Identity area
Reference code
Title
Date(s)
- 1933-1976 (Creation)
Level of description
Extent and medium
3 boxes
Context area
Name of creator
Biographical history
Wood's studies of x-ray and radium therapy at the Royal Cancer Hospital, Fulham Road, London, led to her appointment in 1934 as Director of Radium Beam Therapy Research at the London Radium Institute, using radium from the Belgian Congo. In 1941 the work was moved to Hammersmith Hospital and renamed the Radiotherapeutic Research Unit, responsible solely to the Medical Research Council. Wood remained the Director and also directed the Hospital's radiology department until her retirement in 1962. Under her, the unit carried out trials of teleradium, introduced the use of the electron linear accelerator for supervoltage therapy and developed the first medical cyclotron for studies with short-lived radio-isotopes, for neutron radiobiology and neutron therapy. Further biographical details can be found in the obituaries in the British Medical Journal and the Lancet.
Repository
Archival history
GB 0120 GC/95 1933-1976 Collection 3 boxes Wood , Constance Annie Poyser , 1897-1985 , radiotherapy pioneer
Wood's studies of x-ray and radium therapy at the Royal Cancer Hospital, Fulham Road, London, led to her appointment in 1934 as Director of Radium Beam Therapy Research at the London Radium Institute, using radium from the Belgian Congo. In 1941 the work was moved to Hammersmith Hospital and renamed the Radiotherapeutic Research Unit, responsible solely to the Medical Research Council. Wood remained the Director and also directed the Hospital's radiology department until her retirement in 1962. Under her, the unit carried out trials of teleradium, introduced the use of the electron linear accelerator for supervoltage therapy and developed the first medical cyclotron for studies with short-lived radio-isotopes, for neutron radiobiology and neutron therapy. Further biographical details can be found in the obituaries in the British Medical Journal and the Lancet.
The album of photographs (B6) which was with an accession of the archives of the Medical Cyclotron Unit, received by the CMAC in May 1987, has been incorporated into this collection, since it is evidently a stray from Wood's papers.
Constance Wood's papers were given to the Contemporary Medical Archives Centre of the Wellcome Institute for the History of Medicine in July 1987 by the British Institute of Radiology, to which they had been bequeathed. Published material of no direct relevance to Dr Wood was incorporated into the holdings of the Institute Library's Modern Medicine Collection.
Reports, correspondence, published and unpublished papers, 1933-1974, specifically A: Research files and correspondence, 1933-1958; B: texts of papers, c 1933-1955; C: published papers, 1933-1976; D: correspondence files, 1955-1974.
All the files about Dr Wood's work on radiotherapy, including correspondence about terms and conditions, have been grouped together, and the three published reports which were retained have been placed in this section with the files to which they pertain.
Open. 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
Online catalogue on Wellcome Library website.
See also SA/MCU and GC/160 for records relating to the MRC's Cyclotron Unit at Hammersmith Hospital, records of Strangeways Research Laboratories (SA/SRL) and papers of Dr FG Spear (PP/FGS).
Entry compiled from Wellcome Library online catalogue by Barbara Ball.
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
September 2008. Neoplasms Radiology Biology Radiobiology Medical profession Medical personnel Physicians Women physicians Medical sciences Therapy Radiotherapy Pathological conditions, signs and symptoms Pathologic processes Neoplastic processes Diseases Wood , Constance Annie Poyser , 1897-1985 , radiotherapy pioneer Hammersmith Hospital Personnel Pathology People by occupation People
Immediate source of acquisition or transfer
The album of photographs (B6) which was with an accession of the archives of the Medical Cyclotron Unit, received by the CMAC in May 1987, has been incorporated into this collection, since it is evidently a stray from Wood's papers.
Constance Wood's papers were given to the Contemporary Medical Archives Centre of the Wellcome Institute for the History of Medicine in July 1987 by the British Institute of Radiology, to which they had been bequeathed. Published material of no direct relevance to Dr Wood was incorporated into the holdings of the Institute Library's Modern Medicine Collection.
Content and structure area
Scope and content
Reports, correspondence, published and unpublished papers, 1933-1974, specifically A: Research files and correspondence, 1933-1958; B: texts of papers, c 1933-1955; C: published papers, 1933-1976; D: correspondence files, 1955-1974.
Appraisal, destruction and scheduling
Accruals
System of arrangement
All the files about Dr Wood's work on radiotherapy, including correspondence about terms and conditions, have been grouped together, and the three published reports which were retained have been placed in this section with the files to which they pertain.
Conditions of access and use area
Conditions governing access
Open. 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
See also SA/MCU and GC/160 for records relating to the MRC's Cyclotron Unit at Hammersmith Hospital, records of Strangeways Research Laboratories (SA/SRL) and papers of Dr FG Spear (PP/FGS).
Finding aids
Online catalogue on Wellcome Library website.
Allied materials area
Existence and location of originals
Existence and location of copies
Related units of description
Publication note
Notes area
Note
Alternative identifier(s)
Access points
Subject access points
Place access points
Name access points
Genre access points
Description control area
Description identifier
Institution identifier
Rules and/or conventions used
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
Status
Level of detail
Dates of creation revision deletion
Language(s)
- English