Personal papers of Henry Solomon Wellcome (1853-1936)

Identity Statement

Reference code(s)	: GB 0120 WA/HSW
Held at	: Wellcome Library   Click here to find out how to view this collection at http://wellcomelibrary.org/ ›
Full 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
Detailed catalogue	: Click here to view repository detailed catalogue

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 & 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.

Finding aids:

Consultation of the catalogues of the institutional archives is recommended.

Archival Information

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

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

Archivist's note:
Compiled by Anya Turner.

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:
June 2008