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Wellcome Library

Hetherington, Robert J


IDENTITY STATEMENT

Reference code(s): GB 0120 PP/RJH

Held at: Wellcome Library

Title: Hetherington, Robert J

Date(s): 1950-1980

Level of description: Collection (fonds)

Extent: 26 boxes

Name of creator(s): Hetherington | Robert J | b [1924] | physician

CONTEXT

Administrative/Biographical history:

CONTENT

Scope and content/abstract:

Papers of Robert Hetherington, predominantly concerned with contraception (especially oral contraception) drug toxicity and thalidomide. It consists mainly of press cuttings but there is a large collection of advertising material for oral contraceptives with some notes and correspondence. Dr Hetherington was collecting material during the 1960s and 1970s both agreeing and disagreeing with his own ideas on these contentious issues.

ACCESS AND USE

Language/scripts of material: English

System of arrangement:

As far as possible the material has been maintained in the order in which it was kept by Dr Hetherington except in cases where this had broken down due to bulk. Because of the special nature of this collection there are inevitably areas of overlap between various files. For example general files contain items relating to specific products. Some cross-referencing has been carried out but anyone using the collection is advised to study the whole list. The sections are as follows:

A Oral contraception: producers and their products
B Conferences on contraception
C Diseases and their connection with oral contraception
D Oral contraception: Miscellaneous
E Contraception: General
F Drugs
G Drug Abuse
H Thalidomide

Conditions governing access:

The bulk of the papers are available subject to the usual conditions of access to Archives and Manuscripts material, after the completion of a Reader's Undertaking. Two files of correspondence relating to drugs and Thalidomide are closed until 2008: (F1/31 and H7/2).

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.

Finding aids:

The catalogue is available on microfiche via the National Inventory of Documentary Sources (NIDS).

Detailed catalogue

ARCHIVAL INFORMATION

Appraisal, destruction and scheduling information:

Some samples of oral contraceptives during sorting have been removed and given to the Wellcome Galleries at the Science Museum.

Accruals:

Archival history:

Immediate source of acquisition:

This collection was given to the Contemporary Medical Archives Centre (known as Archives and Manuscripts following its merger with Western Manuscripts in July 2000) in 1984 in memory of his sister-in-law, Carol Walker by Dr R J Hetherington, formerly a physician in Birmingham.

ALLIED MATERIALS

Related material:

Wellcome Library collections: PP/ASP, PP/CDW, SA/BMA, SA/FPA, SA/NBT, GC/150, GC/193.

DESCRIPTION NOTES

Archivist's note: Copied from the Wellcome Library catalogue by Sarah Drewery.

Rules or conventions: In compliance with ISAD (G): General International Standard Archival Description - 2nd Edition (1999); UNESCO Thesaurus, December 2001; National Council on Archives Rules for the Construction of Personal, Place and Corporate Names, 1997.

Date(s) of descriptions: Jan 2009


INDEX ENTRIES
Subjects
Alcohol | Alcohols | Organic chemicals | Chemicals
Contraceptive agents | Reproductive control agents | Therapeutic uses | Pharmacologic actions | Chemical actions and uses
Drug toxicity | Poisoning | Toxicology | Pathology
Substance-related disorders | Mental diseases | Psychopathology | Psychiatry
Thalidomide | Heterocyclic compounds | Organic compounds | Chemical compounds
Tobacco | Plant products | Agricultural products
Venereal diseases | Infectious diseases | Diseases | Pathology
Veterinary medicine | Medical sciences
Family planning
Pharmaceutical preparations

Personal names
Hetherington | Robert J | b [1924] | physician

Corporate names

Places