put in place to make the materials in the Archive more accessible to students, researchers and members of the public. In the near future, we are looking to catalogue our collections and create a number of finding aids to help enable access.
Visitors to the Archive have included students and members of staff from St George’s, and external researchers. Our previous visitors have included scientists, historians, television production staff, and family history researchers, amongst others. Here is a taster of the types of records they have consulted in the Archive:
- Minutes and papers of the School Council, Academic Board and other committees
- Student registers which include the names of our famous alumni (e.g. Henry Gray and Edward Jenner)
- Student nurses records
- Publications including School yearbooks and Hospital magazines
- Photographs of students, staff and former hospital sites
- Personal papers of Dame Muriel Powell
- Artefacts including historic surgical instruments
- Artworks/illustrations
- Oral history interview recordings with former students and staff
- Rare and historic books from the original medical school library
- Post mortem case books spanning 100 years of history
- Pathology registers from 1920-1946
If you would like to access the Archive for your research, or if you are interested in our history and would like to look at some of our treasures, please feel free to drop me an email at archives@sgul.ac.uk. Note that the majority of our records relate to the medical school rather than St George’s Hospital. The records of the hospital are largely held by London Metropolitan Archives.
Something else about me: I’m a huge fan of horror movies. The Archive has a number of creepy looking surgical instruments from the 18th and 19th centuries so I think I fit right in at St George’s!
Hello my name is: James Calvert
My role in the Library is: Information Assistant
When I am at the Library helpdesk you can ask me about:
- General enquiries
- Finding information
- Issuing, renewing and returning items
- Problems with your Library ID card
- Problems logging off a PC
- Printer issues
- Password resetting
- Booking a group discussion room
- Topping up printing credits
- Paying fines!
You can also contact the helpdesk between 8am-6pm
Telephone: 020 8725 5466
Email: library@sgul.ac.uk
Something else about me: I am returning to university in the autumn to study part-time for an MSc in Information Science. Along with developing a career in Library and Information Science, my main interests are practicing Tai Chi and Meditation.
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