GB 0120 GC/186 - Vaughan, Dame Janet, (1899-1993)

Identity area

Reference code

GB 0120 GC/186

Title

Vaughan, Dame Janet, (1899-1993)

Date(s)

  • 1939-1987 (Creation)

Level of description

Extent and medium

1 box

Context area

Name of creator

Biographical history

Dame Janet had a distinguished career in medicine during the interwar years, developing a standard treatment by liver for pernicious anaemia, and was a pioneer of the wartime Blood Transfusion Service, following her experiences in this field during the Spanish Civil War. She was also part of the team providing experimental food supplements to Belsen shortly after its liberation. Both these aspects of her career are reflected in these files. In 1945 she was elected Principal of Somerville College and continued to have an active career both as a scientist, working on the biological effects of nuclear radiation, and as an administrator. She was a persistent campaigner for equal pay and status for women.

Archival history

GB 0120 GC/186 1939-1987 Collection (fonds) 1 box Vaughan , Dame , Janet Maria , 1899-1993 , Principal of Somerville College, Oxford and pathologist

Dame Janet had a distinguished career in medicine during the interwar years, developing a standard treatment by liver for pernicious anaemia, and was a pioneer of the wartime Blood Transfusion Service, following her experiences in this field during the Spanish Civil War. She was also part of the team providing experimental food supplements to Belsen shortly after its liberation. Both these aspects of her career are reflected in these files. In 1945 she was elected Principal of Somerville College and continued to have an active career both as a scientist, working on the biological effects of nuclear radiation, and as an administrator. She was a persistent campaigner for equal pay and status for women.

These papers were transferred to the Contemporary Medical Archives Centre in July 1996 from the Wellcome Unit, Oxford, to which they had been given in 1984 by Dame Janet. While this group of files is small and rather sparse in terms of her long, important, and diverse career, and covers mainly the years 1939-1949 (with a few later annotations), there are a number of other collections of her papers in existence, although she reported having made 'vast bonfires of my laboratory records' on moving from a large house to a small flat.

Papers of Dame Janet Vaughan, mainly 1939-1949, including material on her work with the Emergency Blood Transfusion Service, social and industrial medicine and post-War medical services, child guidance, Health Survey and Development Committee in India, and treating sufferers from starvation liberated from Belsen.

The papers are available subject to the usual conditions of access to Archives and Manuscripts material, after the completion of a Reader's Undertaking.

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.

English

'Janet Maria Vaughan: A Memorial Tribute' produced by Somerville is held with the Biographical Pamphlets in the Wellcome Institute Library. An additional file of correspondence between Dame Janet and Audrey Glauert of the Strangeways Research Laboratory during 1986-87, about the Royal Society Biographical Memoir of Dame Honor Fell, was given to the CMAC by Dr Glauert in December 1998. Dame Honor's papers are held in the CMAC (PP/HBF) as are the archives of the Strangeways (SA/SRL). Further material on the Health Survey and Development Committee, India, 1944-1945, can be found among the papers of Sir Weldon Dalrymple-Champneys (CMAC: GC/139), and readers interested in the Emergency Blood Transfusion Service and the liberation of Belsen are referred to Sources Leaflet no.7 'War, Medicine and Health Post 1920'.

There is correspondence with George Minot in the Countway Library at Harvard University and some materials at Somerville College Oxford. Important aspects of her career are reflected in the archives of the Nuffield Foundation, of which she was a trustee for many years, and in the records of the Goodenough Committee (the Interdepartmental Committee for Medical Education) in the Ministry of Health records in The National Archives. She was also on a number of other Royal Commissions, government committees, and public bodies and their records would additionally reflect facts of her career. Numerous obituaries appeared following her death in January 1993 in the general press as well as in more specialist journals. There is a memoir in Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society, Vol. 41, 1995: this used material from an unpublished autobiographical memoir, 'Jogging Along', written for her children which remains in family hands.

Copied from the Wellcome Library catalogue by Sarah Drewery.

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.

Mar 2009. Psychiatry Clinical psychology Psychoanalysis Medical profession Medical personnel Physicians Women physicians Health Health policy Medical sciences Therapy Biological therapy Blood transfusion Child Wars (events) World wars (events) World War Two (1939-1945) Humanitarian law War crimes Concentration camps Health services Mental health services Child guidance Personnel management Conditions of employment Working conditions Higher science education Occupational health and safety Medical education Age distribution Age groups Adolescence Personnel South Asia India Bergen Belsen concentration camp x Belsen Vaughan , Dame , Janet Maria , 1899-1993 , Principal of Somerville College, Oxford and pathologist Psychology Therapeutics Physiology Nutrition People by occupation People Organization and administration Health services administration Public administration Government

Immediate source of acquisition or transfer

These papers were transferred to the Contemporary Medical Archives Centre in July 1996 from the Wellcome Unit, Oxford, to which they had been given in 1984 by Dame Janet. While this group of files is small and rather sparse in terms of her long, important, and diverse career, and covers mainly the years 1939-1949 (with a few later annotations), there are a number of other collections of her papers in existence, although she reported having made 'vast bonfires of my laboratory records' on moving from a large house to a small flat.

Content and structure area

Scope and content

Papers of Dame Janet Vaughan, mainly 1939-1949, including material on her work with the Emergency Blood Transfusion Service, social and industrial medicine and post-War medical services, child guidance, Health Survey and Development Committee in India, and treating sufferers from starvation liberated from Belsen.

Appraisal, destruction and scheduling

Accruals

System of arrangement

Conditions of access and use area

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.

Language of material

  • English

Script of material

  • Latin

Language and script notes

English

Physical characteristics and technical requirements

'Janet Maria Vaughan: A Memorial Tribute' produced by Somerville is held with the Biographical Pamphlets in the Wellcome Institute Library. An additional file of correspondence between Dame Janet and Audrey Glauert of the Strangeways Research Laboratory during 1986-87, about the Royal Society Biographical Memoir of Dame Honor Fell, was given to the CMAC by Dr Glauert in December 1998. Dame Honor's papers are held in the CMAC (PP/HBF) as are the archives of the Strangeways (SA/SRL). Further material on the Health Survey and Development Committee, India, 1944-1945, can be found among the papers of Sir Weldon Dalrymple-Champneys (CMAC: GC/139), and readers interested in the Emergency Blood Transfusion Service and the liberation of Belsen are referred to Sources Leaflet no.7 'War, Medicine and Health Post 1920'.

Finding aids

Allied materials area

Existence and location of originals

Existence and location of copies

Related units of description

There is correspondence with George Minot in the Countway Library at Harvard University and some materials at Somerville College Oxford. Important aspects of her career are reflected in the archives of the Nuffield Foundation, of which she was a trustee for many years, and in the records of the Goodenough Committee (the Interdepartmental Committee for Medical Education) in the Ministry of Health records in The National Archives. She was also on a number of other Royal Commissions, government committees, and public bodies and their records would additionally reflect facts of her career. Numerous obituaries appeared following her death in January 1993 in the general press as well as in more specialist journals. There is a memoir in Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society, Vol. 41, 1995: this used material from an unpublished autobiographical memoir, 'Jogging Along', written for her children which remains in family hands.

Related descriptions

Publication note

Notes area

Note

Alternative identifier(s)

Access points

Place access points

Name access points

Genre access points

Description control area

Description identifier

Institution identifier

Wellcome Library

Rules and/or conventions used

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.

Status

Level of detail

Dates of creation revision deletion

Language(s)

  • English

Script(s)

    Sources

    Accession area