Stories

Inside Our Collections

  • Series
Photograph of a woodblock carved with an intricate illustration of a plant. The woodblock is resting on the open page of a book, where a corresponding print from the woodblock has been made. The page is titled with, 'And. Matthioli Comm. Ambrosia Altera'.
Woodblock: Ambrosia altera, Benjamin Gilbert. Source: Wellcome Collection. Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0).

Stories inspired by the objects, manuscripts and more in our archives.

Photograph of a chart showing locations on the large Intestine channel of arm yangming where acupuncture is prohibited during the eighth month of pregnancy, from Ishinpo [Chinese: Yi xin fang] (Remedies at the Heart of Medicine), by the Japanese author Yasuyori Tanba. The chart is resting on a concrete textured background.
  • In pictures
Imagining the foetus

From the miniature adult in the womb imagined by 15th-century artists to the increasing detail of today’s ultrasound scans, Tania McIntosh traces our changing view of the human foetus.

Photograph of a contraceptive pill model, Europe, c. 1970. White crackled glaze, with debossed "THE PILL" text in centre, on a grey concrete textured background.
  • In pictures
A brief history of contraception

From douches to diaphragms, and condoms to caps, discover the wide range of contraception methods people have used over the centuries.

In ink drawing of an elderly man grasping his throat and holding a drink.
  • In pictures
My search for a stronger voice

Find out what kinds of treatment history offered to people suffering from voice problems.

Photograph of a clinical light blue background with the corner of two dark blue surfaces floating above the light blue and appearing from the top left and right hand corners. Propped up to the left hand side of the image is a black and white archive photograph showing two men and a woman in a domestic setting. The woman is seated and one man perches on a tabletop. The other man is standing and is zipped into a large plastic rectangular suit, the top section of which is transparent such that his head can be seen. On the right side of the image are a pair of latex surgical gloves laid flat and overlapping each other and a surgical face mask.
  • Article
Remote romance and the common cold

Getting creatively romantic due to a virus sounds all too contemporary, but our archives show what socially distanced seduction looked like seven decades ago.

Photograph of a colour illustration against a concrete background. The illustration shows a large crowd of people gathered in an urban setting at night, with fair ground rides. The sky is dark and a full moon emerges from behind some clouds.
  • In pictures
Fairs, fires and the future of Smithfield

As meat trading in the area ends, Tom Bolton looks at the history of London’s Smithfield, which has been a place of healing and death, markets and mess for 900 years.

Photograph of a watercolour depicting the death of Napoleon Bonaparte. Napoleon is lying in bed surrounded by 12 people, some wearing military uniform. Three of these people are young children. One of the people stands at Napoleon's head, his hand resting on napoleon's shoulder. The bed is in a large room, with green patterned carpet and yellow wallpaper. A chandelier hangs from the high ceiling. The watercolour has been photographed against a grey concrete background.
  • In pictures
Mass murder and marvellous medicine

Find out how arsenic has been used for good and ill, to cure and kill, for centuries.

Photograph of a woman sat in an office environment. She is holding a landline telephone receiver to her left ear and is looking into the distance over the top of the camera.
  • Article
Befriending heavy breathers

Read the fascinating story behind the rare manual that helped volunteers on one of Britain’s first free telephone helplines to deal with masturbating callers.

Photograph of a gouache drawing showing a man carrying Holy water with his wife. They are walking across a yellow sand and palm trees and forest can be seen in the distance. The man has a staff resting on his shoulders. Attached to either end are containers of water. His wife walks beside him. Under the drawing are the words, 'Carrying Holy Water'.
  • In pictures
Water of life?

From ancient sources of spiritual sustenance to the modern spa, Ross MacFarlane traces a brief history of healing waters.

Photograph of the left hand page of an open book on a wooden surface. The left hand page shows an engraving of a Redwing bird in a woodland scene. Below the engraving is a descriptive text about the bird.
  • In pictures
Bird-spotting from medieval to modern times

What use is ‘twitching’? Exploring materials created over 500 years shows that there’s more to birdwatching than meets the eye.

Photograph of a black and white photographic postcard showing the victorious English 400m women's relay swimming team at the Stockholm Olympic Games in 1912. It shows 4 female swimmers wearing swimming costumes with Union jack flags on the front, standing in a line beside an open air pool. In the middle of the four swimmer is another lady who is fully clothed. The postcard has been photographed against a grey concrete background.
  • In pictures
A short history of wellbeing through exercise

During the current pandemic, billions of people around the world are confined to home, making mood-boosting daily exercise indispensable. Discover how humans from the ancient Greeks onwards have realised the benefits of physical activity.

Colour illustration showing a man standing over a seated woman, sewing up her mouth
  • In pictures
The dangers of women’s speech

For centuries, women have been ridiculed and punished for excessive talking, despite the fact that men gossip just as much.

Black and white etching showing a large pile of bodies being dragged into a pit. People who appear from their robes to be monks perform rites or anxiously grasp bibles.
  • In pictures
Pepys and the plague

Through its long history, London has survived some enormous epidemics. During the 1665 Great Plague of London, the city burned, shops closed, the streets emptied and bodies piled up. Read Samuel Pepys’s account of how the city pulled through.

Photograph of an open book on a wooden background, showing a page with a coloured engraving from the 16th century depicting a person's head and neck ruff. On their head is a red mask which has small holes exposing the outside edges of their eyes and larger holes exposing their ears, nose and mouth.
  • In pictures
The eyes have it

In 1583, eye specialist Georg Bartisch published a book detailing the treatments he’d developed for various eye disorders. Today his approach seems to mix surprising innovation with entirely contemporary religious judgement.

Print work of a pair of hands sharpening a rod on a lathe.
  • In pictures
Working well or sick of work?

Sometimes we literally get sick of our jobs. Discover how researchers and medics throughout history have made connections between our work and our wellbeing.

Coloured etching of woman on a cross
  • In pictures
The fast and the spurious

Extreme fasting has captured the public imagination for centuries. What pushes people to claim to go without food for improbable lengths of time?

Watercolour showing a man holding a tub of pills labelled "A perfect cure for love". On the floor is the lid for the tub labelled "Hymen's sugar coated pills" and underneath is a poem in pencil.
  • In pictures
A short history of lovesickness

Are you ill or are you simply in love? It can be hard to tell. No wonder lovesickness was for centuries regarded as a bona fide disease.

Watercolour painting showing an unconscious naked man lying on a table being attacked by little demons armed with surgical instruments
  • In pictures
How chloroform shaped the murder mystery

Find out how a sweet-smelling liquid anaesthetic captured the public’s imagination and changed pop culture for ever.

  • In pictures
The post-war adverts that tried to cure lonely women

Isolated housewives, lonely female office workers: while the 1950s saw the birth of a general concern about them, manufacturers also spotted an opportunity. Find out how advertising promised that products could salve solitude.

Photograph of the carved wooden head of a woman against a black background. On the woman's head is an elaborate headdress. The head is cropped by the bottom of the frame just below her eyes.
  • Article
Mask, ritual and fertility

Today many of us learn about fertility, conception and pregnancy online. But that wasn’t always the way. Discover how masks and rituals played an important educational role.

Photograph of a coloured etching from 1824 titled, Veduta del lazzeretto di S. Rocco. Pom Lapi scul. The etching shows a panoramic view of a harbour scene with small boats in the foreground.
  • In pictures
Why we still need quarantine

For years, quarantine has been an important measure to curb the spread of infection and avert further deaths. Discover the way it has been used in the past and why it is still necessary today.

Photograph of an open page of a book showing an inserted booklet open at a double page with an illustration of a woman on each page. The illustration contains the colour palette of red, purple and violet. In each illustration the woman is using a wired handheld apparatus held against her scalp and upper arm.
  • In pictures
Tesla, quacks and violet rays

Imagine a device that can treat everything from baldness to gout. Too good to be true? Yes, and it was banned – but not before hundreds were hoodwinked.

A young woman on a chaise lounge in her boudoir with a visiting couple, while her maid prepares her medicine.
  • In pictures
The lost art of convalescence

The efficacy of antibiotics and the demands of work mean we rarely convalesce after an illness. But in the past it was an important part of the return to health.

Poster for a performance featuring children rushing out of school to play on the see-saw, their books and caps are on the ground.
  • In pictures
Born to play

Our understanding of the importance of play in a child’s development has become increasingly sophisticated over the centuries. Explore the ways different eras have regarded childhood games.

Black and white photo of a metal hut with four nurses standing outside the front. It is captioned: 'One of the huts holding twenty beds'.
  • In pictures
The evolution of war-zone medicine

The need to deal with battlefield injuries has led to inventive designs for extreme situations. Find out how camel-drawn ambulances and flat-pack hospitals have helped casualties survive.

Coloured wood engraving showing three different scenes. The central scene shows a crowd of people gathered in a square, with hot-air balloons on the ground. The scene on the top right, has the following accompanying text: 'First Balloon Ascent in England. Sep 15, 1784'. A solitary air-balloon can be seen in the air, as people look on- one man is waving the Union Jack. The third scene at the bottom right, has the following accompanying caption: ‘Lhoste’s Farewell from the Colonel’. It shows an air balloon in flight, as a man is seen waving from it.
  • In pictures
The death-defying science of the aeronauts

Air ballooning is not as serene as you might think. Read about the perilous exploits of two early aeronauts who risked life and limb to better understand the science of the weather.

Image of four men and a woman experiencing making strange faces.
  • In pictures
Humans, animals and the sensory world

Artists and medics through the ages have made links between our discerning human senses and similar traits in animals. Discover how close we are to the earth’s other inhabitants.

Black and white photograph of a portrait postcard of a seated man in a dress, wearing a large hat with floral decoration. He is holding and umbrella in his right hand. The bottom of the postcard is inscribed with the words, 'Summerdown Kate'.
  • In pictures
From female impersonation to drag

How did drag develop from light-hearted female impersonation to a world-dominating art form?

Illustration of Lillias Hamilton surrounded by greenery.
  • In pictures
Faces from the archives

Meet some of the lesser-known but no less extraordinary figures in the history of medicine, through a series of original portraits.

Painting of a Chinese man in grey robes holding a soft pillow.
  • In pictures
Chinese pillow history

What is the ideal pillow? In Chinese culture, the ideal shifted over time, and views on a good sleep also reveal attitudes about studying, love, food and drink.

Photograph of a section of a Dutch watercolour in an ornate gilded frame. The painting depicts a 17th century birthing scene. In the top right of the frame is a lady in a period blue dress sitting up in a pink four-poster bed, talking to a maiden on her left side who is holding a baby wrapped in an orange blanket. There are four other ladies in the room; the central figure in a black dress, red skirt, and white ruff collar is leaning over to another lady in a golden dress on her right handing out food on a silver tray. In the bottom right of the scene is a lady in a pink and blue dress interacting with a small child.
  • In pictures
Superstition, contagion and medical rumour

The great generator of confusion, rumours have not spared human health from their chaos. Find out how whispers, gossip and rumours have caused medical mishaps through the ages.

Photograph of a section of an oil painting in a gilded ornate frame, against a wood panelled wall. The painting depicts a pharmacy circa 1700. The walls of the shop are lined with blue and brown vases. There are five figures in the painting in period clothing. A gentleman in a top hat is sat at a desk with a hand on a small vase. A maid is half showing, peering through a door. Another gentleman is stirring a golden pot with a large ladle. The final two figures of a lady and an officer are interacting in the centre of the painting.
  • In pictures
The aphrodisiac apothecary

Not in the mood? Come and visit our traditional drug store for natural tonics rumoured to increase sexual desire.

Photograph of a curved lead healing plate about ten centimetres square, sitting flat on a piece of conservation paper. Below the lead plate, to the left, is the manuscript from which the original instructions to make the plate can be found. The lead plate has been inscribed with 5 crosses; one diagonal cross in each corner with lines leading to a central, right-way-up, cross.
  • Article
A medieval guide to practical magic

With few sources of effective help available when treating an injured patient, the medieval physician could instead stage a healing ceremony using a practical how-to guide he carried with him.

Photograph of a watercolour depicting Chinese medicine where a practitioner massages a patient's shoulder. Watercolour by Zhou Pei Qun, ca. 1890.
  • In pictures
Medical manipulations and the history of physiotherapy

From gymnastics to splints and uterine massage, the history of physiotherapy takes in a surprisingly broad range of people and practices.

  • In pictures
Southern Italy’s centuries-long dancing mania

How the symptom of a terrifying sickness became a lively folk dance in southern Italy.

Photograph of a Hunter Starlight projector screen in the corner of room by a window recess. On the screen is an still from a film, showing two lines of expectant mothers with their arms raised as part of an excessive class. To the right of the frame a nurse is just visible.
  • In pictures
The birth of ante-natal classes

Is childbirth an athletic feat? Kathleen Vaughan certainly thought so, developing the first modern exercise class for women in pregnancy.

Photograph of a coloured engraving from 1848 depicting a large goose with three golden eggs. Numbered circles are printed on the body of the goose for playing the game of goose. The engraving has been photographed on a textured background.
  • In pictures
The serious side of historical games

Some games carry a weighty message, from the earliest form of snakes and ladders that led to either heaven or hell, to chess pieces representing the dangerous manoeuvres of unsafe sex in the 80s.

Photograph of a painting in a gilt frame depicting a white-haired man wearing glasses tapping the knee of a seated man with a pronged metal rod. The seated man has a shocked expression. Behind the framed painting are the bricks of a whitewashed wall.
  • In pictures
Electric marvels in the age of enlightenment

How our understanding of electricity has grown, from novelty to the pulse of modern life – and the inner fire that powers the human machine.

Photograph of a wood engraving from a 1869 newspaper, showing a depressive man holding an umbrella, standing by a country pond in the pouring rain. Beneath the engraving is the title, 'To sufferers from nervous depression'.
  • In pictures
Finding the ‘men’ in mental health

Explore how ideas about masculinity have influenced the way men talk about and experience their mental health, from the 1800s to today.

Photograph of a selection of toilet paper samples held together with paperclips, resting on a manilla envelope printed with the words "On Her Majesty's Service".
  • In pictures
How Brits went soft on toilet paper

Twentieth-century studies reveal a whole host of anxieties about the terrors of soft toilet paper.

Photograph of two mole's feet on a stippled dark grey background, which are part of an amulet collection.
  • In pictures
Moles’ feet, dried frogs and other folk medicines

Early-20th-century folklorist Edward Lovett made it his mission to discover the nation’s beliefs and superstitions, collecting amulets from cottage cupboards up and down the country.

Photograph of an early printed book open as a page where a previous owner has had a go at copying an illustration of a man playing a guitar like instrument. Next to the open book are a couple of paint brushes and a small dish with saffron leaves on it.
  • Article
Medieval doodles

Fish, lute players and defaced demons: marginal doodles in some of Europe’s first printed books provide a tantalising glimpse into the late-medieval mind.

Photograph of a section of an oil painting in a gilded ornate frame, against a brick wall painted white. The oil painting shows a man letting blood from another seated man's arm. Beside them stands a woman holding a bucket. Waiting dates from 1610 to 1690.
  • In pictures
Bloodletting at the barber-surgeon’s

Scratchy throat? Burning fever? Broken heart? It all comes down to the same issue: too much blood.

Photograph of a man sitting at a long desk in a library archive preparation room. On the table in front of him is various leaflets and books from the archive. To his left are shelves containing books.
  • Interview
Sniffing glue and Scientology in the DrugScope archive

Academics on hallucinogenics, kids sniffing glue, and Scientologists recruiting drug users keen to kick the habit. Delve into Wellcome’s recently acquired DrugScope archive.

Photograph of an illustration in a book showing a man's face with evidence of syphilis, in the form of red pustules.
  • In pictures
Sex and syphilis

Before antibiotics, syphilis unleashed centuries of misery, countered by desperate but largely useless remedies. With the spread of syphilis on the rise, it’s worth remembering what our forebears suffered.

Photograph of Image of a large letter saying: Dr. Frank Truth, Nerve specialist. I consider you require an entire change in your surroundings. In fact you must get right away from the conditions you have been living under. A woman appears behind the letter, with a man walking away in the foreground.
  • In pictures
When civilisation made people sick

Sickness from nervous exhaustion is not a new thing. Over a hundred years ago, neurasthenia afflicted society’s ‘brain-workers’.

Photograph of the top half of a colour engraving showing the Sun and solar phenomena.
  • In pictures
The healing sun

From ancient sun gods to artificial light, our relationship to our star has morphed over the centuries, but the sun's power to affect our health is more noticeable than ever.

Photograph of an illustration in a 17th century early printed book, of an imagined monster. Behind the book is a brown fur background.
  • Article
Fantastic beasts and unnatural history

Find out how a 17th-century compendium of the natural world came to present fantastical beasts –like dragons – as real, living creatures.

Photograph of a watercolour painting against a textile background, depicting a semi naked man and woman kneeling in dirt next to a skeleton. Factory chimneys billowing smoke are in the background.
  • In pictures
In pursuit of purity

Many cultures associate physical cleanliness with spiritual purity, while disease and dirt are signs of moral pollution.

Image showing a woman smoking with coins in place of the smoke. The text reads: "So she said she was giving up smoking so she could save money and I said don't be daft you won't save a penny and my Norman agrees with me. But the next thing you know she's got herself one of those cut-out dresses and a trouser suit and a pair of those white boots on top of which she's got rid of that cough and what's more my Norman's dating her up. Honestly you can't trust some people can you!"
  • In pictures
A medical history of smoking, from cure to killer

Today smoking is seen publicly as a deadly vice, privately perhaps as more of a guilty pleasure. Follow tobacco’s journey over the centuries from medical remedy to killer carcinogen.

Photograph of a watercolour painting of a putto pouring a phial into a dragon's mouth. The watercolour is resting on a marble circular tabletop with rippled dark blue material on the floor beneath the table.
  • In pictures
Putti of science

Chubby little winged boys known as putti frequently adorn scientific illustrations. Sometimes portrayed as reverent and sometimes cheeky, they guide our pursuit of knowledge.

Coloured line engraving of a woman swimming in the waves of the sea whilst behind people stand on the beach and cliffs.
  • In pictures
Backstroke to the future

Now one of the most popular forms of exercise, the health-giving properties of swimming have not always been recognised. Dive into a gallery that charts the course from water as site of danger to a space of health.

Image of colour manuscript in gold and blue, representing a horoscope. Large circle is in the middle with smaller circles in the centre. Inside these are symbols representing the signs of the zodiac.
  • In pictures
Fantasies of the future

How accurately can we imagine the future? These past prognostications suggest that we cannot escape the pull of our own time and its biases.

  • In pictures
Deadly stinks and life-saving aromas in plague-stricken London

In the plague-ravaged London of 1665, could perfume really save your life?

Image of a small ivory model of a woman with removable mid-drift revealing organs and foetus in womb beneath. She lies on red velvet.
  • In pictures
Exposing the secrets of the human body

Scientists, artists, and philosophers have long studied our anatomy to try to discover what it means to be human.

  • In pictures
Fake news in the 17th century

An uncanny resemblance to today’s Twitter tiffs characterises a 17th-century argument about demons. Read what happened when the printing presses went into overdrive.

  • In pictures
Miracle cure-alls throughout the ages

From the elixir of life to radium, humans have always searched for a panacea: something to cure every ill. But instead it’s only highlighted our anxieties and preoccupations throughout history.

  • In pictures
Death around the world in ten objects

Death is many things to many cultures: violent, holy, frightening, calm, disgusting... or just a gateway to another life.

Photograph of a selection of cards from the sex worker card collection at Wellcome Collection, laid out on a wooden tabletop.
  • Story
Dial ‘S’ for sex

In pre-internet days, phone boxes became a patchwork of ‘tart cards’ offering sexual services. Find out about the clandestine world they hint at.

Patient records, with handwritten notes in black ink on the left, and a black and white drawing of several women on the right .
  • Article
Uncovering experiences of dementia

Focusing on three 19th-century women’s case notes, Millie van der Byl Williams explores how our definition of dementia has changed.

Colourised photograph of a young man holding an easter egg with a picture of a cockeral on it.
  • In pictures
The hidden meanings inside these 1920s Easter egg postcards

There’s something unexpectedly flirtatious and flamboyant about the smart young people featured in these French postcards.

Dance bonnet and scalplock of an Omaha Indian
  • Story
Native Americans and the dehumanising force of the photograph

In the second part of Native Americans through the 19th-century lens, we delve deeper into the ambivalent messages within the images.

Portrait of Assuz, a San Carlos Apache Indian, c 1898
  • Story
Native Americans through the 19th-century lens

The stories behind Rinehart's photographs may not be as black and white as they first appear.

Wall hanging by Beth Hopkins, inspired by the the artworks of mental health patients
  • Article
A reflection on art in a mental hospital

Artist Beth Hopkins explains how she used her experience of researching the Adamson Collection to create an embroidered wall hanging.

  • Story
Lovesickness and ‘The Love Thief’

An 11th-century poem of love, lust and possibly gruesome death still resonates today.

  • In pictures
500 years of strange diets

Odd diets aren’t just for January. Here are some examples that go back way further than New Year’s Day.

  • Story
‘Jessy’, a film about cerebral palsy

How the 1950s British film industry portrayed this disease.

  • Story
Infographics existed before you thought they did

From an erotic hanky to a tree of life, there are some curious examples of information design in our collection.

  • Story
Guerrilla public health

From safe-use guides to needle exchange schemes, Harry Shapiro reflects on 40 years of drug harm reduction in the UK.

  • Article
Children in burns prevention campaigns

Whose responsibility is it to prevent accidental burns and scalds in the home? Shane Ewen’s research shows that it’s everyone’s concern.

A photograph of two gay black men laying in bed with the headline 'Choose safer sex'.
  • In pictures
AIDS awareness posters from the 1980s onwards

The AIDS public health poster campaign chose print even in the internet age and dealt with issues of identity and behaviour like never before.

  • Article
Mummies revealed

Go behind the scenes with the co-curator of the Reading Room to see how she CT scanned a mummy from our collections.

1930s black and white photograph of grand neo-classical museum building
  • Article
The birth of the public museum

The first public museums evolved from wealthy collectors’ cabinets of curiosities and were quickly recognised as useful vehicles for culture.