Records of the Edinburgh Women's Medical Society

The records are composed of: minutes 1913-1924; committee minutes, 1914-1933; account book, 1922-1923 to 1951-1952; receipt book, 1950-1952; and, miscellaneous papers and correspondence, 1949-1952.

The Edinburgh Women's Medical Society was a reflection of a period - late nineteenth century, early twentieth century - when women found many obstacles in their path towards careers in medicine on an equal footing with men. By 1916, the student journal The Gambolier was able to observe that women were finding work in 'fields which, some thirty years ago, would have been regarded as belonging entirely to men' - Public Health officers, private practitioners, lecturers, working in labs, in scientific research and in the organisation and management of hospitals. Meetings of the Edinburgh Women's Medical Society included lectures on subjects as diverse as: the pituitary gland; diseases of the bile passages; germs and disease; and, haemophilia.

Generally open for consultation to bona fide researchers, but please contact repository for details in advance.

Transferred from the Medical Faculty Office in January 1983, Accession no. E83.8.

The administrative/biographical history was compiled using material contained within the collection, and (1) various issues of The Gambolier. The University of Edinburgh magazine. Vol.8. No.1. 20 October 1915 - Vol.9. No.12. 18 May 1917.

Compiled by Graeme D Eddie, Edinburgh University Library, Special Collections.