Collection: Wellcome Collection

Collection-level records:

• Collection history (Collection development policy)

  Wellcome Collection is located in the Wellcome Building at 183 Euston Road, London, originally built in 1932 as a home for Sir Henry Wellcome’s non-commercial pursuits.

  The sheer size of Sir Henry’s extraordinary collection of objects and books outpaced his vision of creating a museum that could display them all, in the Wellcome Building, or anywhere else. He staged exhibitions during his lifetime, but the majority of museum objects remained in storage, while books were housed in different locations across London.

  On his death in 1936, Sir Henry’s will established a charity for “the advancement of medical and scientific research to improve mankind’s wellbeing”. The share capital of his pharmaceutical company, the Wellcome Foundation, objects and books, were left to this charity under the care of his Trustees, who formed the Wellcome Trust, now known simply as Wellcome.

  Faced with the daunting task of maintaining an extensive and sometimes esoteric museum collection of objects, the Trustees set a thematic focus around medicine and initiated a programme to sort and document medical items and to identify material for disposal. Hundreds of thousands of objects were auctioned or given to other collections around the world, although many remained in the possession of the Trust, which continued to strengthen its holdings with new acquisitions. The library was opened to the public for the first time in 1949.

  In the mid-1970s, Sir Henry’s remaining museum objects began to be transferred on loan to the Science Museum whose expertise in collections care and development would allow for greater access. The transfer continued until 1982.

  In 2004, the Wellcome Trust moved from the Wellcome Building into new headquarters next door at 215 Euston Road. The older building reopened in 2007, with the library now sharing space with

  Wellcome Collection, a new £37million public venue billed as “a free destination for the incurably curious” which set out to explore the connections between medicine, life and art through intelligent, adult programming. The venue enjoyed a popular and critical success that exceeded all expectations. Its loyal and rapidly growing audience often overwhelmed the building and, in 2013-15, Wellcome Collection underwent a second major capital project (£17.5million) to accommodate them.

  In 2005 our collections were awarded MLA (now ACE) Designated status. These included printed and published material, archives and manuscripts, and visual culture collections. Today the collections are made up of the Core Collections: visual and material culture, printed and published rare materials and archives and manuscripts; and the Support Collections: our auxiliary material, reserve collection, printed and published reference and digital reference collection.

  The collections are managed by Wellcome Collection, with the exception of some long-term loans, the most significant of which is Sir Henry Wellcome’s Museum Collection of objects, still cared for by the Science Museum Group. A Management Agreement, currently being updated, supports the collaborative interpretation of this collection, including its use in exhibition spaces at Wellcome.

  The global charitable foundation that bears Wellcome’s name is now a neighbour to Wellcome Collection, but its adjacency reinforces the connections and shared purpose between the Trust and its museum: to challenge how we think and feel about health and to help great ideas to thrive.

  Source: Collection development policy

  Date: 2018

  Licence: CC BY-NC

• Collection overview (Collection development policy)

  Our Core Collections

  Our collections are comprised of Core and Support Collections. We are committed to the ongoing development of our Core Collections, and their long-term retention, care and access in accordance with museum, archive and library best practice.

  Visual and material culture

  This includes Sir Henry Wellcome’s Museum Collection, a closed collection of mainly threedimensional objects. The most significant part of this collection, comprising over 117,000 historic items relating to medical history and the history of science more generally, has been on long-term loan to the Science Museum since 1976. Other smaller elements of the collection, including a group of Egyptian stelai and a collection of classical statuary, are on long-term loan at other institutions.

  It also includes an estimated 250,000 prints, paintings, drawings and photographs, and a small number of other artistic objects, dating from the 14th Century to the present day, which are directly managed by Wellcome Collection.

  Printed and published rare materials

  These include our significant holdings of rare and early printed books, ephemera and pamphlets. In addition to around 70,000 monographs (including over 600 pre-1501 books, and over 5,000 16^thCentury books), the collection includes more than 900 pamphlets and 700 items of ephemera.

  Archives and manuscripts

  These include unpublished material, drafts, notes, letters and photographs in both analogue and borndigital formats, including over 3,000 moving image and sound recordings. There are over 800 collections of personal papers, organisational archives, image and audio-visual collections and around 21,000 manuscripts in over 50 different languages, dating from antiquity to the present day. In addition to material collected from outside Wellcome, we hold the corporate archives of Wellcome Trust, Wellcome Foundation Ltd., and other predecessor and related organisations and associated individuals.

  Our Support Collections

  Our Support Collections include items that have already been assessed as not required for long-term retention as part of our Core Collections, or which are in current use for exhibition, reference, research or other support purposes and which may be subject to future appraisal for long-term retention.

  Our Support Collections are more adaptable, and as a result content may change frequently. Items are not necessarily subject to the same levels of collections management, care and conservation as our Core Collections. They comprise the following:

  Auxiliary material

  This is acquired to enhance display within exhibitions, permanent galleries, and other public spaces, or for use in object handling sessions with the public. These items are either facsimiles, of low value, or massed produced, and are likely to be subject to wear and tear and disposed of once no longer required.

  Reserve collection

  This includes items of a higher value and greater historical or artistic significance than those in the auxiliary collection. These include, for example, contemporary artworks, whether commissioned or purchased for display, and objects previously used for the teaching of medical science. These items are assessed on a case-by-case basis for transfer to the Core Collections.

  Printed and published reference collection

  This includes approximately 15,000 journal titles, 300,000 books, pamphlets and items of ephemera and 5,000 moving image and sound recordings. It is exceptionally strong in secondary sources for the history of medicine and also covers the wider medical humanities and social sciences. Another focus area is primary medical and scientific literature, including medical monographs and textbooks, pharmacopoeias and anatomical atlases, clinical and scientific journals, annual reports and grey literature.

  Digital reference collection

  This contains digitised content from external organisations, commissioned by us or otherwise obtained from existing open access collections, to extend and complement our own collections. The original physical items are not owned by Wellcome, but we manage the digitised content and provide access alongside our own digital material.

  Source: Collection development policy

  Date: 2018

  Licence: CC BY-NC