Papers of the National Birthday Trust Fund (NBTF), 1928-1993, comprising minutes; committee papers; records of annual general meetings; accounts; administration including maintenance of the building; correspondence relating to members, other organisations and individuals; fundraising and publicity; records relating to analgesia; records of research projects funded by the NBTF; reports to outside bodies; surveys; records relating to the Perinatal Mortality Survey, 1958; records relating to the British Births Survey, 1970; press cuttings; miscellaneous papers; administrative records of the Joint Council On Midwifery; records relating to the Abortion Survey conducted by the Joint Council On Midwifery; records relating to the Nutrition Survey conducted by the Joint Council On Midwifery; personal papers of Juliet, Lady Rhys-Williams DBE (1898-1964), founder member and Chairman for a period until her death; and records relating to non-NBTF organisations.

administrative records, Chaplain's records, financial records, patient records, nursing records, photographs and miscellaneous records.

Report of the Working Party on Minimum Standards of Care in Labour, June 1994.

Correspondence, prints and papers of Alexander Russell Simpson, 1816-1893, comprising letter from Matthews Duncan, 22 Oct 1881; letters from Professor Eriole F Fabri of Modena, Italy, 1882-1883; letter from Professor G Brown, 5 Feb 1883; letter from Professor Dr Litzmann of Kiel, Germany, with translation by Dr George Selby, 8 Feb 1883; letter from Professor Michel Fari of Padua, Italy, 10 Feb 1883; letter from Professor T Habbertfma of Utrecht, Holland, 12 Mar 1883; letter from Professor D Eugene Hubert of Louvain, Belgium, 15 Mar 1883; letter from Professor Zweifel of Erlangen, Germany with translation by Dr George Selby, 15 Mar 1883; copy of part of a petition to the Members of the Senatus Academicus of the University of Edinburgh by James Hamilton, 15 Jan 1816; print of a drawing of Abbotsford, the seat of Sir Walter Scott, by Thomas H Shepherd, undated; paper given by Ian Cope to the Australian Society for the History of Medicine, entitled "The Other Professor Simpson of Edinburgh, Professor Sir Alexander Russell Simpson, 1835-1916", undated; "Address to the Medical Graduates In The University of Edinburgh" by Simpson, 1 Aug 1878; papers by Simpson (unless stated otherwise) comprising "Head-Flexion In Labour", 26 Feb 1879; "Axis-Traction Forceps", 21 Jul 1880; "The Uterine Sound", 9 Nov 1881; "Hydramnios: and the Source of The Liquor Amni", 31 May 1882; "Again on Axis-Traction Forceps: and On the Basilyst", 11 Jul 1883; "Extra-Uterine Gestation" by William Alexander Freund , 27 Jun 1883; "Case of Caesarean Hystero-Oophorectomy or Porro's Operation", 12 Mar 1884;"Keller and Crede, Presidential Address Delivered Before the Edinburgh Obstetrical Society", 9 Nov 1892;"Prolapse of the Female Urethra", 10 May 1893.

The collection represents the contacts through two centuries of a group of men and women of high distinction ramifying through the medical, legal and literary worlds. It forms a not unimportant fund of minor historical material, comprising more than a thousand letters from nearly five hundred writers.

The autograph letters are mounted in 10 large volumes: -

1. Letterbook of John Arbuthnot (1667-1735). The most interesting letters are those of Pope and Swift and their circle written in 1714 when the Queen's death involved the destruction of their political hopes. Letterbook of William Hunter (1719-1783). It includes letters from Tobias Smollett the novelist, from Dr. Johnson thanking Hunter for presenting his book to the King, and from Edward Gibbon 'proposing himself the pleasure of attending some of Dr. Hunter's Anatomical lectures.'

2. Hunter and Baillie family letters and reminiscences, including the letters written by John to William Hunter from active service in 1761-62; poems by Sophia Baillie, Jenner family letters.

   3. Letters to Matthew Baillie from the Royal Princesses. Letters of the Bentham family, including three from Jeremy Bentham. Autograph letter collection includes letters from Thomas Carlyle and Charles Dickens. 1735 - 1845

3. Denman family collection; autographs collections of Lady Bell and Dr. William Whewell; letters of John Baron, Edward Jenner's biographer; fragment of unpublished music by Mozart; letters from Joanna Baillie's friends including c.1782-1877

4. Letters to Joanna Baillie includes letters from Sir Walter Scott and Maria Edgeworth. Various dates

5. William Hunter's diplomas, and letters to him, Hunter family documents, and notes on family history compiled by Joanna and Matthew Baillie. Locks of hair and christening caps worn by Hunter family. Various dates

6. Matthew Baillie's letters to William Hunter includes material relating to treatment of George III and to his wife Sophia (Denman) and his diplomas. C. 1783-1823

7. Matthew Baillie's professional correspondence including notes on illness of George III and on labour of Princess Charlotte. Letter to Helen Hunter Baillie from George Peachy re Matthew Baillie's notebooks (1923). 1783-1923

8. Joanna Baillie's letters and papers relating to her plays, sale of her works, mss. of two stories and a comedy, letters from Mrs Sigourney, Henry Siddons, Anne Hunter, Mary Somerville; Agnes Baillie's reminiscences, prescriptions by Matthew Baillie

9. Princess Mary's letters to Baillie concerning the illness of Princess Amelia, Anne Hunter's autograph poems, libretto of Haydn's Creation; account of death of Princess Charlotte.

   The Hunter Baillie collection comprises also a number of manuscript books, the oldest of which is a commonplace book of the early eighteenth century, giving details of family history of the Hunters. Matthew Baillie's notebooks include: -

Journal of a tour in Europe in 1788 and A short memoir of my life, 1818. 'Some brief observations from my own experience upon a considerable number of diseases', in two volumes. n.d. With these are his casebooks, fee-books and other professional notes, including details of his attendance on King George III. Baillie records that his total annual fees mounted from £121 in 1792 to £9,995 in 1815.

Papers of the RCOG Antenatal and intrapartum care working party, 1979-1982, comprising Minute book, 1979-1982; Committee meetings' papers, 1979-1982; Agenda and minutes of all meetings, 1979-1982; Committee chairman's and secretary's correspondence, 1979-1982; Pamphlets, etc, of National Childbirth Trust, Health Education Council, and Scottish Health Education Unit, and related correspondence, 1980; Health authority, hospital, and other professional bodies' documents on antenatal and perinatal care, 1979-1980; Published report, 1982; Circulation of published report, 1982; Responses to published report, 1982.

Correspondence between Sir John Peel and senior obstetricians concerning the format of his questionnaire relating to caesarean sections; copies of his proposed questionnaire; statistical information supplied by hospital and university departments, and a copy of Peel's preliminary report on his survey.

Patent, no 781237, granted to A C King for an appliance for administering chloroform as an anaesthetic in childbirth, with photographs of the appliance, 1933.

Registers of notified births in Middlesex, 1914-1950, particularly in Feltham, Friern Barnet, Hampton Wick, Hayes and Harlington, Hendon, Kingsbury, Northwood, Potters Bar, Ruislip, South Mimms, Staines, Sunbury, Uxbridge, West Drayton and Yiewsley.

Notes by John Dixon on medical matters and on things of personal interest to him such as astrology and photography spanning his entire career, 1848-1903. MS.5191 comprises more formal material, namely certificates and indentures.

Translation of Gilbertus Anglicus The Sekenesse of Wymmen [formerly identified as the Liber Trotularis], early 15th century, comprising a manuscript translation of a medieval obstetric/ gynaecological manuscript; an envelope containing 7 slips of transcripts of various pages in the manuscript, possibly written by Samuel Merriman (1771-1852); a letter from Mrs Dorothea Waley Singer concerning the manuscript and the publication of a catalogue of medieval manuscripts in Great Britain, Nov 1919; a notebook containing an unfinshed transcript of the manuscript when it was erroneously identified as the Liber Trotularis, Jan 1949; notebook and envelope of notes made by William Le Fanu on the 'Trotula' manuscript (now known to be Gilbertus Anglicus), and other medieval manuscripts from the Bodleian Library and other libraries.

Correspondence files of the joint meetings to discuss maternity care in the new National Health Service of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, the Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP) and the Royal College of Midwives (RCM) Committee, including papers on the background to its establishment, from 1985-1992, including minutes of meetings and publications, particularly RCOG, RCGP & RCM, Maternity Care in the New NHS: A Joint Approach, July 1992.

Papers of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists' Stillbirth and neonatal death/management of perinatal deaths working party, comprising background papers and correspondence, 1983-1984; President's background papers and correspondence, 1978-1985; Committee chairman's correspondence and papers on publication of report, 1984-1986; background literature and chairman's papers, 1983-1984; Chairman's correspondence and papers, 1984-1985; Report of the RCOG Working Party on the Management of Perinatal Deaths, with circulation list, 1985; minute book of the working party, 1984.

Minutes, correspondence of Miss Mallon, College Secretary, background papers and reports of the RCOG Institutional versus Domiciliary Midwifery Committee, 1946-1957, including the committee's Report on the Obstetric Service under the National Health Service, July 1954 and 1956 revised edition.