Archive of the Manchester Paediatric Club

The archive comprises mainly minutes and administrative papers of the Club. These have been accumulated by the Club's officers over the course of its existence. MPC/1 is an apparently incomplete set of the Society's handbooks. The minutes of the Society's executive committee from 1948-80 can be found in MPC/2. MPC/3 contains reports of the annual general meetings to 1980 (MPC/3/1) and administrative papers relating to the organisation of these events. MPC/4-6 deal with specialist meetings; MPC/4 the scientific meetings of the Club held from the late 1940s to the mid-1960s; MPC/5 the regional meetings of the Club at various locations in the North West; and MPC/6 meetings with other paediatric societies, including the Liverpool Paediatric Club and the Northern Paediatric Group. MPC/7 contains files on special meetings of the Club, usually relating to wider medical political and administrative issues connected with paediatrics. MPC/8 contains papers relating to the Catherine Chisholm lectures, a triennial lecture delivered by a distinguished guest paediatrician. MPC/9 relates to guest lectures other than the Catherine Chisholm. MPC/10 consists of treasurer's reports and other financial documents and MPC/11 is a series of miscellaneous files, including the secretary's general correspondence relating to membership issues (MPC/11/1).

The inaugural meeting of the Manchester Paediatric Club was held on 15 March 1948 at the home of Professor Wilfrid Gaisford in Bowdon, Cheshire [Gaisford (1902-1988) was professor of child health at the University of Manchester]. The aims of the Club were:

• To promote friendship among paediatricians in the region.
• To further paediatrics in clinical practice and research.
• To provide a 'portal of entry' into membership of the British Paediatric Association.

There were originally 25 members of the Club, including teachers and researchers in paediatrics, as well as clinical paediatricians. Catherine Chisholm (1878-1952) was elected first president of the Club in recognition of her pioneering work on the subject in Manchester, with Gaisford as was the honorary secretary, and W.H. Patterson (b.1904) as honorary treasurer [Patterson was paediatric superintendent at Booth Hall and Crumpsall hospitals, Manchester]. The first annual general meeting was held on 7 January 1949 at the Turner Dental School at the University of Manchester. This elected a further five members to the twenty who had attended the founding meeting.

One of the Club's original aims was to raise the profile of the paediatrics in the Manchester area and to ensure that the specialism was properly treated by the new Manchester Regional Hospital Board. Paediatrics as a distinct specialism advanced rapidly with the development of the N.H.S. The Club also developed contacts with the British Paediatric Association. Three of the Club's members were elected President of the British Paediatric Association H.T. Ashby (1948-9), Wilfrid Gaisford (1964-5), and George Komrower (1979-82).The original membership was dominated by consultant paediatricians, but increasingly from the 1960s onwards membership was extended to include a wider range of medical and non-medical personnel concerned with the care of children.

The Club held up to three meetings a year, including an AGM. An important aspect of its activities were clinical and scientific meetings where members could discuss each other's work. From 1969, the Club held annual symposia on a particular area of paediatric specialism. From the late 1950s the Club also held regional meetings for members based outside the Manchester area, and meetings were held in several Lancashire and Cheshire towns. From early in its existence, the Club held annual joint meetings with its counterpart society in Liverpool. In 1970 the Club became actively involved in Northern Paediatric Group, which brought together the various paediatric societies in the North and Midlands.

Over the years, a number of distinguished guest lecturers were invited to speak at the Club. In 1958 the Club inaugurated the Catherine Chisholm Memorial Lecture in memory of its first president; this lecture was delivered triennially. In 1978 the Jake Steward Memorial Lecture was established and this was also delivered triennially.

In 1964, the Manchester Medical Society decided to set up its own Section of Paediatrics, following an initiative by the MPC. Both groups continued to co-exist until October 1992, when they formally merged. The name, Manchester Paediatric Club, has been retained for reasons of continuity, although it now forms a section of the Manchester Medical Society.

The papers were previously arranged in lever-arch and paper files by the Society's secretaries. The original order of the material has been retained.

The archive is organized into the following series:

• MPC/1 Rules/Lists of members
• MPC/2 Executive Committee minutes
• MPC/3 Annual General Meetings
• MPC/4 Scientific meetings
• MPC/5 Regional meetings
• MPC/6 Meetings with other paediatric societies
• MPC/7 Special meetings
• MPC/8 Catherine Chisholm Lectures
• MPC/9 Guest lecturers
• MPC/10 Financial files
• MPC/11 Miscellaneous files

Most of the collection is open to any accredited reader, although some items containing personal data may be closed.

This finding aid may contain personal or sensitive personal data about living individuals. Under Section 33 of the Data Protection Act 1998 (DPA), The John Rylands University Library (JRUL) has the right to process such personal data for research purposes. The Data Protection (Processing of Sensitive Personal Data) Order 2000 enables the JRUL to process sensitive personal data for research purposes. In accordance with the DPA, the JRUL has made every attempt to ensure that all personal and sensitive personal data has been processed fairly, lawfully and accurately, according to the Data Protection Principles.

Individuals have the right to make a request to see data relating to them held by the JRUL which falls under the provisions of the DPA. Access requests must be made formally in accordance with the provisions set out in the DPA and all enquiries should be directed to the University's Data Protection Officer.

None.

Photocopies and photographic copies can be supplied for private study purposes only, depending on the condition of the documents.

A number of items within the archive remain within copyright under the terms of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988; it is the responsibility of users to obtain the copyright holder's permission for reproduction of copyright material for purposes other than research or private study.

Prior written permission must be obtained from the Library for publication or reproduction of any material within the archive. Please contact the Head of Special Collections, John Rylands University Library, Oxford Road, Manchester, M13 9PP.

The archive was maintained by the Club until it was transferred to JRULM in 1992, following the Club's merger with the Section of Paediatrics of the Manchester Medical Society. The collection is held on deposit at JRULM on behalf of the Manchester Medical Society.

The records of the Section of Paediatrics of the MMS, known as the Manchester Paediatric Club after the 1992 merger, forms part of the MMS archive in the custody of the Manchester Medical Society; contact the Society's administrators for further information.