Monthly Archives: January 2020

Opening hours: 3rd – 7th February

Next week, the History of Medicine Library will be staffed:

Monday 3rd: 2.15pm-5pm
Tuesday 4th: 
2.15pm-5pm
Wednesday 5th: 
2.15pm-4.30pm
Thursday 6th: 
2.15pm-5pm
Friday 7th: 
2.15pm-5pm

The Library’s books on the history of medicine are available to search on SOLO, or you can view our newest arrivals on LibraryThing! New readers are always welcome; if you would like to visit please contact us by email or phone to arrange your appointment.

Have a splendid weekend!

Catalogue of Printed Books in the Wellcome Library. Credit: Wellcome Collection. CC BY

Seminars in the History of Science, Medicine and Technology (Hilary Term, Week 3)

Who? Next week’s lecture will be given by Professor Marilyn Nicoud, who will be speaking about ‘Some aspects of patient-doctor relationships in the Middle Ages: Consilia and Regimina sanitatis, a kind of individualised medicine’.

What? ‘Historical and sociological studies have often examined patient-doctor relationships in terms of power. If today medical power is being called into question, because of legalisation of patient-practitioner relationships and because of the weight of patient associations, a lot of studies have shown that with the arrival of clinical medicine and the medicalisation of hospitals, medical discourse has imposed its power and reduced the free will of patients. This intervention proposes to examine the medieval situation and, in particular, the development of what could be interpreted as a kind of personalised medicine. It is part of a collaborative project aimed at producing a book about these relationships, studied from the Middle Ages to the beginning of the 20th century. With the progressive development of a doctrine and efforts to regulate medical practice, special texts were produced from the 13th century onwards: the writing of therapeutic consilia and regimina sanitatis has resulted in an impressive number of texts, distributed by a large number of manuscripts and editions. Often written by the medical ‘elite’ for specific people, these texts propose a kind of personalised medicine, mediated by writing, that also corresponds to particular forms of relationships, which could be described as negotiated or even, in a way, contractualised.

Where? History Faculty Lecture Theatre, George Street, Oxford

When? Monday 3rd February 2020, 16:00.

This lecture has been organised by the Oxford Centre for the History of Science, Medicine and Technology as part of the Seminars in the History of Science, Medicine and Technology series.

All welcome to attend!

Opening hours: 27th – 31st January

Next week, the History of Medicine Library will be staffed:

Monday 27th: CLOSED as we will be attending the Postgraduate Humanities Research Fair. There is still time to book – see the booking page!
Tuesday 28th: 
2.15pm-5pm
Wednesday 29th: 
2.15pm-4.30pm
Thursday 30th: 
2.15pm-5pm
Friday 31st: 
2.15pm-5pm

The Library’s books on the history of medicine are available to search on SOLO, or you can view our newest arrivals on LibraryThing! New readers are always welcome; if you would like to visit please contact us by email or phone to arrange your appointment.

Have a splendid weekend!

Medical equipment. Credit: Paul Griggs. CC BY

Humanities Research Fair 2020

The Humanities Research Fair will now be taking place on Monday 27th January 2020!

At the Fair you can learn about resources you may not yet have yet considered and meet the curators of collections who can guide you towards relevant material or useful finding tools. Over 40 stalls will cover many areas:

  • Special collections (archives & early printed books, maps, museums)
  • Topical stalls (e.g. resources for English literature, Theology, History, Modern Languages, Biography)
  • Geographical stalls (e.g. US studies, Latin American, Far & Near Eastern, European)
  • General resources (e.g. Information skills, Open Access, Digital Humanities, Top 10 Tips from a Graduate)
  • Take part in live historical printing with the Centre for the Study of the Book
  • Relax with a cup of tea at the Student Wellbeing stall and try your hand at fiendish Bodleian jigsaw puzzle

Book your place here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/humanities-research-fair-registration-84117187773

Seminars in the History of Science, Medicine and Technology (Hilary Term, Week 2)

Who? This lecture will be given by Dr Taline Garibian.

What? ‘Proving violence: forensics and war crimes during the First World War’

Where? History Faculty Lecture Theatre, George Street, Oxford

When? Monday 27th January 2020, 16:00.

This lecture has been organised by the Oxford Centre for the History of Science, Medicine and Technology as part of the Seminars in the History of Science, Medicine and Technology series.

All welcome to attend!

Opening hours: 20th – 24th January

Next week, the History of Medicine Library will be staffed:

Monday 20th: 2.15pm-5pm
Tuesday 21st: 
2.15pm-5pm
Wednesday 22nd: 
2.15pm-4.30pm
Thursday 23rd: 
2.15pm-5pm
Friday 24th: 
2.15pm-5pm

The Library’s books on the history of medicine are available to search on SOLO, or you can view our newest arrivals on LibraryThing! New readers are always welcome; if you would like to visit please contact us by email or phone to arrange your appointment.

Have a splendid weekend!

Warwick Mechanics Institution Perambulating Library. Credit: Wellcome Collection. CC BY

McGovern Lecture on the History of Medicine – ‘A Medical Commander In Rwanda 1994: Stabling The Four Horsemen Of The Apocalypse’

Who? Major General Professor Alan Hawley CBE will be speaking about ‘A Medical Commander In Rwanda 1994: Stabling The Four Horsemen Of The Apocalypse’.

He ‘studied medicine at the University of Birmingham and then joined the British Army as a doctor. His military experience included the command of the Parachute Medical Regiment and operational experience in Northern Ireland, Bosnia, Kosovo, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Afghanistan and Iraq. He was the medical commander in most of these deployments which made him the most operationally experienced British Army Medical Commander since the Second World War. He completed 34 years of service and left in 2009 to take up a Professorial appointment in Disaster Studies. He is currently settling into academic life again as a theology undergraduate at Wycliffe Hall, University of Oxford.’

What? ‘In 1994 the world witnessed one of the most devastating episodes of genocide ever perpetrated. The United Kingdom deployed a force of 650 to be part of the United Nations response to the disaster. This lecture will feature the experience of Alan Hawley as the medical commander of the British contingent. He will offer a personal view of the politics, realities and ethics of the situation in Rwanda. He will cover the change in the situation from murder and lawlessness to a more stable state of equilibrium and touch on the human cost of the deployment.

Where? Green Templeton College.

When? Wednesday 22nd January 2020, 18:00.

For more information and to register, please visit https://www.gtc.ox.ac.uk/eventbrite-event/mcgovern-lecture-on-the-history-of-medicine/

Seminars in the History of Science, Medicine and Technology (Hilary Term, Week 1)

Who? This term’s first lecture will be given by Dr Michael Finn, who will be speaking about ‘Self-help and psychology’.

What? ‘Self-help literature proliferates today, on bookshelves and online, providing guidance and knowledge for people looking to improve their lives, careers and mental health. The origins of the genre have been traced as far back as antiquity, but it was in the 19th century, in the works of authors such as George Combe and Samuel Smiles, that the publication of self-help works gained mass popular appeal. This growth in self-help literature, amongst other things, accompanied the development of scientific theories of mind, and the rise of psychology as a distinct discipline in the Western World.

In this talk, I wish to look at the historical relationship between psychology and self-help from the 19th century onwards, asking to what extent theories of mind have underpinned self-help advice, how these have changed over time, and what lessons historians can take from this story.’

Where? History Faculty Lecture Theatre, George Street, Oxford

When? Monday 20th January 2020, 16:00.

This lecture has been organised by the Oxford Centre for the History of Science, Medicine and Technology as part of the Seminars in the History of Science, Medicine and Technology series.

All welcome to attend!

Opening hours: 13th – 17th January

Next week, the History of Medicine Library will be staffed:

Monday 13th: 2.15pm-5pm
Tuesday 14th: 
2.15pm-5pm
Wednesday 15th: 
2.15pm-4.30pm
Thursday 16th:
2.15pm-5pm
Friday 17th: UNSTAFFED

The Library’s books on the history of medicine are available to search on SOLO, or you can view our newest arrivals on LibraryThing! New readers are always welcome; if you would like to visit please contact us by email or phone to arrange your appointment.

Have a splendid weekend!

Folio books in strong rooms, Wellcome Institute Library. Credit: Wellcome Collection. CC BY

Opening hours: 6th – 10th January

Happy New Year! For the first time this decade, the History of Medicine Library will be open to readers next week. It will be staffed at the following times:

Monday 6th: 2.15pm-5pm
Tuesday 7th: 
2.15pm-5pm
Wednesday 8th: UNSTAFFED

Thursday 9th: 
2.15pm-5pm
Friday 10th: 
2.15pm-5pm

The Library’s books on the history of medicine are available to search on SOLO, or you can view our newest arrivals on LibraryThing! New readers are always welcome; if you would like to visit please contact us by email or phone to arrange your appointment.

Have a splendid weekend!

16th century plastic surgery on the nose. Credit: Wellcome Collection. CC BY