IDENTITY STATEMENT
Reference code(s): GB 0120 SA/AMC
Held at: Wellcome Library
Title: British Society of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy (BSAC)
Date(s): 1971-1995
Level of description: Collection (fonds)
Extent: 10 boxes and 1 transfer box
Name of creator(s): British Society of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy (BSAC)
CONTEXT
Administrative/Biographical history:
The British Society of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy (BSAC) was founded in 1971 as a result of a general feeling that an interdisciplinary forum was needed in Britain for the discussion and development of antimicrobial chemotherapy, a field dealing with the treatment of parasitic infections using antibacterial drugs. The Society's Council meets several times a year, as do its Committees and working parties, the minutes of which can be found in this collection (Section A). The reports of these working parties have proved to be very influential in the field of chemotherapy, several having been published in major medical journals. This collection contains examples of some of these (Section D). The spring and autumn meetings of the BSAC, as well as the joint meetings and international symposia have also been important in publicising the field and forging links with other bodies (see Section B). The Society hosted the ninth International Congress of Chemotherapy (ICC) in 1975 and was successful in its bid to host the 21st ICC in Birmingham in 1999 (see item E.6).
The recent past has seen the Society's membership and influence grow. The inauguration of the L P Garrod annual lecture in 1982, named after Lawrence Paul Garrod (1895-1979), a renowned bacteriologist and world figure in the study of hospital infection and antibiotics, as well as the awarding of the international Umezawa Prize of the International Society of Chemotherapy to a BSAC Council member in 1990, demonstrate the Society's growing importance. The development of the Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy and the newsletter (sections A.5 and C) have added to the Society's national and international prestige.
CONTENT
Scope and content/abstract:
Papers of the British Society of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy (BSAC) documenting its work, consisting mainly of unsigned minutes of Council meetings, AGMs and Committee meetings, 1971-1994, including editorial board of the Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy; meetings programmes, 1972-1994; newsletters, 1990-1995; reports and discussion documents, 1982-1994; and records of international conferences, 1988-1993.
ACCESS AND USE
Language/scripts of material: English
System of arrangement:
Arranged in sections as follows:
A. Minutes and associated papers of the BSAC
B. Meetings programmes
C. BSAC newsletters
D. BSAC working party reports and publications
E. Conference
F. Ephemera
The original order was followed when listing, thus Council minutes, AGM minutes and the various Committee minutes which had been in separate file series have been classed separately. Meetings programmes, conference papers and newsletters formed distinct classes as did working party reports. These were rearranged by date. An "Archive Miscellaneous" file was split and distributed amongst the various classes where appropriate.
Conditions governing access:
The material is 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 Society.
Finding aids:
ARCHIVAL INFORMATION
Appraisal, destruction and scheduling information:
The original signed minutes for the years 1971-1988, were found with duplicate unsigned copies with associated papers. The copies were weeded and the associated papers kept (items A.1/2,A.1/3).
Accruals:
When the material was presented it was intended that further deposits would be made approximately every five years (or when there was a change of Society secretary): consequently classes have been sub-numbered to allow for additions. The minutes for the years 1989-1994 are all unsigned copies and it is envisaged that the signed copies will be deposited in the Library in due course.
Archival history:
The honorary archivist of the Society, Professor David Greenwood, gathered the material from the various officers of the Society, and a certain amount of weeding and arrangement was undertaken before the Wellcome Library received the collection.
Immediate source of acquisition:
The papers of the British Society of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy (BSAC) were received by the Wellcome Library as a gift in September 1995.
ALLIED MATERIALS
Related material:
In the Wellcome Library: Copies of the Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy and the published proceedings of two BSAC symposia can be found in the Wellcome Library's published holdings.
DESCRIPTION NOTES
Archivist's note: Copied from the Wellcome Library catalogue by Sarah Drewery.
Date(s) of descriptions: Jan 2009