Queen Square Library

Queen Square Library

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• Archives & Rare Books
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  • Queen Square Archives
  • Queen Square Museum
  • This Month 1860
  • Access to rare books & journals, archives & digital images
  • Handling and transport of archival materials
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Archives, rare books, journals and the museum

The Queen Square Library holds a unique collection of historical and rare books,  journals and reprints. The Rare Book Collection extends to some 3000 volumes from 1695 onwards, print journal collections dating from 1848 covering much foreign language material unique to the UK as well as English language specialist material; and an extensive collection of published and unpublished research papers including 45 items of unpublished work by John Hughlings Jackson.

The Queen Square Archive collections are also housed in the Library. They comprise the archives belonging to the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery (NHNN) and those of UCL Institute of Neurology (IoN). You can explore catalogued items and digitised versions of some the archives on the Queen Square Archives website. Additional un-catalogued archives and images are held, including an collection of approximately 1500 bound volumes of case notes covering the years 1863-1946. Please see information about access to case notes.

The museum contains objects such as an anatomical model from the 1850s, some original handmade items made to raise funds to establish the Hospital, medical instruments and other artefacts.

To find out more about the collections and how you can access them, please use the links in the box to the right, and the catalogues below.

Important note: access to the archives is by prior appointment. Access to sensitive information is also covered by a range of regulations and approval in advance is required. Please refer to the access page for information and application forms.

The collections are open to researchers, students and members of the public during library opening hours.

Please check our holdings before your visit. To search the collections use our catalogues:

• Most of the Library historical book collection has been catalogued and is searchable using our library catalogue online.
• The archive and image collections are part catalogued. Progress to date can be browsed here: Queen Square Archives. Full details of the archives cataloged to date are also on the UCL Special Collections catalogue (choose UCL Institute of Neurology as the storage site to limit to our holdings).

Please refer to the handling and transit pages for information about handling archival and other fragile material.

Library, museum and archive refurbishment generously supported by the Brain Research Trust and the National Brain Appeal.

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Useful links

• Guide to the history and archives of UCLH NHS Foundation Trust
• UCL Special Collections
• A2A
• AIM25
• Archives hub
  
• Wellcome Library, London - Collections of books, manuscripts, archives, films and pictures on the history of medicine from the earliest times to the present day.
• National Archives - Hospital Records Database - This database provides information on the existence and location of the records of UK hospitals. There are currently over 2,800 entries, which have been compiled by the Wellcome Library for the History and Understanding of Medicine. These can be found by searching the database.
• Historical Hospital Admission Records Project (formerly the 'Small and Special' website) is a collection of resources (including admission registers) relating to the early years of the following hospitals:
• Illnesses encountered in genealogy - A-Z list of names of illnesses and conditions found in archives with their present day names.
  

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