Research Resources on Medical History
Organisation:
This scheme has been run by the Wellcome Trust since 2003 and has been extended until 2011. A previous scheme of the same name, run in collaboration with the British Library, ran in 2001 and 2002.
Programme Objectives
To provide funding for high quality projects to catalogue and preserve significant history of medicine collections with the aim of making such collections available to medical historians and researchers.
To support, where applicable, projects based around the production of digital surrogates to improve access and reduce handling of fragile material.
The scheme has £500,000 to allocate per year.
Projects should have a wide and lasting application for study and research in the field of history and medicine. There is no restriction on any particular material, project type or historical period. Proposals for the scheme may centre on:
- preservation of fragile collections, including cleaning, repackaging and provision of appropriate housing
- production of surrogate copies such as preservation microfilming and digitisation
- remedial conservation work to stablise and repair fragile and damaged materials
- cataloguing or catalogue conversion
- creating new gateways to, or surveys of, collections
- cataloguing important photographic collections
- projects based on contemporary records
Eligibility
- The scheme is open to any type of institution in the UK.
- Individuals are not eligible to apply.
- Funding for major building projects and acquisition costs will not be considered.
Timetable
The application process is in two stages. Brief preliminary applications will be assessed and full applications will be invited from a selection of applicants.
Preliminary applications should consist of the CV of the applicant and a brief project proposal (no more than two pages), including a brief statement as to the importance of the collection to medical history, the amount requested and expected duration.
Full proposals should be submitted on an application form, which will be provided for invited applicants. There are two rounds of funding in each year. Preliminary applications should be submitted by either 1 January or 1 July.
Full applications will be invited from a selection of
preliminary applications and should be submitted by either 1 March
or 1 September. These deadlines are strictly adhered to.
Criteria
- Projects can be funded for a fixed period of up to 3 years.
- Grants are expected to be between £10,000 and £100,000.
- Grants can be used to pay staff salaries and the purchase of necessary materials and equipment.
- Specific levels of partnership funding are not given but applicant's ability and individual circumstances will be taken into account.
- Institutions are expected to demonstrate commitment to the ongoing support of the newly created or augmented research resources, and must maintain them in suitable storage conditions.
- Successful applicants will be expected to monitor and evaluate progress and submit regular reports.
Types of Project Funded
The National Sound Archive - at The British Library holds one of the best series of health and medical-related oral history collection in the UK. Gathered over the last 15 years, it reflects change in medicine, health and welfare over the past century through direct testimonies. Access is severely limited by the absence of detailed catalogue entries and/or online searching aids. This grant will audit the entire collection and, where required, create comprehensive machine-readable catalogue entries.
The Royal College of Psychiatrists - has an antiquarian book collection which is unique in charting the development of psychiatry and the understanding of mental disease. At present most of this collection is too fragile to be used and this project will restore the collection to the condition where it can be more readily accessible.
Cambridgeshire County Record Office - will catalogue, repackage and do some digitisation of the archives of Papworth Village Settlement. Founded in 1915, as a tuberculosis colony the settlement is now Papworth Trust, specializing in working with disabled people and Papworth Hospital, reknowned for work in the treatment of heart disease and pioneering transplant surgery. In addition the project will include documentary survey and oral history work to enhance the existing archival record.
Application/Contact Details
Programme Officer, Research Resources in Medical History, The
Wellcome Trust, 210 Euston Road, London NW1 2BE
Tel: 020 7611 8658
Fax: 020 7611 8254
E-mail: rrmh@wellcome.ac.uk
Web
www.wellcome.ac.uk/rrmh«
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