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Archives
The archives in the RCSI Library fall into three broad categories according to
their provenance: records created by RCSI itself, records created by other
medical institutions, and records created by individuals.
The archives created by RCSI in the running of the College and its
school since 1784 include the minutes of meetings and correspondence of the
College, of Council and of various committees. The records of the school
include registers of students, examinations, fees and graduates. These are
unique primary sources for tracing the development of the College, the
teaching in its school and individuals who attended. The items comprising the
archive of RCSI have been listed and described in a database compiled by
Arcline. The database is available on the RCSI intranet for access by relevant
staff. The modern records of RCSI are boxed and stored in the basement of 121
St Stephen’s Green, and are also in the database.
Records from other medical institutions in chronological order
The registry of surgeons appointed by Act of Parliament to
examine into the qualifications of candidates for County Hospitals or
Infirmaries, 1766.
Reports on apothecaries’ shops, Dublin, 1824-1855.
Surgical Society of Ireland (1833-83): council minutes.
Charitable Infirmary Jervis St, governors’ proceedings 1835-1965;
medical board reports 1943-1964; patient registers 1918-23; 1950-59
List of practising surgeons, physicians and apothecaries in Ireland,
1837.
St Mark’s Ophthalmic Hospital (founded 1841): governors’ minute book
1876-9.
Ledwich School of Surgery & Medicine, minute book, 1859-1871.
Records created by individuals
These records are in a variety of formats including casebooks,
lecture notes, manuscripts of publications, letters, printed papers, etc.
Samuel Bell Labatt (1770-1849), Master of the Rotunda Hospital 1814-21,
fee-book.
Abraham Colles (1773-1843), surgeon, documentation relating to Colles.
Arthur Jacob, president RCSI, 1837 & 1864, correspondence 1840-43.
Richard Butcher, surgeon to Mercer’s Hospital, case books 1846-59.
John Freeman Knott (1853-1921) ‘an elderly, erudite and eccentric Fellow
of the College’ as Widdess referred to him. Correspondence and scrapbooks.
John Freeman Knott, 1853-1921 by J.B. Lyons. Long Room 34, 1989, 31-46.
The forgotten scholar : an exhibition of the papers of John Freeman
Knott, 1853-1921 by J.B. Lyons, M. O'Doherty. Dublin : Royal College of
Surgeons in Ireland, 1990
Thomas Heazle Parke LRCSI (1857-1893), diaries of his time as medical
officer to the Emin Relief Expedition led by Henry Morton Stanley across
Africa from Zaire to Zanzibar.
Lyons, J. B. Surgeon-Major Parke's African journey 1887-89. Dublin :
Lilliput Press, 1994.
J.R. Evatt DSO (1865-1951), Professor of Anatomy RCSI, diary
(transcribed by J.D.H. Widdess).
Charles A. Cameron, College historian, diaries, 1880-1916.
Bethel Solomons, gynaecologist, case books 1902-10.
J.D.H. Widdess (1906-82), College librarian and historian, papers.
Patrick Logan MD (d.1988), chest physician and medical historian, papers
James A. Deeny (1906-1994), former Chief Medical Adviser to the Irish
Government, papers.
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