IDENTITY STATEMENT
Reference code(s): GB 0120 WA/HSW
Held at: Wellcome Library
Title: Personal papers of Henry Solomon Wellcome (1853-1936)
Date(s): 1800-1985
Level of description: Collection (fonds)
Extent: 90 boxes and 20 outsize boxes
Name of creator(s): Wellcome | Sir | Henry Solomon | 1853-1936 | Knight | manufacturing chemist, patron of science and archaeologist
CONTEXT
Administrative/Biographical history:
Born Wisconsin, USA, 1853; educated College of Pharmacy, Chicago, 1872; graduated Philadelphia College of Pharmacy, 1873; pharmaceutical representative for Caswell, Hazard and Co, New York; pharmaceutical representative for McKesson and Robins, New York, 1876; expedition to Ecuador and Peru to study the cinchona forests, 1878; partnership offer from Silas Burroughs, London, 1879; Burroughs Wellcome and Co head quarters open in London, 1881; Burroughs launched unsuccessful legal action to dissolve the partnership, 1888; Burroughs died and Wellcome gained sole control of the company, 1895; awarded an honorary degree from the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy; awarded an Honorary Doctor of Laws degree (LLD) by Edinburgh University,1928; naturalised as a British subject, 1910; received knighthood, 1932; awarded an Honorary Fellowship by the Royal College of Surgeons; awarded a Fellowship by the Royal Society; died in London, 1936; memorial plaque erected in St Paul's Cathedral by Wellcome Trustees and ashes interred in St Paul's churchyard, 1987.
CONTENT
Scope and content/abstract:
Papers of Henry Solomon Wellcome, 1800-1985, comprising articles, publications, financial records, legal records, administrative documents, property details, probate records, marriage and divorce records, diaries, microfiche of letter books, details of events, subscription lists, field and geological reports, press cuttings, photographs, ephemera, objects, and family papers dating back to 1800.
ACCESS AND USE
Language/scripts of material: English
System of arrangement:
Arranged in sections as follows:
WA/HSW/FP FAMILY PAPERS
WA/HSW/ED EDUCATION AND EARLY CAREER
WA/HSW/ED/A Letters of introduction
WA/HSW/ED/B Correspondence
WA/HSW/ED/C Articles and publications
WA/HSW/AC PERSONAL FINANCIAL ACCOUNTS
WA/HSW/LE LEGAL MATTERS
WA/HSW/LE/A Citizenship and life assurance
WA/HSW/LE/B Administration of affairs
WA/HSW/LE/C Business matters
WA/HSW/LE/D Property
WA/HSW/LE/E Will and estate
WA/HSW/MD MARRIAGE/DIVORCE
WA/HSW/MD/A Marriage
WA/HSW/MD/B Separation and divorce
WA/HSW/MO MOUNTENEY
WA/HSW/DI DIARIES
WA/HSW/CO CORRESPONDENCE
WA/HSW/CO/Gen General (Misc)
WA/HSW/CO/Gen/A. 1881-1895
WA/HSW/CO/Gen/B. 1895
WA/HSW/CO/Gen/C. Feb 1895-Feb 1896
WA/HSW/CO/Gen/D. Feb-Jul 1896
WA/HSW/CO/Gen/E. Aug-Dec 1896
WA/HSW/CO/Gen/F. American Society Thanksgiving Dinner 1896
WA/HSW/CO/Gen/G. Jan-Apr 1897
WA/HSW/CO/Gen/H. May-Oct 1897
WA/HSW/CO/Gen/J. Nov 1897-Jul 1898
WA/HSW/CO/Gen/K. Aug 1898-Mar 1899
WA/HSW/CO/Gen/L. Apr-Oct 1899
WA/HSW/CO/Gen/M. Nov 1899-Jun 1900
WA/HSW/CO/Gen/N. Jul-Dec 1900
WA/HSW/CO/Gen/P. 1901
WA/HSW/CO/Gen/Q. 1902
WA/HSW/CO/Gen/R. 1903
WA/HSW/CO/Bus/A Business memoranda to Johnson 1901-1902
WA/HSW/CO/Bus/B Microfiche of letter books 1882-1905
WA/HSW/CO/Bus/C Miscellaneous correspondence
WA/HSW/CO/Bus/C.1 Early career
WA/HSW/CO/Bus/C.2 Khartoum 1901-1936
WA/HSW/CO/Bus/C.3 Physiological Research Laboratories 1902-1922
WA/HSW/CO/Bus/C.4 Wellcome Bureau of Scientific Research 1915-1925
WA/HSW/CO/Ind Individual correspondence files
WA/HSW/CO/Ind/A Extended correspondence/biographical files
WA/HSW/CO/Ind/B Personal correspondence
WA/HSW/ME METLAKAHTLA
WA/HSW/ME/A. Early Material
WA/HSW/ME/B. 'The Metlakatla Case'
WA/HSW/AR ARCHAEOLOGY
WA/HSW/AR/Jeb Jebel Moya
WA/HSW/AR/Lac Lachish
WA/HSW/AR/Lac/A. Field and Geological Reports
WA/HSW/AR/Lac/B. Correspondence and Administration
WA/HSW/AR/Lac/C. Presscuttings
WA/HSW/AR/Lac/D. Publications
WA/HSW/AR/Lac/E. Photographs
WA/HSW/AR/Lac/F. 'Lachish Letters'
WA/HSW/AR/Gen Other
WA/HSW/OR ORGANISATIONS AND SOCIETIES
WA/HSW/OR/A. African [Royal African] Society
WA/HSW/OR/B. American Society in London
WA/HSW/OR/C. Archaeological Society of Washington
WA/HSW/OR/D. China Publications Fund
WA/HSW/OR/E. Freemasonry
WA/HSW/OR/F. Imperial Vaccination League
WA/HSW/OR/G. Liege International Exhibition
WA/HSW/OR/H. Medical and Educational Mission to Sudan
WA/HSW/OR/J. Nicholls Testimonial Fund
WA/HSW/OR/K Royal College of Surgeons
WA/HSW/OR/L. Royal Commission on Museums
WA/HSW/OR/M. Royal Geographical Society
WA/HSW/OR/N. Royal Society
WA/HSW/OR/P. Royal Society of Medicine
WA/HSW/OR/Q. Society of Apothecaries
WA/HSW/OR/R. Vermin Repression Society
WA/HSW/OR/S. Subscription lists, ephemera, notes
WA/HSW/PE PERSONALIA AND MEMORABILIA
WA/HSW/PE/A Personalia
WA/HSW/PE/B Posthumous memorabilia
WA/HSW/AM ADA MISNER
WA/HSW/PH PHOTOGRAPHS
WA/HSW/OB OBJECTS
WA/HSW/GW GENEVIEVE WARD RELICS
Conditions governing access:
The papers are available subject to the usual conditions of access to Archives and Manuscripts material, after the completion of a Reader's Undertaking.
Conditions governing reproduction:
Photocopies/photographs/microfilm are supplied for private research only at the Archivist's discretion. Please note that material may be unsuitable for copying on conservation grounds, and that photographs cannot be photocopied in any circumstances. Readers are restricted to 100 photocopies in twelve months. Researchers who wish to publish material must seek copyright permission from the copyright owner.
Physical characteristics:
20 outsized boxes.
Finding aids:
Consultation of the catalogues of the institutional archives is recommended.
ARCHIVAL INFORMATION
Appraisal, destruction and scheduling information:
Accruals:
Archival history:
Most of this collection was inherited by the Contemporary Medical Archives Centre of the Wellcome Institute (now part of the Wellcome Library's Archives and Manuscripts department) when the physical separation of the Wellcome Institute from the Wellcome Foundation Ltd began in 1990.
Immediate source of acquisition:
Acquired from Sir Henry Solomon Wellcome on his death.
ALLIED MATERIALS
Existence and location of originals:
In 1997 some material which had been confused with the records of HSW's business activities was returned by Glaxo-Wellcome and photocopies or microfilms were obtained of material which straddled both interests, the originals of which remain with the Company.
Existence and location of copies:
WA/HSW/PE/C.14 is available on microfilm (AMS/MF/143). In addition, papers relating to Gordon of Khartoum and the Bureau of Scientific Research are available on microfilm (AMS/MF/141).
Related material:
HSW's correspondence with Sir H M Stanley and Lady Stanley, and related papers relevant to Stanley and African exploration, was given to the Royal Geographical Society in 1936.
The Griffith Institute, Ashmolean Museum, Oxford contains various materials including photographs, journals of expedition members, artist's sketches and paintings connected with the excavations at Gebel Moya and smaller sites in the Sudan.
The Harrowby Manuscripts Trust, Sandon Hall contains papers of Captain Peter Johnston-Saint.
The Sudan Archive at Durham University contatins the papers of several of Wellcome's associates.
The British Museum contains finds from the Lachish excavations of the Wellcome/Colt and Wellcome/Marston expeditions.
Publication note:
Robert Rhodes James, Henry Wellcome, London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1994.
DESCRIPTION NOTES
Note:
Archivist's note: Compiled by Anya Turner.
Date(s) of descriptions: June 2008