COPPING, Alice Mary (1906-1996)

Identity Statement

Reference code(s)	: GB 0100 KCLCA Q/PP4
Held at	: King's College London College Archives   Click here to find out how to view this collection at http://www.kcl.ac.uk/library/archivespec/ ›
Full title	: COPPING, Alice Mary (1906-1996)
Date(s)	: 1921-1985
Level of description	: Collection (fonds)
Extent	: 14 boxes, 1.4 cubic metres
Name of creator(s)	: Copping | Alice Mary | 1906-1996 | lecturer at Queen Elizabeth College | alias Molly Copping

Context

Administrative/Biographical history:

Dr Alice Mary Copping, born Stratford, New Zealand 1906; was educated at Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand, graduating with BSc, second class honours in Chemistry, 1925 and graduated as Master of Science,1926; awarded the Sarah Ann Rhodes scholarship from University of New Zealand enabling her to work under J. C. Drummond at University College London for two years, 1927 and awarded a BSc in Biochemistry and Physiology, 1927-1929.

Copping worked as temporary lecturer in nutrition at the School of Home Science, University of Otago, New Zealand, 1931; worked within Division of Nutrition at the Lister Institute of Public Health with Dame Harriett Chick, 1927-1931 continuing to work at the Lister Institute from 1932-1949 and was the editorial assistant of the periodical 'Nutrition Abstracts and Reviews', from 1931. Copping was employed by Queen Elizabeth College from 1949 as a lecturer in the Physiology Department; became a recognised teacher in physiology (nutrition), 1951; senior lecturer in Department of Nutrition, from 1958; granted a DSc for published papers in the field of nutrition; became a Reader in Nutrition, 1964; leaving the college in 1975.

Copping was appointed as a member of Vitamin E Sub Committee of Medical Research Council Accessory Food Factors Committee, 1938 and appointed member of the Vitamin C Sub Committee, 1945; was a consultant on nutrition education for the Food and Agriculture Organisation/World Health Organisation symposium, 1959 and acted as chairman of programme for the Third International Congress of Dietetics in London, 1961. Copping was particularly interested in vitamins, food consumption patterns in various countries, nutrition programmes, child growth and the history of nutrition, including the Nutrition Society and died in 1996.

Content

Scope and content/abstract:

Papers of Alice Mary Copping, 1921-1985, relating to nutrition, comprising correspondence, research papers and publications. Correspondence notably includes letters regarding Dame Harriet Chick, including a letter from P M Victory at The British Nutrition Foundation, thanking Copping for forwarding Chick's introduction to a lecture and for Copping's participation in a lecture, 1975; a letter from Dr George Pitt of The British Journal of Nutrition thanking Copping for a photograph of Chick, enclosed with the letter, 1978; correspondence also includes letters from A N Duckham of University of Reading, 1973-1978 and Sue Papworth of ASP Biological and Medical Press B V, 1976 both regarding the publication of 'Food production and consumption: The efficiency of human food chains and nutrient cycles', which contains a chapter written by Copping.

The collection also includes published articles by Copping notably including 'Planning Nutrition Education in Developing Countries', 1968 and 'Nutrition and Growth', 1964; publications from institutions including Lister Institute of Preventative Medicine, including 'Monkey welfare' by E M Hume, 1956 and copies of Nutrition History Notes, 1979-1985 and other newsletters. The collection also includes glass slides labelled 'pantotheine', housed in envelopes addressed to Copping. Pantotheine is a derivative of pantothenic acid (vitamin E), these slides reflect Copping's interest and research in vitamins and nutrition.

The collection also contains publications regarding nutrition worldwide including dietry surveys of Indians and Fijians and a section concerning Vienna, comprising an article entitled 'Ætiology of Rickets in infants: Prophylactic and Curative Observations at the Vienna University Kinderklinik', by Harriette Chick and others, 1922 and 'Hunger- Osteomalacia in Vienna, 1920. Its relation to diet', by Elsie J Danyell and Harriette Chick, 1921 and four black and white photographs depicting undernourished children in Vienna, [1921-1922].

Access & Use

Language/scripts of material:
English, German and Korean.

System of arrangement:

The collection is currently uncatalogued and remains in its original order.

Conditions governing access:

Open, subject to signature of reader's undertaking form.

Conditions governing reproduction:

Copies, subject to the condition of the original, may be supplied for research use only. Requests to publish original material should be submitted to the Director of Archives and Information Management.

Finding aids:

No additional finding aids exist.

Archival Information

Archival history:

Immediate source of acquisition:

Transferred to King's College London College Archives by Professor Catherine Geissler, Head of Division of Health Sciences, in 2001.

Allied Materials

Related material:

King's College London College Archives also hold personnel records of members of academic and related academic staff from Queen Elizabeth College (QA/FPA).

The Special Collections Department of Eskind Biomedical Library Vanderbilt University Medical Center Nashville, TN, USA holds the Elizabeth Neige Todhunter papers which contain correspondence between Copping and Todhunter.

Publication note:

Description Notes

Archivist's note:

Sources: The History of Queen Elizabeth College, Neville Marsh (King's College London, 1986).

Compiled by Samantha Velumyl.

Rules or conventions:

Compiled in compliance with General International Standard Archival Description, ISAD(G), second edition, 2000; National Council on Archives Rules for the Construction of Personal Place and Corporate Names 1997.

Date(s) of descriptions:
January 2008