GB 0120 PP/HRW - Wright, Helena Rosa (1887-1982)

14 boxes, 2 boxes of tapes, plus notes and 1 o/s box

GB 0120 PP/HRW 1908-1982, n.d. Collection (fonds) 14 boxes, 2 boxes of tapes, plus notes and 1 o/s box Wright , Helena Rosa , 1887-1982 , née Lowenfeld , birth control pioneer

Helena Wright was born in 1887. She trained at the London School of Medicine for Women, qualifying as MRCS (Eng.) and LRCP (Lond.) in 1914, and MB, BS in 1915. She subsequently worked at the Bethnal Green Hospital, where she met her husband Peter Wright, a Royal Army Medical Corps surgeon. After the First World War she and her husband decided to become medical missionaries in China, working at the Shantung Christian University in Tsinan until 1927. Following her return to England, Wright became an influential figure in the National Birth Control Association, later the Family Planning Association. She wrote several much reprinted works of popular sex instruction, including The Sex Factor in Marriage (1930). During her later years she became interested in alternative medicine and the paranormal, and there is a small amount of material in this collection which reflects this interest. She died in 1982.

The papers were received from Dr Barbara Evans, author of Freedom to Choose: The Life and Work of Dr Helena Wright, Pioneer of Contraception (1984), with a few items from the surviving family, between 1986 and 1995. It is clear that this collection represents a rather small residue of Dr Wright's papers, and it is known that she destroyed records from her practice on retirement. The papers include some items created or added by Dr Evans, presumably in the process of accumulating material for her biography of Dr Wright. Copies of publications by Helena Wright received with these papers have been transferred to the Modern Medicine collection of the Wellcome Library.

Papers of Helena Wright including correspondence, papers and photographs: personal and re family planning movement, 1920s-1970s, and alternative medicine, 1970s.

The papers are arranged by section as follows: A. Biographical and family [1? boxes, 1 outsize volume] B. Career and Family Planning Movement [1 box] C. Alternative Medicine [? box].

The majority of this material is available subject to the usual conditions of access to Archives and Manuscripts material, after the completion of a Reader's Undertaking. However, file PP/HRW/B.8/2 is closed until 1st January 2071 under the Data Protection Act.

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

PP/HRW/A.15, Portrait photo of Helena Rosa Wright as young woman, L29694.

In the Wellcome Library: Related collections include the papers of the Family Planning Association (SA/FPA); the Eugenics Society (SA/EUG); the Abortion Law Reform Association (SA/ALR); Marie C Stopes (PP/MCS); and E F Griffith (PP/EFG).

At other repositories: The papers of Helena Wright's sister, Margaret Lowenfeld, are held at the Centre for Family Research, Faculty of Social and Political Sciences, Free School Lane, Cambridge CB2 3RF, email:cfr-admin@lists.cam.ac.uk.

Copied from the Wellcome Library catalogue by Sarah Drewery.
In compliance with ISAD (G): General International Standard Archival Description - 2nd Edition (1999); UNESCO Thesaurus, December 2001; National Council on Archives Rules for the Construction of Personal, Place and Corporate Names, 1997.
Jan 2009 Complementary therapies Medical sciences Surgery Surgical procedures, operative Obstetric surgical procedures Abortion, induced Abortion, legal Pathology Diseases Tropical diseases Medical profession Medical personnel Physicians Women physicians Occupations Health occupations Specialties, surgical Medicine Gynecology Religious groups Missionaries Medical missionaries Therapeutics Therapy Alternative therapies Family planning Wright , Helena Rosa , 1887-1982 , née Lowenfeld , birth control pioneer China East Asia South Asia Personnel People by occupation People

The papers were received from Dr Barbara Evans, author of Freedom to Choose: The Life and Work of Dr Helena Wright, Pioneer of Contraception (1984), with a few items from the surviving family, between 1986 and 1995. It is clear that this collection represents a rather small residue of Dr Wright's papers, and it is known that she destroyed records from her practice on retirement. The papers include some items created or added by Dr Evans, presumably in the process of accumulating material for her biography of Dr Wright. Copies of publications by Helena Wright received with these papers have been transferred to the Modern Medicine collection of the Wellcome Library.

Papers of Helena Wright including correspondence, papers and photographs: personal and re family planning movement, 1920s-1970s, and alternative medicine, 1970s.

The papers are arranged by section as follows: A. Biographical and family [1? boxes, 1 outsize volume] B. Career and Family Planning Movement [1 box] C. Alternative Medicine [? box].

The majority of this material is available subject to the usual conditions of access to Archives and Manuscripts material, after the completion of a Reader's Undertaking. However, file PP/HRW/B.8/2 is closed until 1st January 2071 under the Data Protection Act.

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

• Latin

English

In the Wellcome Library: Related collections include the papers of the Family Planning Association (SA/FPA); the Eugenics Society (SA/EUG); the Abortion Law Reform Association (SA/ALR); Marie C Stopes (PP/MCS); and E F Griffith (PP/EFG).

PP/HRW/A.15, Portrait photo of Helena Rosa Wright as young woman, L29694.

At other repositories: The papers of Helena Wright's sister, Margaret Lowenfeld, are held at the Centre for Family Research, Faculty of Social and Political Sciences, Free School Lane, Cambridge CB2 3RF, email:cfr-admin@lists.cam.ac.uk.

In compliance with ISAD (G): General International Standard Archival Description - 2nd Edition (1999); UNESCO Thesaurus, December 2001; National Council on Archives Rules for the Construction of Personal, Place and Corporate Names, 1997.

• English