IDENTITY STATEMENT
Reference code(s): GB 0113 MS-NABAA
Held at: Royal College of Physicians
Title: NABARRO, Alan (1914-1977)
Date(s): 1914 - 2009
Level of description: Collection
Extent: 3 boxes
Name of creator(s): Nabarro | Alan | 1914-1977 | diabetes campaigner
CONTEXT
Administrative/Biographical history:
Alan David Nunes Nabarro was born in Cricklewood on 10 November 1914. He was diagnosed with diabetes in 1921, and was one of the first diabetics in the UK to be treated with insulin from 1923. As a child, and throughout his life, Alan took an active interest in his condition, corresponding with his doctor and diabetes specialists around the world, collecting literature on the subject, creating suitable recipe and diet sheets, and later becoming an active member of the British Diabetic Association, writing and speaking about diabetes, and working to improve the lives of diabetics globally. He was also involved in charity work, particularly youth work with the Victoria Boys Club in Norwood. In 1968, Alan received an OBE in recognition of his various charitable work. On 21 March 1944, Alan married Vera Ruth Kadish, with whom he had two children, Eve and Daniel. Alan worked at his father's firm of solicitors, Nabarro Nathanson, from about 1933 to 1975, at which time he was a senior partner. In February 1977 he sufferred a stroke and died on 22 March 1977. The Alan Nabarro Medal is named in his honour and is awarded by Diabetes UK to people who have lived with diabetes for 50 years.
CONTENT
Scope and content/abstract:
Personal papers of Alan Nabarro and his family, particularly those papers relating to Alan's experiences of living with diabetes and his diabetes-related work, as well as literature and ephemera collected by Alan and his family on the subject of diabetes.
ACCESS AND USE
Language/scripts of material: English
System of arrangement:
Catalogued according to in-house standards based on ISAD(G)
Conditions governing access:
Open access
Conditions governing reproduction:
All requests should be referred to the Archivist
Finding aids:
ARCHIVAL INFORMATION
Appraisal, destruction and scheduling information:
Item 69 (booklet from the opening of the Charles H Best Institute in 1953) was recorded as missing on 06/07/2015, before the collection was deposited, and item 82 (booklet from the 5th Congress of the International Diabetes Federation) was discovered missing by the cataloguer on 26/07/2016. The following material has been disposed of: Item 72 (duplicate of part of item 70) Duplicated material from item 105 Duplicated material from item 114 Item 150 (photocopy of item 149) Booklet (1999) produced by the British Diabetic Association entitled 'Children with diabetes - guidance for teachers and school staff' (adds no value to collection) Business card of Donald Barnett, Joslin Diabetes Center, 1 Joslin Place, Boston, Massachusetts, 02215 [USA] (adds no value to the collection) Floppy disc containing Ian Crane index (RCP does not currently hold equipment to read floppy discs, and it is likely the disc does not contain information that does not exist here in hard copy (MS5936)) Most envelopes have been disposed of.
Archival history:
The material was collected and maintained initially by Alan's parents Joseph and Rosetta Nabarro, then by Alan himself, and subsequently by his widow, Vera. Vera had the collection listed by a private indexer, Ian D Crane, in 1999. Ian produced a detailed list of the majority of the collection, arranged in strict chronolgical order, and assigned 175 item numbers to the collection; his item numbers have been retained as former numbers in the current catalogue and some of the items are physically labelled with their former numbers in parentheses. Vera died in 2015, and the collection was donated to the Royal College of Physicians by her children, Eve Bloom and Daniel Nabarro, in April 2016.
Immediate source of acquisition:
Eve Bloom and Daniel Nabarro
ALLIED MATERIALS
DESCRIPTION NOTES
Date(s) of descriptions: 2016