(11 January 2018, Hoboken, N.J.) John Wiley and Sons Inc., today announced that the Royal College of Physicians (RCP) is the latest Wiley Digital Archives partner.
The relationship with RCP is the first venture between Wiley and this prestigious society—the oldest medical college in England. The digital resource will contain approximately 5 million images, selected from both the archives of the College and from the Dorchester library, and will span over 500 years of history, with some material pre-dating the founding of the Royal College of Physicians by charter of King Henry VIII in 1518.
Pamela Forde, the Royal College of Physicians Archive Manager said, “The RCP collections tell the story of the development of medicine and science over five centuries, via the papers and books of many of the people who shaped that story. We are excited to be working with the Wiley Digital Archives program to provide access to the full range of materials which make up our story.”
The RCP digital archive will reflect interdisciplinary interests in a broad range of subject areas, the content will be selected in coordination with the Royal College of Physicians and with an Advisory Board of experts, led by Dr. Elizabeth (Tilli) M. Tansey, medical historian and neurochemist at the University of London, and Dr. Jacob Steere-Williams, professor of History at Charleston College.
Dr. Elizabeth M. Tansey is a professor of the History of Modern Medical Sciences at Queen Mary, University of London. Dr. Tansey is an honorary member of the Physiological Society and in 2017 was appointed as an honorary fellow of the Royal Society of Medicine. She is also the honorary archivist of the Physiological Society.Dr. Jacob Steere- Williams is currently a professor of History at Charleston College. He specializes in the history of science, medicine, disease and his teachings are in the history of nineteenth century Britain and the British Empire.
In partnership with the Royal College of Physicians, work is underway to conserve, digitize, and create metadata that will greatly enhance access and discoverability to over 5 million page-images of historical content—Wiley’s largest digital archive to-date.
“By bringing to life a vast body of scholarly work and primary sources from the RCP, we seek to support, enrich, and foster research and education across a multitude of fields while preserving invaluable historical documents,” said Judy Verses, Executive Vice President of Research, Wiley.
The announcement is here.
