Printed booklet and CD of images entitled 'Old Photographs of the Nottingham General Hospital', 2007

This material is held atUniversity of Nottingham Manuscripts and Special Collections

Scope and Content

The collection consists of a spiral-bound printed booklet, and a CD of images.

The booklet (MS 820/1) contains 76 colour and black and white images, printed onto 38 sheets of A4 paper. Each image is briefly captioned, but not all are dated. The images fall into the following categories:

Copies of colour photographs showing the exterior of various General Hospital buildings in the 1980s or early 1990s (pp. 1-14);

Copies of colour photographs showing the demolition and redevelopment of General Hospital buildings, after 1992 (pp. 15-18);

Copies of engravings, black and white photographs and colour photographs showing the exterior and interior of General Hospital buildings, 1782-1980s (pp. 19-38)

The images are also available on an accompanying CD (MS 820/2).

Administrative / Biographical History

Nottingham General Hospital was founded as a charitable institution by public subscription in 1782. The hospital opened with 44 beds and a small staff. Almost immediately, further beds had to be found and the Derbyshire wing was opened in 1787. Many extensions and additions followed including a new wing, located on the Park Row frontage (1879) and the five storey circular building, the Jubilee Wing (opened 1900). The Cedars, a large house off Mansfield Road donated by Sir Charles Seely in 1897, provided 20 beds for convalescing patients.

The first part of the twentieth century was a period of rapid growth. Temporary buildings were erected during the First World War to accommodate sick and wounded soldiers. Further extensions were built including the Ropewalk Wing (1929), the Player Wing (1932) and the Castle Ward (1943). Developments after 1948 included the opening of an Intensive Care Unit in 1963 and of the Trent Wing in 1972. Following the opening of the University Hospital, the Queen's Medical Centre, in 1977, many services were transferred there from the General. The General Hospital finally closed in 1992, and the site was redeveloped to provide apartments and leisure facilities.

This booklet was created by Paul Swift, a local historian and author of a number of books about Nottingham hospitals. The images in the booklet were taken from photographs at the hospital before it closed, with the permission of the owners. The images were transferred to CD and edited between 2005 and 2007 and the booklet was printed in 2007.

Arrangement

No archival arrangement has been necessary.

Access Information

Accessible to all readers.

Other Finding Aids

This description is the only finding aid available for the collection. Copyright on the description belongs to the University of Nottingham.

Physical Characteristics and/or Technical Requirements

Good

Conditions Governing Use

Identification of copyright holders of photographic material is often difficult. Because the booklet is made up of copies of images of material held elsewhere, Manuscripts and Special Collections is unable to grant permission to make any published use of the material. Queries must be addressed in writing to the Keeper of Manuscripts and Special Collections (email: mss-library@nottingham.ac.uk)

Reprographic copies from this collection cannot be supplied.

Custodial History

The booklet and CD were acquired by Manuscripts and Special Collections, The University of Nottingham, in August 2007.

Related Material

Records of Nottingham General Hospital, including many photographs, some of which duplicate items in this booklet (Reference: Uhg)

Bibliography

Some of the photographs in this booklet were published in John Bittiner and David Lowe, 'Nottingham General Hospital : personal reflections' (Nottingham, 1990); and in Frank H. Jacob, 'A history of the General Hospital near Nottingham: open to the sick and lame poor of any county' (Bristol, 1951)