History of Science, Technology and Medicine: Special Collections

The Library’s Special Collections provide a rich resource for the History of Science, Technology and Medicine at the University of Manchester.

Our collections include printed and archival material on a wide range of HSTM topics. For the history of medicine we hold extensive resources relating to anatomy, surgery, pharmacy as well as medical education. For the history of science and technology we have significant holdings for materials relating to astronomy, computing, chemistry, physics, life sciences and engineering

This guide will identify collection strengths and help you access the most relevant material.

Archive collections provide extensive coverage of many aspects of medical and scientific history since the 18th century. Our printed collections cover most medical and scientific disciplines since the Renaissance, and most leading authors in these subject areas are represented.

The medical collections are particularly strong in the histories of anatomy, pharmacy, obstetrics and surgery since the Middle Ages. The medical archives are invaluable for any medical-related topic relating to the Greater Manchester region, especially issues of medical professionalisation, politics and education, and the development of the hospital system. Particualr specialisms such as neurosurgery, orthopaedics, oncology, radiology and public health are well covered.

The science collections are a valuable resource for the histories of chemistry, computing, astronomy and physics. They also contain material for more general topics such as professionalisation of science, university-based research cultures, public science, and relations between scientists, government and business.

Our collections include the Manchester Medical Collection, a unique compilation of documents relating to Manchester’s medical history. It includes material on the local medical profession, medical education, hospitals, and local medical charities and societies. It is supplemented by the Manchester Medical Society Archive and the personal papers of Sir Geoffrey Jefferson (neurosurgery), Sir Harry Platt(orthopaedics), Stirland Public Health Collection, Ian Isherwood and Derek Guttery (X-rays and imaging).

The Manchester Medical Manuscripts Collection is an independent collection of manuscripts compiled by Manchester physicians and surgeons in the 18th and 19th centuries. It includes a number of notes made by medical students, including lectures delivered by William Cullen, William Hunter, Thomas Young and George Fordyce. There are several casebooks, and notebooks of Charles Clay, John Hull, Edmund Lyon and Thomas Radford amongst others.

The Library’s printed collections for the history of medicine are among the most important and extensive in the UK. Our materials extend from the earliest printed books to the twentieth century.

The library of the Manchester Medical Society forms the basis of the Medical Printed Collections; it includes an outstanding collection of rare and early printed books including many incunabula. Other collections such as the Bullock Collection contain Italian medical texts from the 16th century onwards.

There is a comprehensive range of early printed editions of the medical writings of Hippocrates, Galen, Soranus, Avicenna and Maimonides. We also have an outstanding collection of Renaissance and early modern editions including anatomies by Vesalius, Dryander and Estienne, surgical works by Ambroise Paré and Guy de Chauliac. From the18th century we have texts by Hermann Boerhaave, William Hunter, and Edward Jenner.

Two discrete collections have a specialist focus: the Marie Stopes and Birth Control Collection for birth control and eugenics and the Deaf Education Collection for the history of surdo-mutism.

Archive collections include the Jodrell Bank Observatory Archive and the Zdenek Kopal papers for the history of astronomy. The papers of John Dalton, Henry Roscoe, and Edward Frankland are important for 19th century chemistry, the James Prescott Joule manuscripts and Arthur Schuster papers cover physics, Durward Cruickshank (crystallography) ,and the Sydney Hickson and Claude Wardlow papers deal with zoology and botany respectively. The Jevons Family papers includes material on the history of mathematics and logic. The The Wedgwood correspondence is an important collection for science and technology during the Enlightenement era.

Various aspects of earth sciences and geology are covered in the papers of  William Boyd Dawkins, Edgar Morton and Peter Rowe. These are particularly strong for economic applications of geology and geophysics, especially relating to large-scale projects such as dams, reservoirs, mines and road-building.

The University of Manchester archives include material relevant for scientific disciplines in an academic institutional context.

The History of Computing Collection consists of archives, which relate to the history of computing in the UK. It is an essential resource for the development of computing by universities, government and businesses, especially in the middle decades of the 20th century. It also includes personal papers of leading practitioners such as Douglas Hartree, Alan Turing, and Dieter Prinz.

There are notable printed holdings for the study of the history of science including editions of Plato, Aristotle, Euclid, Hippocrates and Galen. One of the strongest areas of coverage is for Renaissance and early modern science. There are numerous editions of Nicolaus Copernicus, Tycho Brahe, Francis Bacon, Galileo Galilei, Johann Kepler, Isaac Newton, Robert Boyle, Christiaan Huygens and Robert Hooke. For the 18th and 19th centuries, there are works by Joseph Priestley, William Henry, John Dalton, Charles Darwin and Joseph Thomson.

The Mathematical Printed Works contains many first and notable editions from Pythagoras through to Carl Friedrich Gauss (1777-1855), the last man to be called the Prince of Mathematics.

The Partington and Smith/Schunck collections  are  major resources for the history of chemistry. There is also an important Natural History and Ornithological Collection comprising most of the great 18th- and 19th-century illustrated botanical and ornithological books.

What are Special Collections?

The University of Manchester Library holds one of the finest collections of rare books, manuscripts, archives and visual collections in the world. These collections are mainly concentrated in the magnificent building on Deansgate, The John Rylands Research Institute and Library, in the centre of Manchester. They are also housed in the Main Library on the University campus and at the Ahmed Iqbal Ullah RACE Centre, in Manchester Central Library. This resource introduces the different types of materials found in Special Collections and explains how they can be used to support your studies. For general tips on accessing digital and physical collections and visiting our reading room please look at our other Medium resources.

You are welcome to make use of Special Collections in your learning and research.

Due to the special nature of the material, we provide access in a controlled environment and there are some restrictions on use and access, particularly for fragile material or modern archives which may contain sensitive data.

Please read our guidance pages on the web for details.