Barts Health Archives

Black and white photograph showing a patient on a ward. Three men wearing three piece suits are at the head of the bed. One is performing surgery on the patient. Another is dropping anaesthetic onto a piece of fabric on the patient's face. A nurse is standing to the right of the men, holding a bowl and sponge. To her right is a carbolic spray positioned to spray over the patient. [SBHX8/733]

Blue background with white text which reads "British surgeon Joseph Lister invented this device to spray disinfectant over the patient and surgeons during operations. He believed it would kill bacteria in the air and stop the patient from getting infections." There is a photograph showing the spray which comprises a metal cannister (which housed a paraffin lamp and a water tank) with a wooden handle, a glass jar (which would have held the carbolic acid) is mounted to the cannister.

In last night's episode of Our Hospital Through Time we showed an example of Lister's Carbolic Acid Spray. In this photograph you can see how it was used to mist disinfectant over the patient during a surgery at St Bartholomew's

#HistMed #History #Archives

Blue background with white text on it which reads - John Freke (1688-1756), Surgeon and Museum Curator Appointed assistant surgeon to St Bartholomew's Hospital in 1725. He began to specialise in eye surgeries, becoming one of the first specialists in England. One of his duties as assistant surgeon was to manage the anatomy museum. The museum was mostly made up of kidney and bladder stones. In July 1729 John became the main surgeon to the hospital. The chandelier, which has his name on it, was given to the hospital in 1735.

The Freke Chandelier hangs in the @bartsnorthwing.bsky.social and was a gift from one of the hospital's surgeons, John Freke, in 1735.

#OurHospitalThroughTime #History #Barts

Catch Ep2 of Our Hospital Through Time tonight at 8pm on Channel 5. Tune in to see us showing @profaliceroberts.bsky.social our collection items and discussing more of the history of St Bartholomew's Hospital!

#History #Archives @bartscharity.bsky.social @bartsnorthwing.bsky.social

📢In partnership with St Andrews University, we're looking for a 'Joseph Bell Writer in Residence at the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh' to pursue a writing project drawing on our archives. Stipend of up to £15,000. Closing date 6 March 2026. www.vacancies.st-andrews.ac.uk/Vacancies/W/...

Happy National Love Your Pet Day! At Whipps Cross Hospital Preliminary Training School for Nurses, Matron Fogarty always made sure her dog Tara was in the pictures

You can find more pictures of her by searching "Tara" on our catalogue!

#Archives #History #Dogs #Pets

Colour photo showing a nurse behind a desk, she is on the phone, a man in green scrubs stands in front of the desk

We loved introducing Alice to our collections, but you don't need to be a Professor to come to the archives, anybody can visit and explore our collections!

Find out how by visiting our website - www.bartshealth.nhs.uk/barts-health...

#History #Archives

Black and white photograph showing two female records clerks, both wearing work coats; one on a ladder is retrieving or returning an x-ray from the shelf in a wallet which reads "x-ray wallet"; the other appears to be checking files against a paper list.

If you're new to our service you should know that we are more than just St Bartholomew’s. We hold the records of more than 30 organisations, including medical schools, maternity homes, poor law infirmaries, and much more.

You can find a list of collections we hold here - tinyurl.com/d9ds6nhv

Black and white photograph showing two female records clerks, both wearing work coats; one on a ladder is retrieving or returning an x-ray from the shelf in a wallet which reads "x-ray wallet"; the other appears to be checking files against a paper list.

If you're new to our service you should know that we are more than just St Bartholomew’s. We hold the records of more than 30 organisations, including medical schools, maternity homes, poor law infirmaries, and much more.

You can find a list of collections we hold here - tinyurl.com/d9ds6nhv

Colour photo showing a nurse behind a desk, she is on the phone, a man in green scrubs stands in front of the desk

We loved introducing Alice to our collections, but you don't need to be a Professor to come to the archives, anybody can visit and explore our collections!

Find out how by visiting our website - www.bartshealth.nhs.uk/barts-health...

#History #Archives

We have many surgery items. Here are some of our favourite surgical collection items!

Two women sit at a white desk looking at a book which is resting on a book cushion. The woman on the left has pink hair and wears glasses, she is running her finger along text in the book. The woman on the right wears a checkered top and gazes at the book whilst the other woman is reading.

John Woodall's book, The Surgeon's Mate (1653), is one of our Special Collection items. This collection includes historical printed works to do with medicine, surgery and nursing. You can find more of them under the reference SPECOL on our catalogue

A black woman stands behind a tea trolley full of cups, plates and tea supplies. She worked at Hackney Hospital.

A white woman with a a trolley of beauty and bathroom supplies, passes an item to a female patient in bed, another woman in a wheelchair looks on

Anything from the trolley? Services like the one provided by Leslie in the documentary allow patients to have treats and home comforts whilst on the wards. From sweets, teas, and library services, there's something for everyone!

#OurHospitalThroughTime #Archives #History

Today is the day! Tune in tonight at 8pm on Channel 5 to see us discussing the history of St Bartholomew's Hospital using our collections.

We're so excited to show you!

Black and white photograph showing a man in chefs whites standing in a kitchen and flipping a pancake in a frying pan.

Black and white photograph showing a man in chefs whites standing in front of a group of teenage boys and flipping a pancake in a frying pan.

It's pancake day 🥞

Hope everyone is having a flipping great day!

Starting on Wednesday at 8pm on Channel 5, watch Our Hospital Through Time. Tune in to see us showing @profaliceroberts.bsky.social our collection items and discussing the history of St Bartholomew's Hospital

#History #Archives #HistMed #HistNursing

Two women sit at a white desk looking at a book which is resting on a book cushion. The woman on the left has pink hair and wears glasses, she is running her finger along text in the book. The woman on the right wears a checkered top and gazes at the book whilst the other woman is reading.

We have been working on something fun with
@profaliceroberts.bsky.social Our Hospital Through Time explores 900 years of history, showing how Barts evolved from medieval origins into a modern centre of medical excellence 📜🥼

Ep 1 airs 8pm on 18 February on Channel 5! Tune in to see our collections!

Leaflet issued by Tower Hamlets Health Campaign, c1984 (RLHTH/X/1/3)

New to our collections? Want guidance on where to start? Check out our suite of research guides!

Now with 3 *new* guides, developed with students from the @qmul.bsky.social QHeritage programme, on Activism; 'External Midwifery'; & Annexes and Convalescent Homes

www.calmview.co.uk/BartsHealth/...

From Daffodils and Little Folks to Sunny | Blogs from the Archives The Queen Elizabeth Hospital for Children and the development of children's hospital services

New on the blog👀
"From Daffodils and Little Folks to Sunny: the Queen Elizabeth Hospital for Children" - read about the collections and history of a former East London landmark, and the work we're doing to improve access to its amazing archives
www.bartshealth.nhs.uk/archives-blo...

Verification of a Date in the Gaskell Letters: Mrs Glover’s Original Patient Case Notes ‘Poor Mrs Glover’, wrote Elizabeth Gaskell, ‘[…] the operation is to be today’.1 There are nine letters featuring Mrs Glover and her diagnosis and treatmen

My new article was published earlier this week!! It focuses on the gynaecological health of Mrs Glover, the subject of several letters in Elizabeth Gaskell's correspondence between 1853–54, and reveals Glover's original patient record that I found at the wonderful @bharchives.bsky.social. ✨

We're here 👋👋

(we know we're archives, but we do have plenty of objects too!)

We have been watching #Amadeus and the opening titles piqued our interest. The animations show the making of catgut, a material used for both musical instruments and for surgical suturing. We've paired some stills with images from our collection to show how catgut was made 🧵🪡

CW: Gore, needles

A series of brown, black, and white brochures promoting the new see-through packaging for London Hospital Ligatures

We hold the records of the London Hospital Ligature Department, which produced catgut for sale all over the world, and you can read all about it in this blog -

www.bartshealth.nhs.uk/archives-blo...

#HistMed #Archives #History

A black and white image of a worker in 1920s PPE using a blow torch or bunsen burner to seal glass vials of catgut.

An open cardboard box, decorated with information about 'London Hospital Plan Catgut', and three glass vials containing catgut. RLHLG/SN/10

Surgical catgut was then treated with heat in an autoclave and tested for tuberculosis. Once confirmed as safe and sterile, the catgut would be sealed in glass vials ready for use by surgeons 🧵🪡

A split image. The top image is a colour illustration of hands using a tool to smooth the pink intestine. The lower image shows a worker in 1920s PPE sitting at a work-top with catgut hanging from hooks above them, they are grading catgut and winding it around wooden sticks.

After drying, the intestine, now 'catgut', would be graded and smoothed.

This is where our surgical catgut diverges from musicians catgut. The musician's could then be fitting to a stringed instrument, whereas surgical catgut still needed a few final steps before it could be used.

A split image. The top image is a colour illustration of pink intestine hanging between two tall posts. The lower image shows a worker in 1920s PPE hanging the catgut across tall posts inside a building.

After immersion in antiseptic fluids the ribbons were then spun together to create different thicknesses of suturing material. They were hung across racks to dry and harden.

A split image. The top image is a colour illustration of a worker stringing a pink ribbon of intestine between two tall posts. The lower image shows a worker in 1920s PPE winding intestine around a table-top set of posts.

After more scraping these fleshy ribbons were then wound to specified lengths.

A split image. The top image is a colour illustration of a hand running a blade down a pink ribbon of intestine. The lower image shows a worker in 1920s PPE standing at a work station, using a scraping tool.

Example of a stripping tool. RLHLG/SN/22

The raw lamb intestines would then be stripped of mucous and fats using a special tool. This process left behind a durable and flexible ribbon of flesh.

A split image. The top image is a colour illustration of two hands manoeuvring a clump of visceral intestines. The lower image shows a worker in 1920s PPE holding a block of frozen lamb intestines.

Firstly, catgut is NOT made from cats. It is made from the intestines or ruminants, such as cows and sheep.

The London Hospital started catgut in 1919, using lamb intestines, which arrived in frozen blocks from New Zealand.

We have been watching #Amadeus and the opening titles piqued our interest. The animations show the making of catgut, a material used for both musical instruments and for surgical suturing. We've paired some stills with images from our collection to show how catgut was made 🧵🪡

CW: Gore, needles

An illuminating interview with key individuals from the East London Health Project, on their role in campaigns against hospital closures in the 1970s👇

Keep an eye out for our new research guide on Patient and Staff Activism to find out more about campaign records in our collections, coming soon👀