Archive collections held at the RCOG
Records of the RCOG
The College Archive is the custodian of the records created by the RCOG since its foundation in 1929 to the activities of the present day. These records include material relating to the founding of the British College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, all Council and committee minutes and papers, special reports, surveys and projects conducted or supported by the RCOG into areas such as abortion, contraception, artificial insemination by donor, childbirth and maternity services, and the training of consultant obstetrician and gynaecologists at home and overseas, and records of lectureships, research awards, travel grants, scientific meetings and conferences. The College's role as an advisor to external professional bodies, as well as collaboration with other medical colleges, is also well documented.
The RCOG collection also holds photographs of past Presidents, Fellows and Members, together with other eminent physicians, and of the College and its various activities, together with archive copies of publications including the British Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, and scrapbooks of press cuttings relating to the College and to the specialty (1929-1987).
Special Collections
The College Archive also holds donated or deposited collections of personal or private records related to the specialty. Significant collections include the personal papers of College founders, Professor William Blair-Bell and Sir William Fletcher Shaw, and Fellows such as Professor Miles Harris Phillips, Professor John Chassar Moir, Sir Norman Jeffcoate, Sir Stanley Clayton, Sir Alexander Russell Simpson, Bethel Solomons, Charles Macafee, and June Scudamore, together with notes of midwifery lectures (18th and 19th century), records of the Gynaecological Visiting Society, the Women's Visiting Gynaecological Club, the Fothergill Club, the Royal Maternity Charity, and the British Lying-In Hospital (Endell Street, London).
Records of the Royal College of Midwives
The records of the Royal College of Midwives are also now held at the RCOG, and this collection comprises, council and committee minutes, agendas and reports, correspondence and papers of the College President and the General Secretary, departmental records, photographs and printed material, relating to the activities of, and prominent individuals involved in, the Royal College of Midwives, as well as the campaign for the registration, training and education of midwives, pregnancy, childbirth, contraception and abortion, dating from the foundation of the organisation in 1890 (then known as the Midwives Institute) to the present day. The collection also includes deposited papers, which range from case registers, notebooks, and diaries to uniforms, badges and medical instruments of midwives that practiced across the country, providing an insight into childbirth and how the role of midwives has changed over the twentieth century.
Archive Catalogue
Details of some of these papers are now available on the Archives Hub website with further details being made available regularly. Details are also available via the AIM25 website, although many of these descriptions are now outdated. For full details, please contact the College Archivist.
Access to the records
The majority of these records are available for research, by prior appointment, and dependent on data protection, confidentiality and conservation considerations. Please contact the College Archivist for more information archives@rcog.org.uk.
We look forward to welcoming Fellows, Members and researchers to the College Archives.
- Open: Monday-Friday
- Please book in advance
- Wheelchair access
- Tel: +44 (0)207 772 6381
- Email: archives@rcog.org.uk