If Walls Could Talk

Last week, Dr Lesley Hall, Senior Archivist, Wellcome Library, appeared in an episode of BBC4's new history series, If Walls Could Talk: The History of the Home.

In the series, presenter Dr Lucy Worsley uncovers the history of familiar domestic spaces. In the most recent episode, devoted to the bedroom, Dr Hall discussed that space as the site for childbirth, pre-nineteenth century.

To illustrate this, Drs Hall and Worsley toured Wellcome Collection, taking in the birthing chair in the Medicine Man gallery and the Wellcome Library's copy of Jane Sharp's Compleat Midwife's Companion (1724).

If Walls Could Talk is currently available to watch for viewers in the UK through the BBC iPlayer.

Image: Frontispiece of the Compleat Midwife's Companion, including a scene of a woman who has recently given birth, being attended to by midwives.

The Brain: A Secret History

Beginning last night on BBC4, The Brain: A Secret History, is a new three part documentary series which illustrates the history of attempts to understand and manipulate the brain.

In the first episode of the series, 'Mind Control', presenter Dr Michael Mosley discussed the famous experiments of Ivan Pavlov, B F Skinner and Stanley Millgram. The documentary mixed archive footage with interviews and also included Mosley visiting the Wellcome Library to look at the personal papers of controversial psychiatrist William Sargant.

The episode is available to viewers in the UK through the BBC iPlayer, where it will be joined by the other two episodes once they air, until the 27th January.

Image credit: BBC

Glamour's Golden Age

BBC4's new documentary series, Glamour's Golden Age, may not initially sound a project with direct connections to the Wellcome Library, but the first episode 'The Luxe Experience' (which was broadcast 19th October) not only alluded to one of our collections, but also made reference to a major figure in Henry Wellcome's life.

The documentary examined how the architecture and design of the 1920s and 1930s, created and reflected the spirit of the time. Emphasis was placed on how the Art Deco style resulted in a streamlining of design - and how such ideas could be applied to humans as well as to objects.

Reference was made to the Eugenics Society, whose papers are held in the Wellcome Library, and a brief segment of a film produced by the Society, Heredity in Man, was featured in the documentary.

By also focusing on interior decoration, 'The Luxe Experience' hailed the work of the hugely influential Syrie Maugham (1879-1955), whose 'all white room' was replicated across many fashionable residences. The documentary mentioned Syrie's success as a decorator grew following her divorce from the writer Somerset Maugham. What didn't merit attention in the documentary was that Syrie's first husband was in fact, Henry Wellcome.

Syrie's life story is a fascinating one: daughter of Thomas Barnado, she married Henry Wellcome at the age of 21, separated from him before she was 30 and seven years later was married to Maugham. She divorced from him in 1929 but then established herself as one of the most respected interior decorators of her day. The section of the documentary on Syrie only alludes to this rich back story: one we hope will form the foundation of a more detailed work in the future.

'The Luxe Experience' is available to viewers in the UK through the BBC's iPlayer.

Cell

The latest strand of BBC4's War Beneath the Skin season was broadcast last night - part one of Cell, a three-part series which in its own words:

"...delves deep into the history of science to tell the story of how we unlocked the mystery of all life on Earth.

'Cell' explores how the discovery of the cell challenged centuries of religious and scientific dogma and then examines how scientists have come to manipulate and exploit the cell for the benefit of modern medicine and science".

Like previous programmes in the season, Cell utilised the Wellcome Library's resources. It drew heavily on Wellcome Images, our photographic library, using both historical and contemporary imagery to trace the growth in our understanding of life's microscopic building blocks.

(The themes of the episode - particularly the erosion of theories such as spontaneous generation - chime with another recent project which drew from Wellcome Images: Making Visible Embryos, an online exhibition created by staff from the Department of History and Philosophy of Science at the University of Cambridge, which explores images of embryos and the issues surrounding their depiction throughout history).

The Forgotten Fallen

"My Lord Mayor, Aldermen and Members of the Council,

I have the honour to submit my Report on the health of the City of Manchester for the year 1918. The chief fact of the year, so far as the death-rate is concerned, is the disastrous incidence of Influenza, which caused well over 2,000 deaths. Much more investigation and administrative provision will have to be made before such visitations can be seriously mitigated".

So begins the Annual Report for 1918, of the Medical Officer of Health for Manchester, Dr James Niven.

Niven’s attempts to combat the spread of this influenza – now remembered as 'Spanish Flu' – formed the basis of Spanish Flu: The Forgotten Fallen, which was broadcast last night as part of BBC4’s War Beneath the Skin season.

The Forgotten Fallen was partly funded by the Wellcome Trust, and the resources of the Wellcome Library – along with other libraries and museums - were utilised by its makers.

Although the programme makers acknowledge that scenes in the film were created for dramatic effect, the drama is rooted in surviving records from the period.

As a Medical Officer of Health – local government appointed figures, who were charged with investigating and controlling local outbreaks of disease – Niven had to compile an annual report of his work and the health of the area he was responsible for. The Wellcome Library has one of the largest collection of Medical Officer of Health reports in the United Kingdom - covering over 2,800 locations, numbering over 70,000 reports in total.

These reports add up to a continuous record of public health activity from the 1850s to the 1970s, and are one of the richest sources available for tracing patterns of disease and social conditions in this country. Here can be found detailed accounts of how infectious diseases affected local districts, and how Medical Officers of Health attempted to improve the health and wellbeing of their areas.

In the case of Niven, his advice on influenza – taken from his Report for 1918 – could be from Government literature on Swine Flu in 2009:

"So far as one can judge at present, in checking further outbreaks, it will be necessary to rely chiefly on general preventative measures. The measures alluded to include the maintenance of a reasonable distance between the sick and the healthy, care of the hands, avoidance of common towels and common soap, careful washing out of common basins, avoidance of the handling in common of food to be afterwards cooked, and other like precautions; above all, the immediate segregation of persons attacked".

(Spanish Flu: The Forgotten Fallen is available to watch through the BBC’s iPlayer).

Why Reading Matters

As part of BBC4's Why Reading Matters season, a documentary will air on Monday evening (9th February), also called Why Reading Matters:

"Science writer Rita Carter tells the story of how modern neuroscience has revealed that reading, something most of us take for granted, unlocks remarkable powers. Carter explains how the classic novel Wuthering Heights allows us to step inside other minds and understand the world from different points of view, and she wonders whether the new digital revolution could threaten the values of classic reading".

The documentary will also feature the work of The Reader Organisation, and their pioneering wellbeing project, Get into Reading.

The Wellcome Library recently helped to organise an event held in Wellcome Collection, 'The Reading Cure', which showcased the work of the Reader Organisation, and discussed the relationship between reading and health. More details on the event.