Sources Guides list

Sources Guide: Alcohol and Drugs

Further information about the materials mentioned below can be found on the Archives and Manuscripts Online Catalogue

In some cases the full detailed catalogues of archive collections are not yet in this online database: hard copy versions are available in the Rare Materials Room of the Library and on request to archs+mss@wellcome.ac.uk

See separate guide on sources relating to smoking and tobacco

NB: Many domestic medicine and receipt books include instructions for the preparations of distilled liquors, brewing, etc.

Delli sonniferi et veneni, con li suoi antidote: early C17th MS.241

Sir Theodore Turquet de Mayerne: Virtutes laudani Turqueti Mayerni Archiatri Maiestatis Britanniae, early C17th, includes material on opium MS.484

Corbyn & Co.: chemists and druggists, London, records of business, 1726–1910 MSS.5435–5460 & 8101

James Fordice: Lectures on the materia medica, C18th, include ‘Of narcotics’ MS.MSL/77

Van Helmonts own Laudanum: recipe, C18th MS.7336

Thomas Morson & Son of London: leading manufacturer, wholesaler and retailer of pharmaceutical chemicals and proprietary medicines, first British producer of morphine, business records, 1751–1991 SA/MOR

George Washington: An order for household and plantation supplies, 1759, includes laudanum MS.Amer.91

Account–book: merchant trading to China, including in opium, etc, 1774–7 MS.832

Christoph Ludwig Hoffmann: Abhandlung vom Opio, late C18th MS.2853

William Allen: letter from George Dillwyn, 1800, mentioning laudanum use MS.7397

Martin de Sessé y Lacasta), Vicente de Cervantes, and others: report to Viceroy of Mexico including arguments for use of tincture of opium in various disorders, 1802–4 MS.Amer.43

Hunterian Society of London: paper by William Howison on the constitutional effects of opium, 1820 MS.5549

Carta de persona fidedigna del Estado de San Luis––observaciones practicas sobre el cholera: describes therapeutic use of laudanum in cholera epidemic, 1833 MS.Amer.53

Folkestone Grocer/Druggist's Ledgers: customer orders of wines and drinks, 1839–62 MSS.7968–70

Morrison and Hobson Families: papers of Benjamin Hobson, medical missionary in China, 1839–59, include material on opium addiction and trade in opium MSS.5832–41

Charles James Blasius Williams: letter to unknown recipient giving medical advice and mentioning opium and morphine, 1849 MS.8007/25

Thomas Graham: Analysis of Beers, 1852 MSS.2566–7

Solomon Cummings Wellcome: lectures and sermons on temperance, c. 1865–6 MS.4987

John Dixon: Notes for a lecture on Alcoholic liquors and Tobacco [c. 1865] MS.2150

Ricardo Egea y Galindo: unpublished paper discussing the therapeutic value of opium, chloroform, chloral and alcohol, 1871 MS.Amer.123

Carl Binz: Alcohol, 1876 (translation) MS.1170

Garnet Joseph Wolseley, Field Marshal, 1st Viscount Wolseley: some letters on temperance issues, including conference on "Native Races and the Liquor Traffic", 1881–1901 MS.7474

Society Of Medical Officers Of Health/ Society Of Community Medicine/ Society Of Public Health (1856–1997): concerned with various public health issues including alcohol and drugs. See particularly records of specialist groups, also files on drink driving and drug abuse in London, in section L, conference on alcohol abuse in the community, 1985 (J.5/2), leaflet published by the Society in 1970s, ‘Drugs and your children. Doctors talk to parents’ (J.6/3), and articles in the Society’s journal Public Health SA/SMO

Wellcome Foundation. Records of pharmaceutical company deal with procedures under the Dangerous Drugs Act, handling of narcotic substances, and their use in its products (also antidotes produced by them), 1880s–1990s; some items relating to temperance organisations, exhibitions, etc WF

Frederick Parkes Weber: notes, cuttings, reprints, case material, etc, on drugs, addiction, etc, 1890s–1950s PP/FPW

Sir James Cantlie: answers to a Questionnaire for Royal Commission on Opium, 1893 MSS. 1482, 7925, 7933

Sir Frederick Treves: correspondence, 1898–1913, includes a leaflet "Alcohol a Poison" summarising his remarks on the subject MS.7714/1–12

Wellcome Archives: Historical Medical Museum. Some material relating to narcotic drugs, 1899–1985 WA/HMM

Sir Thomas Barlow: his papers include a significant amount of material relating to his involvement in the temperance movement, 1902–32 PP/BAR

Sir Bernard Spilsbury: notes on autopsies performed by him 1905-33 include many in which alcohol and/or drugs were a factor PP/SPI

British Medical Association: includes minutes and correspondence (general and with Home Office) on 'Dangerous Drugs', 1914–1950; minutes, cuttings and correspondence of Committee on relation of alcohol to road accidents, 1935–1947; minutes, acts, extracts and correspondence re poisons, 1908–1953 SA/BMA

Walter Pickett Turner: Miscellaneous notes on Alcohol, Temperance [etc], c. 1910 MS.4877

Sir Victor Alexander Haden Horsley: circular signed by Horsley as President of the National Temperance Federation, opposing the Army rum ration, 27 Oct 1914 MS.6031

‘The Expanding Field Of Mental Health In England And Wales, 50 Years Of Progress, 1918–1968’. Includes material on work in alcoholism, etc MS.7913

Mary Ethel Corry Knocker: material relating to nursing training at London Temperance Hospital, and brochure of hospital, c.1914–25 GC/258

Edward Morell Holmes: notes, drafts, etc on poppy capsules, opium, kola nuts, yagé, Indian hemp, 1917–1930 MSS.2904, 2927–8, 2931, MS.Amer.148

Sir Edward Mellanby: material on research into the effects of alcohol, c.1918–1920 PP/MEL

Society For The Study Of Addiction To Alcohol And Other Drugs (f. 1884 as Society For The Study And Cure Of Inebriety). Administrative, financial and miscellaneous materials, 1920s–70s; Society's remit included raising public awareness about the dangers of drug/alcohol dependence as well as investigation SA/SSA

Ronald Arthur Sandison: papers relating to his work on psychedelic drugs and their use in psychiatry, including LSD, mescaline, psilocybin and other hallucinogens, Rauwolfia Serpentina, 1920s-2000s; a little material on alcohol-related problems in Shetland, 1979 PP/SAN

Carlos Paton Blacker: file on mescaline, including account of his own experience, 1930s–40s; memoranda on alcoholism, 1951, 1960 PP/ CPB

Walter Ernest Dixon and (George) Norman Myers: pharmacological research into opium, morphine and heroin substitutes, coramine, 1930s GC/155

William Walters Sargant (1907–1988). Papers include material relating to Sargant’s early work on bromide intoxication and benzedrine (including addiction) 1930s–40s PP/WWS

Eugenics Society: file of correspondence with the National Temperance League, 1933 SA/EUG

Ernest Basil Verney: lecture, ‘Traffic in drugs of addiction’, 1935 PP/EBV

Sir Robert Macintosh: case notes of convulsions following cocaine, 1936–50; Alcohol and morphine as total anaesthetics (film), mid–late C20th PP/RRM

S Ruthven Mackay: register of Dangerous Drugs purchased by and dispensed in his Southend general practice, 1938-75 GP/65

Sir William Drummond Paton: material on mechanisms of drug dependence and related questions: cannabis in particular, but also nicotine, opioids, LSD and hallucinogens; records of participation in MRC working parties on drug dependence, and work of other organisations in the field, 1949–93 PP/WDP

Francis Crick: correspondence about cannabis with various individuals, 1950s–80s PP/CRI

Association Of County Medical Officers Of Health (1902–1974) and its successor Association Of Area Medical Officers Of Health (1974–1982). Material relating to public health implications of drink and drugs, mostly 1950s–1980s SA/CMO, SA/AMO

Medical Women’s Federation: files on alcoholism, 1950s–70s SA/MWF

Sir Edward Wayne: lecture notes and reprints on alcohol and drug problems and papers generated by his involvement with BMA Committee on Alcohol and Road Accidents, Ministry of Health Advisory Committee on Drug Dependence, and International Committees on Alcohol and Addictions, and Alcohol, Drugs, and Traffic Safety, 1950s–70s PP/EJW

Marthe Vogt: research on amphetamine, morphine and cocaine, 1950s–80s; correspondence with individuals working on addiction, 1957–82 PP/MLV

Surgeon Captain 'Peter' Thomas Latimer Cleave: file relating to Karl Blond includes material on smoking and lung cancer, tar derivatives, etc, 1954 PP/TLC

Edith Bulbring: laboratory notebook, 1955–6, with experiments on morphine PP/BUL

Sir Harold Whittingham: draft guidelines on carriage of narcotic drugs in first aid kits of aircraft engaged in international flights, 1957–60 PP/HEW

Donald Walton: "Drug addiction and habit formation - an attempted integration" (ts) - "Based on evidence prepared for a Working Party convened by the British Psychological Society in order to present evidence to the Interdepartmental Committee on Drug Addiction" [the Brain Committee, 1958] PSY/WLN

Sir (William) Allan Daley: Papers of this Medical Officer of Health include materials relating to the Rowntree Trust Steering Group on Alcoholism, 1958–64, and miscellaneous other papers on the subject PP/AWD

Herbert Davies Chalke (1897–1997). Founder and editor of The Bulletin of Alcoholism. His papers include articles, addresses and notes re the problem and treatment of alcoholism c.1960–77, a survey of elderly people’s drinking habits in 1965, and the history of alcohol and its abuse. GC/200

Camberwell Council On Alcoholism (f.1963, became inactive c.1983): first community council on alcoholism in the UK: though firmly community–based, had national and international importance in the field of alcohol–related problems; involved in problems created by alcohol over a wide field; liaised with organisations doing similar work; material on related issues SA/CCA

Robina Addis: papers of psychiatric social worker include material on drug abuse and drug rehabilitation programmes, 1960s–70s PP/ADD

Anne Dally: material relating to treatment of drug addiction in her practice, and on her prosecution by the General Medical Council over this, 1960s–90s PP/DAL

Sir George Godber: lectures, articles etc. on alcohol consumption and drug addiction, 1960s–90s GC/201

Dr R J Hetherington: small group of files on 'Drug Abuse': generally, and with reference to amphetamines, cannabis, Fortral (morphine substitute), heroin, and LSD, 1960s–70s PP/RJH

Philip Willison; papers by Edward Glover on the etiology of alcoholism and drug addiction, c. 1960 GC/162

J. H. Burn and E. Muscholl: correspondence on the Burn–Rand hypothesis, 1962–2004, includes discussions of effects of cocaine and related substances MS.8161

Medical Women’s Federation: Report of Medical Council on Alcoholism, 1970 SA/MWF

Charles E Dent (1911–1976). Correspondence re effects of smoking cannabis, 1960s; letter to Times on Drug Abuse, 1969 PP/CED

Queen’s Nursing Institute: Nurse's handbook on alcohol and alcoholism for the Medical Council on Alcoholism with the QNI, 1974 SA/QNI

Stanley George Browne: a little material relating to his involvement with Temperance Collegiate Association, c. 1978–80 WTI/SGB

David Hutchison: oral reminiscences of career, c. 1980s, include material on morphine and morphine addictions GP/4

Patients’ Association: a little material on patients with alcoholism, 1980s SA/PAT

F. Arroyave: 'Alcohol Dependence'. Unpublished manuscript on alcohol dependence and approaches to treatment, by Fernando Arroyave [1980s] GC/128

John Duncan Handyside: one file of calculations and correspondence relating to police figures of breathalyser tests at the Christmas period, 1992 PSY/HAN/5/3/2

Dr Brian Idden, MP: materials relating to his concerns with government policy on illicit drugs and drug misuse, 1995-2010 PP/IDD

Records maintained by dispensing chemists may reveal patterns of dispensing narcotics over a considerable period, in particular before the Dangerous Drugs Act of 1932 placed controls on the prescription of narcotic substances:

John Evans: prescription books of Dublin apothecary, 1752–3, 1802–3 MS.2313–4

Charles Heygate: Pharmaceutical chemist's account book, (?West Haddon in Northamptonshire), 1752–73 MS.2833

Thomas Mister and Sons: surgeon–apothecary of Shipston–on–Stour, account book, 1766–71 MS.3584

Gilbert Laurie, & Co: of Edinburgh, original Letter–book and Accounts for drugs, etc, 1768–97 MS.3181

J P Gillimore: prescription book, prices of ingredients, etc, c. 1810–63 MS.2522

John Francis Woody & John Thompson: A pharmacist's ledger of prescriptions (?Tamworth), 1824–5 MS.5094

Thomas Henry Holberton: Account–book of a Hampton Court Apothecary, 1829–33 MS.2862

London [Islington?] Chemist: prescription books, 1845–88 MSS.3975–93

William Armitage: retail chemist’s account book, 1847–99 MS.978

Peter Squire and Co: Trade and personal account–books, 1850–85 MSS.4688–90, 4692

George Daniel: Chemist of Holloway Road, London, prescription book, 1864–83, and Note–book of prescriptions, and medical and domestic receipts, 1878 MS.2033–4

Hooton & Yates: Collection of original invoices for drugs and chemicals, 1867–74 MS.2939

T T Nicholson Ltd (London NW1), 1871–1963 GC/28

Pharmacists’ Records Misc, 1873–1917, 1925–1951, n.d. GC/103

Scarborough Chemist: prescription book, c. 1875–1900 MS.3994

Armitage Dispensing Chemist (Blackheath), 1899–1943 GC/100

Savory and Moore (London SW1), 1912–1944 GC/16

Peter Taylor: Books of prescriptions, 1914–37 MSS.4760–1

Unidentified chemist: [possibly based in Bristol area] prescription register, 1917-19 MS.8623

H C Croadsell (Cockermouth, Cumberland), 1923–50 GC/75

Faller’s Pharmacy (Lymington, Hants), 1932–1979 GC/13

Norwich Chemist: 'Poison Book' relating to the dispensing of diamorphine, 1933–52 GC/29

Harrods Pharmacy Dept Prescription Registers 1935–77 GC/214

Martindale and Co (London W1), 1936–1970 GC/26

Bartlett & Goodall: Prescription books, 1937–61 MSS.1080–4

Tyler Dispensing Chemist (London W12), 1945–1955 GC/102