Bourn Hall Clinic: archives

This collection has not yet been catalogued. The following is a temporary description that may change when the collection is catalogued in full.

Organisational records of Bourn Hall Clinic relating to the establishment, development and activities of the clinic as well as its founders and staff, patient relationships and premises. The archive includes:

- Correspondence and papers regarding the establishment of the clinic, c. 1970s-1980s

- Press releases, press cuttings and other media coverage relating to the clinic; its founders; and assisted reproduction technologies, including IVF, c.1960s-2010s

- Bourn Hall Clinic newsletters, publications, promotional material and patient information, c. 1980s-2000s

- Photographs of the clinic's grounds, buildings and interiors; Robert Edwards, Patrick Steptoe, and clinic staff; and Bourn Hall babies and baby parties, c. 1970s-2000s

- Audiovisual material, primarily VHS, Betacam and film reels, relating to Bourn Hall Clinic; Louise Brown, the world's first "test tube baby"; and professional training videos, c. 1970s-1990s.

- Architectural plans [primarily copies] showing Bourn Hall grounds and buildings, including clinic layouts and early portacabins, c. 1980s-1990s

- Policies and procedures including laboratory and clinical protocols, c. 1990s

- Records relating to assisted reproduction training and workshops run by Bourn Hall, c. 1990s-2000s

- Records relating to university courses organised by Kay Elder, Senior Research Scientist, c. 1990s-2000s

- Publications written and edited by Robert Edwards; Patrick Steptoe; Jean Purdy; and Kay Elder, c. 1960s-1990s

c.1960s-2010s

10 boxes and 1 O/S folder

Donated by Bourn Hall Clinic, March 2022.

Bourn Hall Clinic is a centre for fertility tests and treatments situated in a Jacobean manor house in the village of Bourn, Cambridge.

The clinic was established in 1980 by physiologist Robert Edwards, obstetrician and gynaecologist Patrick Steptoe and embryologist Jean Purdy who, three years earlier, pioneered conception via in-vitro fertilisation (IVF) resulting in the birth of Louise Brown in 1978 - the first person to be born as a result of IVF treatment.

Following their breakthrough, the trio hoped to continue their research in Cambridge but, with IVF still a new and controversial treatment, were met with a lack of financial support and inadequate facilities. Without the necessary funding, the IVF pioneers were forced to establish a private clinic to continue their work. On 28 September 1980 Bourn Hall Clinic - the first IVF clinic in the world - was opened. Located in 22 acres of parkland, the clinic's setting was selected to provide patients with a tranquil and private environment whilst undergoing treatment.

In July 1981 the first Bourn Hall baby was delivered, and the clinic has since assisted in the conception of over 20,000 babies as of 2020. The clinic, which now offers treatment to NHS and private patients, has also pioneered additional IVF procedures including freezing and storing embryos for future use; intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI), which injects a single sperm into the centre of each mature egg; and blastocyst culture, which keeps embryos in laboratory incubators for an extended period of growth before transfer.

The papers of Sir Robert Edwards, which include records relating to the establishment and activities of Bourn Hall Clinic, are held at Churchill Archives Centre.

The papers of Lesley Brown, the first mother to conceive by IVF, are held at Bristol Archives.

CC-BY-NC Bourn Hall.

This collection is currently uncatalogued and cannot be ordered online. Requests to view uncatalogued material are considered on a case by case basis. Please contact collections@wellcomecollection.org for more details.

As there was a large quantity of architectural plans and many were in poor condition due to their storage, a selection of these was made for the archive. More technical drawings (e.g. of heating and electrical systems) and repetitive plans were not selected.

Records created and collated by Bourn Hall Clinic and held at the organisation, across various offices and stores, until transferred to Wellcome in March 2022. There are gaps in the archive where records have not survived, including during Serono's ownership of the clinic.