Conference Venue Update

As the conference is rapidly approaching, we wanted to ensure that all delegates and potential delegates know where to find us on both days. Due to a conflict with the University of Edinburgh's Open Day, the conference will be in a different venue on each day. On Friday, 15 June, we will be in the University's historic Old College building, and on Saturday, 16 June, we will be in the nearby 7 Bristo Square on the main campus. The conference programme will be updated shortly with room allocations.

Below, we have created a map of both locations (you can see how close they are), and we have added a few nearby pubs and places of interest should you have some free time while you are in Edinburgh. You can click on the map to enlarge it and zoom in on different areas of the city.


View Sensualising Deformity Conference Map in a larger map

Royal College of Physicians Edinburgh Online Archive Launch

With a little less than a month to go before the conference, we sadly have to admit that blog posts have slipped, and for that we are sorry! Just a reminder that we are open to guest posts or suggestions so long as it related to the theme of the conference; you can reach us by e-mail, Twitter, or Facebook, and we'd love to hear from you.

Today, however, we'd like to share with you the exciting launch of a fantastic new resource from our very own Royal College of Physicians Edinburgh: The Sibbald Library's Online Archive. The result of a 2-year Wellcome Trust grant, the archive is in the process of cataloguing the RCPE's deposited collections to provide greater access to the public. Already, 8,000 items have been catalogued in the archive, and the project is set to continue until February 2013. The archive boasts 189 collections online, each with its own detailed collection level description and hierarchical description of all records.

Collections include sources from:

• Joseph Black
• William Cullen
• Andrew Duncan
• Edinburgh General Lying-In Hospital
• Edinburgh Obstetrical Society
• Francis Home
• James Gregory
• John Gregory
• James Hamilton
• John Hope
• William Hunter
• Alexander Monro
• Alexander Morison
• John Playfair
• John Pringle
• John Rutherford
• Andrew St Clair
• Scottish Medical Service Emergency Committee
• Alexander Russell Simpson
• James Young Simpson
• Robert Whytt
• Thomas Young

It should be pointed out that the collections are arranged according to creator rather than subject matter, although you can search according to date, person, place, subject, format, category, title, or even reference number (should you know it). Only a year in to the project and already the result looks to be a significant online resource for those interested in the history of medicine and the medical humanities; I'm sure that you, like us, look forward to seeing the archive in its completion in 2013!