This page aims to outline a brief list of sources on the history of the former Wellcome Unit for the History of Medicine, Oxford and its library and list relevant publications.
If you have any more information to add, please email isabel.holowaty@bodleian.ox.ac.uk. Thank you!
The Wellcome Unit for the History of Medicine, founded by Charles Webster in 1972, started out in a wooden hut at the back of 9 Keble Road. It moved to 47 Banbury Road in 1976 (together with its working library), sharing the building with other University departments. In 1983 it extended into part of no 45 Banbury Road in 1983. Over time, both 45 and 47 Banbury Road were occupied by the Unit.
On 1 Oct 1988, the History Faculty Library took over the management of the Wellcome Unit for the History of Medicine Library.
In 2006, the library of the Wellcome Unit was transferred to care of Oxford University Library Services (now Bodleian Libraries), still under management of the History Faculty Library (whicih itself moved to the Radcliffe Camera, Bodleian Library, in August 2012).
In 2019, it was renamed to the History of Medicine Library.
In summer 2025, it is scheduled to move into the library at the Schwarzman Centre for the Humanities.
Voices from the past:
For more on the history of medicine research and teaching in Oxford on the Oxford History for the History of Science, Medicine and Technology website.
This link opens in a new windowResearch publications of the Wellcome Unit for the History of Medicine, Oxford: