Sources Guides list

Sources Guide: Sex

Aspects of sex which fall under the general rubrics of Birth Control and Sexually-Transmitted Diseases are covered by the relevant sources guides and the latter includes some material on control of prostitution. However, material relating to a number of other aspects which do not strictly fall under either of these headings may be found in the following collections.

Autobiographical accounts

Prostitution, homosexuality, and ‘sexual deviation’

‘Secret remedies’

Sex education and marriage guidance

Sex Hormones

Surveys and studies

Collections containing materials on very diverse sexual matters

Wellcome archives

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

Autobiographical accounts

Harold HEWITT (1915- ) 'Getting by without Ambition', GC/222
This memoir includes accounts of the author’s two marriages as well as his career in cancer research

Professor Vernon Henry MOTTRAM (1882-1976) GC/151/7
An unpublished autobiography written for his family, which includes an account of his early homosexual leanings and experience of psychoanalysis

Project SIGMA GC/260
Anonymised diaries of sexual behaviour kept by gay and bisexual men on a daily basis for a month at a time, in connection with this longitudinal survey, 1987-1994, with associated documentation

Marie STOPES DSc (1880-1958) PP/MCS
The letters received by Stopes touch on a wide variety of sexual problems experienced by her readers and some contain extensive accounts of their lives and experiences

'GEOFFREY YORK', 'The Enigma of Sex' GC/211
This text, written pseudonymously, candidly describes the author’s own sexual experiences and the deficiencies of medical education with regard to sexual matters, and includes his conclusions on marriage and family life

Prostitution, homosexuality, and 'sexual deviation'

John BOWLBY (1907-1990) PP/BOW
Material relating to the Institute for the Scientific Study of Delinquency, with which he was associated, 1930s

CHARTERED SOCIETY OF PHYSIOTHERAPY, SA/CSP
This society was initially founded to provide a legitimate qualification for medical masseuses, at a time when ‘massage parlours’ were often a front for clandestine prostitution. The collection includes two scrapbooks from the 1890s about massage scandals

Letitia FAIRFIELD, CBE, MD, DPH (1885-1978) GC/193
Includes material on her involvement with the debate on the authenticity of Sir Roger Casement’s diaries and his homosexuality, 1950s-70s; also report on Social Hygiene in Malta, 1938, for the BSHC, q.v., and assorted material (c. 1910s-60s) on prostitution, homosexuality, sex education, marriage, and other sexual questions from the point of view of a feminist and left-wing Roman Catholic doctor

Noel Gordon HARRIS (1897-1963) PP/NGH
Correspondence re setting up of Royal Medico-Psychological Association subcommittee on homosexuality, 1954, plus lecture notes on 'The Intermediate Sex', 1937

Professor Richard von KRAFFT-EBING (1840-1902) PP/KEB
Papers of Germany psychiatrist and pioneer sexologist, author of Psychopathia Sexualis, including case material, correspondence, lectures, manuscripts, etc, 1863-1924

Maurice Henry PAPPWORTH (1910-1994) PP/MHP
Correspondence, mainly with the Jewish Chronicle, concerning homosexuality and sexual morality, 1987

Donald Woods WINNICOTT (1896-1971) PP/DWW
Some material on homosexuality, 1950s-60s, including statement of evidence (compiled with colleagues) for the Wolfenden Committee, 1954-6

Charlotte WOLFF (1897-1986) PSY/WOL
Material relating to her research on lesbianism and bisexuality, 1960s-70s, and for her biography of the German sex reformer Magnus Hirschfeld

See also entries for GC/151/7 and GC/260 above, and SA/BSH, SA/MWF and PP/FPW below

 'Secret remedies'

BRITISH MEDICAL ASSOCIATION SA/BMA
'Groups' files relating to patent medicines, etc, include material on various quack remedies for ‘sexual debility’ and similar disorders, c. 1900s-60s

 
Sex education and marriage guidance

BIRTH CONTROL CAMPAIGN SA/BCC/E
Press-cuttings files on sex education (also illegitimacy), 1972–4

Stanley George BROWNE (1907-1986) WTI/SGB
Pamphlets etc., mainly concerning sex education, 1959-64

Grantly DICK-READ (1890-1959) PP/GDR
Collection includes ms by ‘A Gordon’ [unidentified] ‘Sex Education in Everyday Life’ (1948)

Henry Victor DICKS (1900-1977) PP/HVD
Material relating to his innovative developments in marital and family therapy, mainly at the Tavistock Clinic, 1950s-75

‘THE EXPANDING FIELD OF MENTAL HEALTH IN ENGLAND AND WALES, 50 YEARS OF PROGRESS, 1918-1968’ MS.7913
Includes material on marriage guidance, etc

Edward Fyfe GRIFFITH (1895-1988) PP/EFG
Papers relating to his involvement in establishing the Marriage Guidance Council, as British editor of journal Marriage Hygiene (also papers of Dr Gladys Cox, previous editor), and work in sex education generally, including as lecturer to schools, also writings, press cuttings etc, mainly 1930s-40s; some later case material after he became a Jungian analyst also of relevance

FAMILY PLANNING ASSOCIATION (f. 1930) SA/FPA
Files on relations with Marriage Guidance Council and other related bodies, material relating to its own activities in sex education, marriage counselling, dealing with sexual problems within marriage, etc, 1930s-70s

HEALTH VISITORS’ ASSOCIATION: Nancy Zinkin papers SA/HVA/G.7
Materials relating to her involvement with sex education in schools in West London, 1930s-2003

HISTORY OF THE CENTRAL COUNCIL FOR HEALTH EDUCATION (1927-68): interviews by Dr Max Blythe GC/196
Transcripts of recorded interviews include one with Dr Cyril Bibby (1981), an important figure in the development of sex education, and the subject is touched on by other interviewees.
Access restricted

Ronald Arthur SANDISON (1916-2010) PP/SAN
Files relating to his work in Family therapy / psychosexual medicine, 1947-90; file on symposium on family and marital problems in Shetland, 1981

Bernard SANDLER (1907-1997) GC/149
Material relating to his survey on sex education of medical students, 1957-9, and cuttings, etc, on sex education, marriage guidance, sexual dysfunction etc; also material on infertility and artificial insemination, 1946-89 

Sex Hormones

Sir Alan Sterling PARKES, FRS, CBE (1900-1990) PP/ASP
Material relating to his work in sex hormone research and fertility, 1930s-70s, including records of MRC Sex Hormones Committee, 1930-44 

SOCIETY FOR REPRODUCTION AND FERTILITY (formed by the amalgamation of the Society for the Study of Fertility and Journals of Reproduction and Fertility Limited): SA/SRF
Minutes, correspondence, circulars, conference details, newsletters, administrative records, 1950-2003

Surveys and studies

R A MCCANCE CBE, FRCP, FRS (1898-1993) and E M WIDDOWSON, CBE, FRS (b.1907) GC/97
Survey of 'physical and emotional periodicity in [approx 200] women', 1929-30 

Shirley RATCLIFFE and the Edinburgh MRC Clinical and Population Cytogenetics Unit Study of Long Term Outcomes for Children Born with Sex Chromosome Abnormalities 1967-1995 PP/SRA
Material covers the sexual development of children born with SCA, notably XXY males

Collections containing materials on very diverse sexual matters

BRITISH SOCIAL HYGIENE COUNCIL, formerly NATIONAL COUNCIL FOR COMBATTING VENEREAL DISEASES (f. 1914) SA/BSH
Its initial role as the educational arm of national STD control policy soon broadened out into much wider areas. Records include minutes of various committees and subcommittees dealing with sex education, marriage and preparation for marriage, prostitution and promiscuity and order and decency in public places, 1920s-50s

EUGENICS SOCIETY SA/EUG
This body was in contact with other organisations in the field of sex education and welfare, including the Association for Moral and Social Hygiene, the British Social Hygiene Council, Public Morality Council, Marriage Guidance Council, World League for Sexual Reform, and took an interest in a wide range of subjects including marriage, divorce, family relations, and sex education, and funded research on sexual endocrinology, 1920s-50s
Access only with permission of the Galton Institute
PLEASE NOTE: this collection is being digitised and parts of it will be unavailable during the process. Check the schedule for further information

MEDICAL WOMEN’S FEDERATION SA/MWF
This collection includes material relating to the Federation’s Memorandum on Prostitution and Homosexuality submitted to the Departmental (Wolfenden) Committee, 1954-7; the Criminal Law Amendment and Sexual Offences Bills, 1920-22 and the Sexual Offences (Amendment) Bill, 1957-9; the Home Office Committee to Enquire into Sexual Offences against Young Persons 1924-6; representation on the Marriage Guidance Council Medical Committee; menstruation and menstrual hygiene; marriage and divorce; medical examination in cases of criminal and indecent assault; artificial insemination; ritual clitoridectomy; family law reform; sterilisation of minors; laws relating to sexual offences and incest; pamphlets and ephemera on sexual education, marriage, prostitution, homosexuality and sexual offences; literature on ethical issues to do with reproductive medicine, 1980s

Frederick PARKES WEBER, FRCP (1863-1962) PP/FPW
'Bundles' of correspondence, notes, cuttings, reprints, photographs etc, include material on rare sexual disorders, sexual development, hygiene of sexual life, marriage, intersexual conditions and hermaphroditism, menstruation and similar cyclic manifestations, homosexuality, 1890s-1950s 

Wellcome archives

HISTORICAL MEDICAL MUSEUM WA/HMM
Archives, 1898-1985, include correspondence with sex education and research societies and institutions, material relating to erotica, etc, for museum collections