Sources Guides list

Sources Guide: Sexually Transmitted Diseases (A&M)

NB collections range in size from single items to large personal or organisational 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 

Petrus de Abano: Trattato delli veleni: receipts in volume include one ‘utilissime cio contra mal francioso', late C15th MS.615

Matthaeus Platearius: includes some early receipts against the 'Mal de Naples', c. 1500 MS.626

Receipt-Book, Latin: including 'contra morbum gallicum', c. 1500 MS.669

Dominicus de Swatz,: Arzneibuch, containing receipts for diseases including Von mall froncosenn. [Syphilis], c. 1500 MS.766

Leech-Books V: receipts 'Pro mentagra vel morbo gallico', c. early C16th MS.408

John Langley: The Reseyt off Rents and Farmes in Kent, contains 'Probata medicina ffor pe ffrenche poxe', c. 1503 MS.399

Lanfranc of Milan: Chirurgia magna, includes a remedy for syphilis, 1508 MS.398

Giovanni Martigegni: De morbo Gallico, 1520 MS.476

Joannes Pseudo-Mesue: includes a receipt 'ad morbum galcium', 1524 MS.493

Segreti: Collection of notes on surgery, and surgical remedies, c. 1525-1610 includes Consiglio sopra del male franzese MS.742

Johannes de Vigo,: De morbo gallico, c. 1525 MS.793

Franciscus Frigimelica: Tractatus de cura morbi gallici, 1527 MS.282

Ertzneisückhe: collection of receipts in Latin, with two in German, of remedies chiefly for the Morbus Gallicus, c. 1530 MS.262

Girolamo Fracastoro: translation of Siphilis sive morbus gallicus [1530] by Pauli Spadoni Corinaltensis, 1739 MS.2436

Johann Steinbach: Collection of medical receipts contains remedies for 'Morbus Gallicus', 1534-6 MS.764

"La Patenostre Des Verolles Avec Leur Complaincte Contre Les Medicins": satirical poem, 1540, facsimile c.1920 MS.8130

Scritti medicinali: contains a number of remedies for 'Morbus gallicus', and the use of Guaiacum, c. 1570 MS.737

English Medical Notebook: medical recipes, case notes, and notes on medical topics, late C16th MS.6228

Horse Medicine, Italy: includes an unguent for 'il mal francese', late C16th-early C17th MS.7022

Bernardino Paterno: 'Morbus Gallicus', c. 1578-8 MS.602; De morbo Gallico, lecture notes by un-named student, 1585 MS.604

(Ferdinandus) Cassanus: excerpts from Frigimelica and Montanus on Morbus gallicus, c. 1600-50 MS.183

Pierre Seguin (& others): Lecture notes, 1612-70, on lues venerea, etc MS.744

Tractatus de chirurgia (et de morbo Gallico): student notes of lectures, 1617 MS. 775

Townshend family: Collection of medical and cookery receipts by several hands 1636-1647, includes material on sexually-transmitted diseases MS.774

Joannes Pistoia: Notes taken down by Marco Spolidoro, including ‘De morbo gallico’, mid C17th MS.622

Unnamed Italian student: lecture notes De lue venereal, late C17th MS.4833

Notes on Diseases: mostly in Latin, partly in Italian, late C17th-early C18th MS.MSL25

Caietanus de Alteriis: student notes of lectures including De lue venereal, c. 1684 MS.935

Hiacinto Bertran: medical receipts contain several remedies for venereal diseases, 1680s MS.1152

Miscellanea Medica XIV: includes De lue venereal, De syphilide, 1692-1709 MS.3578

Pierre Chirac: Traité des maladies vénériennes (student notes of lectures), c. 1700 MS.1605; another version, 1734 MS.1612; Tractatus de morbis venereis with notes by Joseph Poulary, c. 1700 MS.1613

Boerhaave's Lectures and Notes on Faselius: C18th MS.MSL55

Medical Lectures: notes, C18th MS.MSL113

C Barbeyrac: Traité des maux vénériens, c. 1710-13 MS.2525

Jean Baptistin Thorière: Notes of lectures on surgery, transcripts of short essays on physiology, and other medical subjects, medical receipts, etc, 1715-16 MS.4786

Jean Astruc: De morbis venereis, student's notes of lectures, c. 1740 MS. 2370; lecture notes taken by François Coll, 1729 MS.3200; lectures transcribed by Jean Marchon, 1723 MS.7332

German physician: De morbis venereis, c. 1725 MS.2081

Pietro Carboni: Lecture notes include Trattato del contagio venereo, 1727 MS.1507

Joachimus Castaldus: De lue venereal, c. 1730 MS.1522; student notes of Dissertatio de lue venereal, c. 1730 MS.1523

Francesco de Micco: Tractatus de lue venereal; notes of lectures taken down by Bonaventura Basilio, 1737 MS.3538

Guillaume Sorin: Formule de médecine et chirurgie…. Avec une quantitez de bons Remedes pour les Maladies Vénériennes, 1737 MS.4673

John Rutherford: Edinburgh student lecture notes, including Lues Venerea, c. 1740s, MS.6888

Unnamed Naples student: De universo mercurialium usu. De ligno guiacino, sassaphrasio, radice chinae et salsaparillae, 1741 MS.4313

John Parkinson,of Wandsworth, Surrey: Medical recipes and notes, includes on therapies for venereal diseases, 1747 MS.6148

Pharmacopoeias: of Guy's, St Thomas', and St Bartholomew's Hospitals, London, mid C18th MS.6164

David Mahler: Collection of medical receipts in German, many for venereal diseases, mid C18th MS.3404

Montepellier student notes: 'Un traitté sur la manière de guérir les maladies vénériennes, selon M. Fizes' [Antoine Fizes ]; ‘Traité de la gonorrhée par M. Montagne'; 'Description de la méthode usitée à Montpellier dans le traitement des maladies vénériennes par M. Guisard', 1750 MS.3201

Edinburgh: notes on Clinical Lectures, 1751-64 MS.MSL86

Robert Whytt: advice in consultation with John Rutherford on the treatment of a venereal disease contracted by Mr Mill in 1761 and passed on to his wife, with some prescriptions and two draft accounts of their cases, 1763 MS.6872

Angelo Nannoni: notes of lectures include Delle malattie veneree, c. 1770 MS.3659

Case and Lecture Notes: c. 1770 MS.MSL32

John Gregory: notes by John Henderson of his lectures in Edinburgh, c. 1770 MS.MSL43

William Cullen: transcript of lectures by E Dowsett, 1770 MS.MSL63a-c; transcript of the same lecture course, c. 1774 MS.MSL64a-c

John Henderson: Memorandum and Common-place Book, 1774 MS.MSL23

Antoine Petit: student notes on lectures include Maladies vénériennes, c. 1775 MS.3848

Wyville Smith, military surgeon: miscellaneous papers, 1778-1826 MS.6929

Pietro Lorenzo Riari: Dissertazione sopra un nuovo rimedio particolare anti-venereo veggetabile, 1780 MS.4199

Medical miscellany: many entries on venereal diseases, late C18th MS.3506

Martin Sarmiento: Estracto de un Discurso ... sobre el origen y antiguedad del mal Galico, late C18th MS.4367

John Hunter: On venereal disease. An anonymous student's notes of lectures, c. 1790 MS.1677; notes of his lectures, C18th MS.MSL40

Anonymous surgeon, French West Indies: Procédés de la composition de deux remedes antivénériens', 1795 MS.7033

M D Papmahl: Notes of lectures at Berlin University include material on STDs, 1801 MS.3749

Michel Cullerier: Leçons cliniques de maladies vénériennes; notes of lectures taken down by Philibert Joseph Roux, c. 1805 MS.1972; Notes in shorthand of his lectures on 'Maladies vénériennes', 1806 MS.1973; Manuscript notes of 'Cours de Maladies Syphilitiques', 1802 MS.7959

Sir George Ballingall: letters, memoranda and case studies on venereal disease, 1808-52 MS.6905

Hunterian Society: case histories and reports read at meetings, essays submitted for Society’s medal, include some items relating to STDS, 1819-1952 MSS.5549, 5551

Mélanges médico-chirurgicaux et pharmaceutiques: illustrated with a coloured drawing in crayon of a syphilitic face, medical receipts, remarks on cases, notes on diseases and treatment, especially skin and venereal maladies, 1821-68 MS.3523

Père Lacaze: Recueil de remèdes, many for cures of venereal diseases, 1837-48 MS.3143

Philippe Ricord, US-born French syphilologist: letters, etc, 1838-89 MS.7540

Dr Pingler of Königstein im Taunus: letter mentioning his works on syphilis, and Josef Hermann, syphilologist, 1883 MS.7424/6

Frederick Parkes Weber: Several `bundles' on syphilis, its complications and treatments, implications for life-insurance, etc, a little material on advanced complications of gonorrhoea, 1890s-1950s PP/FPW

Sir Thomas Barlow: a few items among his papers relating to concerns over venereal diseases, late C19th-early C20th PP/BAR

Alfred Jean Fournier: Un point de pratique: Quelle est la conduite à tenir par le médecin qui se trouve consulté par une femme affectée de Syphilis, laquelle non seulement réclame un traitement de lui, mais encore lui demande 'ce qu'elle a', quelle est la nature du mal dont elle est atteinte?, 1891 MS.2423; Question: Dans quelles conditions convient-il d'accorder ou de refuser une n[ourri]ce à l'enfant d'un homme s[yphilitique]? 1897 MS.2424

Buxton Shillitoe: Extracts copied from English medical journals relating to venereal diseases, 1894-8 MS.4564

Lord Lister: correspondence with Lord George Hamilton, Secretary of State for India, and H C K Petty-Fitzmaurice, 5th Marquess of Lansdowne, Secretary of State for War, on the employment of female hospital assistants for the treatment of women with venereal diseases in India, 1897 MS.6186

Wellcome Archives Some material on history of STDs among archives of Historical Medical Museum, 1898-1985, WA/HMM, some items relating to research among archives of Bureau of Scientific Research, 1913-38, WA/BSR, correspondence of Sir Henry Wellcome with Burroughs Wellcome, on 'social diseases in the army', 1917 WA/HSW

Society of Medical Officers of Health/ Society of Community Medicine/ Society of Public Health (1856-1997): published sources (non-Society) on prevention and treatment of VD, including Scandinavian countries, 1938-48, also minutes of Special Committee on VD, Feb 1914 (D.1/4), and articles in the Society’s journal Public Health SA/SMO

Royal Army Medical Corps Muniment Collection: Notes and papers re VD control in the army, mainly North Africa and Italy, Second World War RAMC

Wellcome Foundation: pharmaceutical company which manufactured a number of products used in the treatment of venereal diseases, including retrovirals for AIDS, 1900s-90s WF

Association of County Medical Officers of Health (1902-1974): Some material re responsibilities of CMOs in VD prevention SA/CMO

Sir Bernard Spilsbury: notes on autopsies performed by him 1905-33 include numerous cases in which syphilis was a factor, and also several cases of death from arsenical treatment PP/SPI

Sir D'Arcy Power: The surgery of Syphilis, 1907-8 MS.3961

British Social Hygiene Council (Formerly National Council For Combatting Venereal Diseases) (f.1914): worked closely with the Ministry of Health and was responsible for the propaganda and educational side of VD prevention from its foundation until the Second World War; as well as generally influential on questions of policy, provisions for treatment and the training of doctors and other health care workers both in the UK and the Colonies; minutes only of Council and committees survive plus journal Health and Empire (New Series 1926-40 only) SA/BSH

Surg-Capt Montague Henry Knapp: Medical records of naval patients, largely relating to treatment of syphilis (including early instances of use of salvarsan), 1910-17 GC/85

Eugenics Society: Interests of the society overlapped those of organisations and individuals concerned with venereal disease prevention and social hygiene; correspondence etc, 1910s-50s Access only with permission from the Galton Institute SA/EUG
PLEASE NOTE: this collection is being digitised and parts of it will be unavailable during the process. Check the schedule for further information

British Medical Association: Files of Venereologists' Group of the BMA; also miscellaneous files on VD clinics, hospitals, etc, 1910s-50s SA/BMA

James Randal Hutchinson, Medical Officer at the Ministry of Health: Group of files on venereal disease control, 1916-47 PP/JRH

Medical Women's Federation: Minutes of the Standing Committee on Venereal Disease, 1921-40, and other material, including on prostitution, 1920s-50s SA/MWF

Letitia Fairfield: papers include material re her interests in social hygiene, 1920s-60s, and documentation of the BSHC Malta Commission of 1938 GC/193

Medical Society for the Study of Venereal Diseases: 2 attendance books of meeting, 1923-59 SA/MSL/K/4

Family Planning Association: some cuttings, publications, statistics etc, 1923, 1960s-70s; and material relating to AIDS and safer sex initiatives,1980s-90s SA/FPA

Interviews with elderly GPs by Dr Stefan Cembrowicz: oral interviews on medical careers in Europe and UK, 1920s-80s, include some material on STDS GP/58

Georges Gabriel Caussade: Un cas de syphilis tertiaire fébrile avec hémorrhagie, 1924 MS.1531

Donald Hunter: Photographs and case notes on congenital syphilis of infants and adults, 1925-78, and tertiary syphilis, 1926-36 PP/HUN

Sir Harold Whittingham: material on control of VD in the RAF, 1930s-40s PP/HEW

National Society for the Prevention of Venereal Disease: Records, chiefly correspondence, some publications, 1937-55 only [the Society was founded in 1919 but earlier records are not here] SA/PVD

Capt Archibald Mathison Stewart: Papers relating to service in the Royal Army Medical Corps during World War Two, including some course notes, surgical case records and medical standing orders, 1938-45 MS.8030

Louisa Martindale: 1 file of miscellaneous material on VD, c.1940s GC/25

Maj S T Cowan: 'From Kephissia to Chapel-en-le-Frith April 1941 to December 1943”, journal of war service as Pathology Specialist MS.8346

Napsbury Mental Hospital: Memoranda on army psychiatry, collected by Stephen Mackeith, OBE include (No. 37) report on `some aspects of the V.D. problem in the British army', 1944 and (47) `Some comments on the V.D. problem in an expeditionary force', 1944 GC/135

Charles McMoran Wilson, Lord Moran: Group of files on Moran's opposition to peacetime conscript army on grounds of associated high incidence of Venereal Disease transmission, 1946-53 PP/CMW

Bernard Sandler: Papers on infertility include a little on chlamydia, candidasis, etc, 1940s-80s GC/149

R J Hetherington: A few files on relationship between oral contraception and venereal disease, c.1960s-80s PP/RJH

Birth Control Campaign: press-cuttings files on venereal disease, 1973–5 SA/BCC/E.54-5

Dominik Wujastyk: Papers relating to his contribution as an expert witness in proceedings before the Professional Conduct committee of the GMC against Drs Roger Alistair Chalmers and Leslie James Davis for providing treatment by 'Maharishi Ayurveda' to AIDS patients, 1980-95 MS.7967

Sir Richard Doll: some material relating to AIDS, 1980s PP/DOL

International Confederation of Midwives: records of this body reflect its concern over the impact of HIV/AIDS on reproductive health and the implications for midwifery training and practice, 1980s-90s SA/ICM

Aids and Social Policy Group (of the Family Planning Association): correspondence, press releases, minutes of meetings and studies on AIDS, 1985-93 SA/ASG

Maurice Henry Pappworth: Correspondence, mainly with the Jewish Chronicle, regarding the spread of AIDS, 1985-9, n.d. PP/MHP

Project SIGMA: 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: to provide unique and detailed information, due to concerns around AIDS/HIV, about gay and bisexual men's sexual activity and the contexts within which it occurred GC/260

AIDS-relevant cognitions in Dundee and Kirkaldy: transcripts and tapes of interviews with young people concerning their understandings of Auto Immune Deficiency Syndrome, 1988-90 GC/252