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Worcester's Medical Museums

Summer Newsletter 2019

Welcome to your summer update from George Marshall Medical Museum and The Infirmary Museum. Catch up with what's been happening and how to get involved in the coming months. Please note we will send a separate email with notes about events during October half-term!

Spanish Influenza Pandemic 1918-1920

We were really pleased to host a Study Day to celebrate the work we've been doing since 2017 to commemorate the Spanish Flu Pandemic in the West Midlands. In 2017 we received funding from the British Society for the History of Science (BSHS) to conduct Worcestershire-based research, have been exhibiting Florence Nightingale Museum's touring exhibition since January 2019 and working with various academics to create resources for you to learn about the pandemic.

On 5th April this year we held a Study Day, with talks from Hannah Mawdsley (Acting Research Manager at Imperial War Museum), Professor Maggie Andrews (University of Worcester), Laura Robson-Mainwaring (Research Engagement Fellow), and Dr Emma Edwards (University of Worcester). Over fifty people attended the Study Day, and we were delighted with the response from the attendees.

You can listen to the podcast recorded with Professor Andrews, Dr Edwards and our Curator.

In August 2019 we held a private event to launch the publication of the book: "Bovril, Whisky and Gravediggers, the Spanish Flu Pandemic Comes to the West Midlands 1918-1920". This was a great way to say "Thank you!" to all the researchers who had a hand in providing content, and to introduce the museum to a new audience. Mike Gibbs, of History West Midlands handed signed copies of the books to all researchers, and there was plenty of time to chat about the 'flu! You can purchase your copy of the book online or pop in to see Louise at George Marshall Medical Museum. £15 each.

The touring exhibition will be here until December 2019 when it will move to the Walsall Leather Museum complete with many loaned objects from our collection.

Exhibitions at GMMM

You can still see our Spanish Flu exhibition until December 2019. You also still have plenty of time to view our display about the Royal Army Medical Corps designed by volunteer Dr Robert Morrison. This display is in the museum underneath Blossom's horns, and is a beautiful compilation of the museum's objects and Dr Morrison's own items which once belonged to his father. We'll let you know what's coming next!

West Midlands Volunteer Awards

Each year West Midlands Museum Development accept nominations for the volunteers who make the West Midlands' museums such amazing places to visit. This year, we nominated our "Thursday Collections Team" AKA Mrs Margaret Ingman and Dr Robert Morrison for their wonderful contribution and many MANY years with us. They have been shortlisted for the award and invited to the awards ceremony along with the Curator at the Hippodrome, Birmingham. We're keeping our fingers crossed! See all the finalists under each category here: https://mdwm.org.uk/news/volunteer-awards-finalists-announced/

Silver Street Infirmary

Bishop Isaac Maddox and Dr John Wall were interested in providing Worcester with an infirmary. They looked to other infirmaries founded in 1700s (like Bristol and Northampton) which were financed by voluntary donations to provide care for the 'respectable poor'. In 1745 they bought out the tenants of 18 Silver Street and opened the doors to patients in January 1746. Later on, further houses in the row were added to the infirmary's 'books', allowing for a bath house and board room.

This building is regarded as a site of national importance, and considered a very rare survival for its age. It had been on Worcester's register for 'Heritage at Risk' since 1998. In 2016, the front row on Silver Street was renovated and converted into commercial premises and accommodation (you may well have eaten an ice cream there recently!), but the timber-framed building at the back - which you wouldn't know about if you didn't know it was there - had not been touched. Until now...

The timber-framed building, which we last saw being held up with scaffolding (and a few pigeons) is now a glorious version of its former self, containing six luxury serviced studio apartments. Everything that COULD be reused, HAS been reused, including the bricks, tile, beams, timber, and they've even named one of the apartments for Bishop Isaac Maddox.

Our Curator and a few volunteers were invited to the reopening of this VIB (Very Important Building!).

Power of Plants 2020

We're planning our 2020 activities with the theme of the 'Power of Plants'. Our exhibitions, talks, research and events will all be related to these themes and we've already started to find some gems in the archives thanks to new volunteers George and Johanna who have been getting stuck into William Salmon's New London Dispensatory and Culpeper's Complete Herbal.

If you'd like to get involved or help out in any way, please get in touch with Louise on 01905 760738 or email louise.price10@nhs.net. So far we're hatching plans with the British Society for the History of Pharmacy and the Homeopathic Association for events and talks next year!

Evesham Hospital

You may have noticed GMMM was a bit quiet for a few months after April, as Louise was having (and recovering from!) another triple pelvic osteotomy - this time to fix her left hip after the right was done some years ago. However, work was still happening both in front of and behind the scenes!

Louise Robinson and Kate Shore stepped in to cover education workshops in Louise's absence, and volunteers Mrs Margaret Ingman and Dr Robert Morrison visited Evesham Hospital Theatres to acquire a number of items which had been offered for donation. This has spurred a flurry of activity, as we have very little in our collection about Evesham, and are now calling for more. So, if you have any information about Evesham Hospital you would like to share with us, please let us know, as we'd like to put on a small temporary exhibition about its history at GMMM.

Curatorial Grant

We were successful in an application to the Art Fund and its Jonathan Ruffer Curatorial Grant to be able to attend this year's bi-annual conference of the European Association for the History of Medicine and Healthcare. This year it was being held at the University of Birmingham, so we couldn't NOT go! We received funding for both attendance and travel to the conference which was over four days and means Louise is now full of 17 hours of fascinating talks and lots of ideas about how to share our stories with new audiences. Happily she also bumped into Sophie Porter, the first Curator of GMMM.

So far at The Infirmary we've been having a very busy year with over one thousand students from 29 different schools visiting for workshops and tours. Not forgetting the five hundred undergraduates from Worcester University. There have been many other visitors too, of course, including special interest clubs, tour groups, families and individuals. We even hosted a special tour for two descendants of Sir Charles Hastings visiting all the way from New Zealand!

Also, some exciting news, after seven years some of our interactive displays have been getting very tired ... and even refusing to get up in the morning. So we have spent the summer holiday re-vamping and upgrading.

Now we are ready and raring to go for the new academic year ... come to visit us soon!