The Royal College of Surgeons of England (RCS) is home to a rich and fascinating archive that tells the story of the history of medicine and surgery. Ensuring the accessibility and preservation of these materials is a key priority for the Library and Archives team.

Thanks to a TownsWeb Archiving grant awarded in 2024, RCS has been able to digitise three significant historical documents—now freely accessible to a global audience for the very first time.

To discuss this digitisation project in more detail, we sat down with Sara Pink (Director of Library and Archives), Corinne Hogan (Assistant Librarian), and Georgina Thompson (Assistant Archivist), who shared their insights on the documents and the significance of making them digitally accessible.

Over the years, the Royal College of Surgeons of England has undertaken several digitisation projects, but the aim this time was to take a deeper look at the collections that truly tell a story. The team focused on materials that not only hold historical significance but are also in need of preservation and conservation.

There is always a concern about the fragility of the collections and whether they will require extra care. By partnering with a trusted company like TownsWeb Archiving, the College is confident that these valuable materials will be safely preserved for future generations, ensuring their longevity and continued accessibility.

Sara said:

"The partnership that we have with TownsWeb is so important, because it's an enabler to allow people to understand collections that perhaps they don't know exist, that they don't know that we have, and to work with people to understand the past, which will help us to understand where we're going."

The Importance of Digitisation

Sara Pink emphasises the vital role digitisation plays in preserving the past while making collections available to wider audiences:

“We feel very strongly that if we can preserve the past, we can understand and interpret the present and perhaps even think about the future of medicine and surgery.”

Digitisation allows for increased accessibility, particularly for researchers and historians who cannot visit London in person. It also ensures that historical records—some of which were difficult to access or handle due to their age or condition—are preserved for future generations.

Through their collaboration with TownsWeb Archiving, RCS has taken a crucial step in safeguarding these records while bringing to light stories that have long been hidden in the archive.

The Three Chosen Documents

Among the many invaluable records at RCS, three stood out for their historical significance, emotional weight, and storytelling potential.

These documents were selected to be digitised as part of the 2024 TownsWeb Archiving grant award, chosen for their ability to engage audiences and shed light on key moments in medical and surgical history.

1. The Elizabeth Garrett Anderson Petition

Sara Pink, Director of Library and Archives at the Royal College of Surgeons of England, discussed a petition to the Royal College of Surgeons of England submitted by Elizabeth Garrett Anderson, the first British woman to qualify as a doctor.

Elizabeth had petitioned the college three times to allow her to take the exams but was refused each time. The reasons for the rejection included societal views that women were unsuited for medicine, concerns about their emotional and physical ability to handle medical situations, and possible jealousy from men who feared competition.

Despite these challenges, Elizabeth was persistent and fought for 45 years to allow women to take the exams. In 1906, she gathered 39 signatures, including some from men, to support her cause. Though the college voted against admitting women in 1908, the council allowed women to take exams with the condition they could not participate in the governance of the college.

It wasn’t until 1926 that women were fully admitted to the Royal College of Surgeons of England on equal terms with men.

View the digitised documents here.

"Elizabeth Garrett Anderson was incredibly persistent... She ended up on a forty-five year battle with the Royal College of Surgeons of England to have women admitted to take their exams."

Watch the video below:

Sara Pink, Director of Library and Archives at RCS.

2. The Diary of a Resurrectionist

Corinne Hogan, Assistant Librarian at the Royal College of Surgeons of England, has worked at the college for 18 years, managing both modern and heritage collections as well as public engagement activities.

One unique item in their collection is the Diary of a Resurrectionist, a record from a gang member of a body-snatching group, also known as "sack 'em up men."

The diary, covering 1811-1812, details the group's nightly activities, such as grave-robbing, the selling of bodies to anatomists, and their personal lives, including trips to the pub. This document provides rare insights into the criminal activities of body snatchers, offering a level of detail not found in other accounts.

The body snatchers, part of a group known as the Burrow Group, operated primarily around Southwark, but also across London, raiding churchyards and private burial grounds. They supplied bodies for anatomical dissection, which was in high demand for medical education. Officially, the college was entitled to four bodies per year from executed criminals, but this was insufficient for the growing need for anatomy teaching. Body snatching became a common method to supply this need.

While surgeons needed bodies for education, the practice was publicly reviled, creating tension in the medical field. These body snatchers were not murderers like the notorious Burke and Hare, but rather supplied a demand in a desperate and illegal manner.

As the practice grew, competing gangs in London became involved, leading to public outcry and the eventual shift to legally granting unclaimed bodies from hospitals and workhouses.

View the digitised documents here & here.

"It’s just so incredible to have this still. We don’t have any other accounts like this. It’s almost like a sort of staff manual of what a body snatcher would be doing."

Watch the video below:

Corinne Hogan, Assistant Librarian at RCS.

3. The London Lock Patient Histories

Georgina Thompson, Assistant Archivist at the Royal College of Surgeons of England, shared details about the final set of documents that TownsWeb had digitised, which included the London Lock patient histories.

The London Lock Hospital was a charitable institution for treating people with venereal diseases, and the asylum was set up to help women recover and learn skills for work.

The patient histories contain biographical details about the women, including their backgrounds, work history, and circumstances that led to their illness, often related to prostitution. These records offer unique insights into social history, showing these women's own stories.

The records, covering 1787 to 1796, are also part of a research project by LSE. The asylum remained active until 1953 before merging with the NHS. Digitising these records has improved access to this valuable historical information.

View the digitised documents here.

"This is a really interesting piece of social history about women that we don't often hear from first-hand. You would hear about them more salaciously written about in newspapers of the time, but this is them telling their story."

Watch the video below:

Georgina Thompson, Assistant Archivist at RCS.

Essential Tips when Applying For Our Digitisation Grant

Applying for the TownsWeb digitisation grant can be highly competitive, so Sara shared a few tips for those embarking on their digitisation journey for the first time:

• It's important not to put too much pressure on yourself. Take the time to carefully assess your collections, perhaps with the help of a critical friend.
  
  
• Consider what items might have the most impact or resonate with your audience—what might be the most obscure or unusual piece in your collection? These can be key to securing funding, especially given the fierce competition in the heritage sector. Quirky items, rare illustrations, or unique historical documents often stand out in funding applications.
  
  
• Consider what story it tells, who it will engage, and whether there are other parts of the puzzle that complete the full picture of something from the past.

Receiving the TownsWeb Archiving grant was, in her own words, a “game-changer”. The process, from application to delivery, was smooth—and the impact is already being felt.

The Impact of Digital Access

The newly digitised documents are now freely available online, enabling researchers, educators, students, and the public to explore them from anywhere in the world.

This has also bolstered RCS’s outreach work. The team actively engages with schools and younger audiences to encourage exploration of medical history and its relevance to today.

“Engagement and outreach activities are a core aim of the College,” says Sara. “We work with schools and young people to show them what happened in the past and let them interpret it.”

Through these digitised records, RCS is not only preserving history—they’re bringing it to life for new generations.

Preserving the Past, Inspiring the Future

The collaboration between The Royal College of Surgeons of England and TownsWeb Archiving is a shining example of how digitisation can unlock hidden histories. It has preserved fragile, significant documents while amplifying voices and stories that might otherwise have been lost.

For organisations considering their own digitisation projects, RCS’s journey is a compelling case study: from identifying meaningful records and navigating the grant process, to using digital tools for education and outreach.

As we filmed with the team behind the scenes, it was clear how much care and emotion had gone into the project. From reverent handling of delicate paper to animated discussion about ethical complexities, the Library and Archives team’s passion was unmistakable.

This isn’t just about scanning documents—it’s about spotlighting the people, struggles, and breakthroughs that shaped the world of medicine and surgery as we know it.

Stay tuned for the announcement of the TownsWeb 2025 Grant Application Opening, taking place later this coming June.

You can view all of these digitised documents here.

To learn more about the Royal College of Surgeons of England Archives and explore their collections, visit their website: https://www.rcseng.ac.uk/museums-and-archives/archives/