Records of Faculties and Sections of the Royal College of Psychiatrists

The records consist mainly of minutes of Executive Commitee Meetings and Business Meetings, newsletters, and corrrespondence and papers relating to the establishment of the faculties and sections. The records comprise the following:

RCPSYCH/L1 - Records of the Faculty of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 1942-2010.

RCPSYCH/L2 - Records of the Faculty of Forensic Psychiatry, 1963-2010.

RCPSYCH/L3 - Records of the Faculty of Substance Misuse, 1978-2010.

RCPSYCH/L4 - Records of the Faculty of General and Community Psychiatry, 1989-2010.

RCPSYCH/L5 - Records of the Faculty of the Psychiatry of Learning Disability, 1927-2010.

RCPSYCH/L6 - Records of the Faculty of Liaison Psychiatry, 1981-2010.

RCPSYCH/L7 - Records of the Faculty of Old Age Psychiatry,1973-2010.

RCPSYCH/L8 - Records of the Faculty of Psychotherapy Psychiatry, 1927-2010.

RCPSYCH/L9 - Records of the Faulty of Rehabilitation and Social Psychiatry, 1973-2010.

RCPSYCH/L10 - Records of the Research and Clinical Section, 1927-1970.

After World War II when the Royal Medico-Psychological Association realized that more of its members were now being employed in different fields of psychiatry, it decided to create specialist Sections. The fisrt four Sections to be created were: Research and Clinical Studies, Social Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Mental Deficiency, and Child Psychiatry.

A Research Committee was established in 1914 and a standing Research and Clinical Committee in 1927. It had sub-committees in actinotherapy, bacteriology, and biochemistry, clinical psychiatry, and glossary, epidemic encephalis, general paresis, infectious diseases, mental deficiency, pathology, psychotherapy and psychopathology, and study tours, In 1932 the actinotherapy, general paresis, epidemic encephalis sub-committees merged to form the the Clinical Psychiatry Sub-Committee. In 1933 a Sections Committee was established, resulting in the Research and Clinical, Mental Deficiency, Child Psychiatry and Social Psychiatry Sections being established.

Old age psychiatry is one of the recently established specialties within psychiatry. A College Group for the Psychiatry of Old Age first met in 1973. Another specialty to emerge during this period was was the Dependence/Addiction Group in 1978. This later became the Faculty of Substance Misuse in 1997, changing its name to the Addictions Faculty in 2006.

Accesss to the records is by appointment with the Archivist on telephone: 0207 235 2351 ext 6169, e-mail:archives@rcpsych.ac.uk .

Description compiled by Francis Maunze, Archivist and Records Manager, 2012.

Reproduction is subject to the College's Preservation Policy.

Further accruals are expected.