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Barts Health Archives @bharchives.bsky.social · 1d

Join us and the amazing Allyson Williams MBE next Monday, 13 October, for this #BlackHistoryMonth event👇
Book your free ticket using the link below

Migration Museum @migrationmuseum.org · 2d

Join us on 13 Oct at Barts North Wing, London to hear from expert speakers about the Windrush generation’s significant contributions to the NHS. #BlackHistoryMonth

This event is held in partnership with Barts Health NHS Trust Archives, Barts Heritage, & Culture Mile BID.

Book here: bit.ly/48fzzQQ

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Barts Health Archives @bharchives.bsky.social · 5d

It's that time again! The September newsletter is now out👀 - check your inbox if you're on our mailing list (and if you're not, sign up via our website!)
You can also read it in the 'Newsletters and blogs' section of the website www.bartshealth.nhs.uk/barts-health-archives

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Barts Health Archives @bharchives.bsky.social · 8d

Join us with the @migrationmuseum.org and Culture Mile BID, in @bartsnorthwing.bsky.social this #BlackHistoryMonth for "Migration Stories: Windrush and the NHS".

Tickets are free but must be booked in advance - to book and for more information, visit www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/black-hist...

Black History Month | Migration Stories: Windrush and the NHS

Hear from expert speakers about the Windrush generation’s significant contributions to the development of the National Health Service.

www.eventbrite.co.uk

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Reposted by Barts Health Archives

Teresa Doherty @dohertyta.bsky.social · 8d

Meet Annie McIntosh CBE RRC (1871-1951)

Born in #Herefordshire Matron at St Barts. Active in representing nurses in many committees she was an active RCN Council member

#HistNursing #WomensHistory #WomenInRed
#NursesInRed #Wikipedia @bharchives.bsky.social

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Annie_M...

Annie McIntosh - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

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Barts Health Archives @bharchives.bsky.social · 12d

Our collections include registers of births at the Salvation Army Mothers' Hospital in Clapton - many of the other records of the hospital are held at @salvarmyarchive.bsky.social.
Read this fascinating article to find out more about the role of Salvation Army midwives 'on the district' 👀

Salvation Army International Heritage Centre @salvarmyarchive.bsky.social · 13d

Read our new blog post on Salvation Army District Midwives in east London (and beyond). #histnursing

www.salvationarmy.org.uk/about-us/int...

Call the (Salvation Army) Midwife

In 1894, Salvation Army midwives began providing maternity services to mothers in their own homes in the East End of London

www.salvationarmy.org.uk

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Barts Health Archives @bharchives.bsky.social · Aug 12

In 1912 baby elephant, Jumbo, visited the London Hospital to have his heart beats registered.

Jumbo was one of a pair of elephants owned by the Daily Mirror. They were used for to fundraise for hospitals and charities before being donated to ZSL.

#WorldElephantDay #ElephantDay #Jumbo

RLHLH/P/2/19/01 - A black and white photo showing baby elephant standing in metal baths in front of hospital staff. Inscribed on the front: "No. 8 Baby Jumbo. The Daily Mirror Elephant having his heart beats registered at the London Hospital."

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Barts Health Archives @bharchives.bsky.social · Aug 8

A cat in the catering department! Or should that be CAT-ring department?

This photo, from 1922, shows members of the St Bartholomew’s Hospital catering staff 🐈

#InternationalCatDay #Archives

SBHX8/1788 - Thirteen members of the catering staff at St Bartholomew's Hospital, 1922. The eleven women and two men are pictured in four rows. The women are wearing white aprons, collars and caps, and one is holding a black cat. One woman has been marked with the letter M or by an X.

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Barts Health Archives @bharchives.bsky.social · Jul 25

Yesterday we hosted an away day for the dietetics team from the Royal London Hospital, kicking off with a display on the rich history of food, diet and dietitians at the London. If you work for the Trust and like the sound of an Archives away day, get in touch!

The group stand at a table in the archives searchroom looking at a display of documents

A diet table annotated by a nursing student from the London Hospital Training School for nurses, c1920s

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Barts Health Archives @bharchives.bsky.social · Jul 15

Our "coolest spoon" - a lithotomy scoop, used during surgeries to remove bladder stones. The surgeon would use tools to break up the stone in the bladder and then use a spoon, like this, and forceps to remove the shards.

This example, RLHINV/279, dates from about 1880 🥄

Long handled metal spoon photographed against a white background, there is a ruler at the bottom of the photo. There is a smooth handle at one end and at the other end is a scoop with indentation to help grip the stone for removal.

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Barts Health Archives @bharchives.bsky.social · Jul 11

A different type of nurses cap today - swimming caps! These pictures from the 1950s show the London Hospital nurses enjoying some leisure time in hospital pool 🌊

#HistNursing #LondonHistory

RLHLH/P/2/15/09 - Black and white photograph, circa 1950, showing two people in swimming costumes and caps sitting by the side of an indoor swimming pool. Behind them there are some people entering the pool via the steps, and people waiting to jump off a diving board.

RLHLH/P/2/15/01 - Black and white photo, circa 1950. showing people wearing swimming costumes and caps sitting around the edge of an indoor swimming pool, four people are standing on blocks waiting to dive in.

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Barts Health Archives @bharchives.bsky.social · Jul 9

we think we need one for the office!

Barts Health Archives @bharchives.bsky.social · Jul 9

First outing for our new BHA banner at the @qmul.bsky.social Founders Day event!

A pull-up banner with text and photos explaining the services provided by the barts health archives

A table with papers and activities on a parquet floor. There are two banners and a mannequin nun either side of the table

A view up at a vaulted ceiling and library shelves in a victorian looking building. There are rows of chairs pointed towards a large screen with a blue background that reads Welcome to Founders Day 2025

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Barts Health Archives @bharchives.bsky.social · Jul 9

No holiday booked this year? No problem! The RELAXATOR will give you that relaxed feeling - banishing mental tension and restoring your physical energy!

This advert was in the St Bartholomew's Hospital Journal, 1968.

Black and white advert printed on green/blue coloured paper. It reads "10 minutes holiday a day. The relaxator - the wonderful unique design of the Seat of the Century is the perfect answer to induce quick, complete relaxation, banish mental tension, restore physical energy. Unwind from the stress of modern living. To relax properly the head needs to be lower than your feet, the body is suspended in a special curve. This is just one relaxing position you can get with this life-long investment for leisure. Elegant, light and portable."

Taken from the St Bartholomew's Hospital Journal, 1968

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Barts Health Archives @bharchives.bsky.social · Jul 8

#CowAppreciationDay you say? We have several cow horns in our collection. These examples date from around 1700 and were used to feed children and patients that were too poorly to consume solid food 🐮

SBHX4/551 - A colour photo showing two dark brown, nearly black, horns against a white fabric background. The horns have been smoothed and have a wax nozzle at one end to assist with feeding.

At the bottom of the picture is a size and colour gauge to help photograph museum objects.

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Barts Health Archives @bharchives.bsky.social · Jul 4

Weekend reading sorted! 📖👀
Out today, the new issue of our newsletter - read it at the 'Newsletters and Blogs' section of our website, www.bartshealth.nhs.uk/barts-health.... Check your inbox if you're already on our mailing list, or go to the website to sign up and receive future issues!

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Barts Health Archives @bharchives.bsky.social · Jun 8

Ever wondered about the names of some of the old streetscape around the Royal London Hospital?
When the new hospital was built on Whitechapel Road in the 1750s, it neighboured a place variously known as a dunghill, a rampart, & a plague burial ground - find out more open.substack.com/pub/theunder...

The White Chapel Mount

Where there's a hill, there's a way

open.substack.com

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Barts Health Archives @bharchives.bsky.social · Jun 6

😂 certainly doesn't sound very appetising! The bread and beer listed at the bottom of each diet menu were the staples, so the cheese or butter was *in addition* to the bread

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Barts Health Archives @bharchives.bsky.social · Jun 6

In the early 20th century, most early dietitians were trained nurses, but the 1970s, it had become a profession in itself. From 1971, the London Hospital trained students in Nutrition and Dietetics. Today, a degree accredited by the British Dietetic Association is required #DW2025 (3/3)

Black and white photograph of a dietician and student preparing a meal in the metabolic unit kitchen at the London Hospital (RLHLH/P/2/24/1)

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Barts Health Archives @bharchives.bsky.social · Jun 6

Another pioneering dietitian, Rose Murlis Simmonds, who worked at The London Hospital (now the Royal London), published her Handbook of Diets in 1931. But the role of diet in patient care had been understood for many centuries; the hospital published patient diet sheets from c1760s #DW2025 (2/)

Image of Printed diet sheet of The London Hospital, 1762 (RLHINV/157).
Divided into full, middle or low, milk, dry and fever diets to be given to hospital patients.Full diet was given to men, middle diet to women and children. All (except special diets) were given bread and beer, but no vegetables. Jewish patients were given money to buy Kosher food.
Annotations in ink on reverse apparently relating to the use of the menu on each day of the week

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Barts Health Archives @bharchives.bsky.social · Jun 6

It's #DietitiansWeek #DW2025, so we're looking back at the development of dietetics at our hospitals. Margery Abrahams, dietitian at St Bartholomew's Hospital & first chair of the British Dietetic Association, was an early pioneer. Her book Modern Dietary Treatment was published in 1937 (🧵 1/)

Black and white photograph showing Margery Abrahams and assistants in white dresses, aprons and caps working in the Diet Kitchen at St Bartholomew's Hospital, c1930s. Abrahams is pictured between two unnamed assistants, one of whom is making pastry, the other weighing milk.

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Barts Health Archives @bharchives.bsky.social · May 22

👀New blog post!👀 Our wonderful placement student from the @ucl.ac.uk archives course, Symona, looks back at her time in the archives
www.bartshealth.nhs.uk/archives-blo...

Ledgers and newsletters - a placement report | Blogs from the Archives-Barts Health NHS Trust

Our placement student Symona shares what she has learnt

www.bartshealth.nhs.uk

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Barts Health Archives @bharchives.bsky.social · May 14

Inspired by some of the marginalia in our 15th century Cok's Cartulary, we designed some stickers for visitors at View Day.

Which character are you - the grumpy bunny? A two faced dog/king? A basilisk? A hungry fox? A merry piper?

A collection of five colourful circles containing illustrations.

Top left - an illustration of a rabbit holding a sprig of something, on a pink background.

Top right - a surreal image of two dogs hugging surrounded by faces, against a red background.

Middle - an illustration in orange of a winged snake, against a yellow background.

Bottom left - an illustration in dark blue of a medieval character playing a horn and standing on one leg, against a light blue background.

Bottom right - an illustration in red, of a fox holding a goose, against a green background.

What are these drawings?

These doodles and drawings were made along the edges of pages in the St Bartholomew’s Hospital Cartulary. They are called marginalia. There are drawings of pets, mythical creatures, musicians, faces, and fancy lettering. Sometimes they are pictures about the text, sometimes they highlight important bits in the text, and sometimes they are random.

What is a cartulary?

A cartulary is a collection of important documents kept together to help run a medieval organisation. Sometimes these documents have been bound together into a book.

The word cartulary comes from the Latin word ‘chartula’ which means ‘little paper’.

Some cartularies are decorated with colourful illustrations and gold.

Why does St Bartholomew’s Hospital have a cartulary?

The cartulary was started by Brother John Cok in about 1418 but has copies of documents from as early as 1133. St Bartholomew’s Hospital made money by owning lands and charging rents, and the cartulary was used as a way of keeping track of all the documents needed to manage the hospital’s business.

Sheets of stickers sitting on a white table cloth.

An extract from a page of Cok's Cartulary showing medieval handwriting and some of the illustrations (the fox holding the goose).

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Barts Health Archives @bharchives.bsky.social · May 14

View Day is here again! Visit our stall in the square at St Bartholomew's Hospital and find out how a day to survey the hospital properties evolved into a viewing of the patients and now an annual celebration of the hospital's work. Ice cream and historic pill making - it's all happening!

Archivist Ginny stands at a stall with books for sale and handling objects, and a display on the history of View Day

Using a pill-making machine from our handling collection to make play doh pills!

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Barts Health Archives @bharchives.bsky.social · May 13

Huge congratulations to @sarahphd22.bsky.social for the well-deserved recognition of her #histnursing research and her commitment to making little-known nursing histories accessible to all. Sarah has helped us find out so much about our own collections over the years!
www.rcn.org.uk/news-and-eve...

Congress Award winner 2025 | News | Royal College of Nursing

Kent nurse wins RCN Congress 2025 award.

www.rcn.org.uk

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Barts Health Archives @bharchives.bsky.social · May 12

The building is the North Wing, and behind the windows is the ground floor lobby of the grand staircase, with its huge paintings by William Hogarth. We know that the governors proposed temporary removal of the Charter Window on the first floor, and discussed precautions for the other windows

A photograph of the North Wing at St Bartholomew's Hospital, taken more recently but illustrating a similar view. The building is currently being restored by Barts Heritage, and will reopen in the autumn.

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