Pauline Totham (nee Sellers), Collection

Correspondence, notebooks, professional papers, certificates, photographs, journals and newspaper cuttings compiled by Totham (nee Sellers) during her nursing career. Parts of this colllection are closed for Data Protection reasons.

Pauline Sellers qualified as a nurse at Mirfield Children's Home and as a State Registered Nurse at Staincliffe General Hospital. She joined the Royal Air Force as a Flight Officer for Princess Mary’s Royal Air Force Nursing Service, based at Nocton Hall, Lincolnshire, in 1966 and served for 15 months as a ward sister at two British hospitals in Aden but had to leave in 1967 as part of the British withdrawal before Aden gained its independence. After leaving Aden she was based at the Royal Air Force Hospital at Nocton Hall.

The items in this collection, donated by Sellers (now Pauline Totham) consist of correspondence, articles, photographs, certificates and notebooks compiled by Sellers during her career. The collection particularly focuses on when Sellers worked at Staincliffe General Hospital and Princess Mary’s Royal Air Force Nursing Service at Nocton Hall. While at Nocton Hall, Sellers took part in theatre performances and joined Nocton Hall Theatre Group, playing Mrs Wagstaff in the play ‘Dry Rot’. She also accompanied Princess Alexandra on a royal visit in July 1969, showing her around one of the children’s wards, and wrote articles for Nursing Journals, which appear in this collection; such articles needed approval by the Ministry of Defence before publication. The articles Sellers wrote include ‘Teratoma neonatorum’ describing a case recorded by Sellers while as a staff nurse at Staincliffe General Hospital in Dewsbury, written for the Nursing Mirror and Midwives Journal in February 1966 and Sellers' article for Nursing Times (October 1969) titled 'Bilateral Perthe's Disease of the Hip in a Seven Year Old' - both articles are included in this collection.

Parts of the collection are restricted - please contact Collections department for more information.

Gifed to the Thackray Museum of Medicine by Pauline Totham, 2000

Not permitted

Not expected