Wellcome Collection Achieves National Accreditation
Wellcome Collection, one of the world’s finest resources for the study of the social and cultural contexts of health, announces today that it has been awarded Archive Service Accreditation, the UK standard for archive services. The award was granted with recognition of Wellcome Collection’s emphasis on inclusion and using the application process as a collaborative tool.
Accredited Archive Services ensure the long-term collection, preservation and accessibility of our archive heritage. Accreditation is the UK quality standard which recognises good performance in all areas of archive service delivery. Achieving accredited status demonstrates that Wellcome Collection has met clearly defined national standards relating to management and resourcing; the care of its unique collections and what the service offers to its entire range of users.
Wellcome Collection houses some 2.5 million items in its collections, dating from antiquity to the 21st century. This includes one of Britain’s most diverse and expansive collections of manuscripts and from Asia, North Africa, and the Middle East such as palm leaf manuscripts from South and South East Asia; block-printed Japanese and Korean medical books; and possibly the world’s largest collections of Jain manuscripts outside of India. It also holds rare medieval manuscripts from Europe relating to medicine and the body, collections of recipes and healing charms, almanacs, herbals and practitioners’ manuals; domestic recipe books from the 16th century onwards; and a large and growing body of modern archive collections and moving image and sound material on subjects as diverse as women’s health, genetics and heredity, psychiatry, psychoanalysis, psychology and public health.
The award follows successful Museum Accreditation achieved in 2019.
Jenny Haynes, Head of Collections and Research, Wellcome Collection said: “Seeking out and preserving distinctive collections which reflect the social contexts of health is an important part of our work at Wellcome Collection, and we are delighted that we have achieved Accredited Archive Services status. It is vital that these collections are open and accessible to all if we are to support a more diverse research community. This is why we are working together to support our users’ needs, from researchers visiting our collections to those using our resources online. We have an exciting future ahead.“
The Archive Service Accreditation Panel noted that Wellcome Collection’s application was “impressively strong… from a mature and confident archive service which is unafraid to face complex issues and challenges.” They commended “the consistent thread of inclusion which ran through responses in all modules and demonstrated a considered and proactive approach. The integration across museum and library in recent years had been innovative and successful, with real benefits for approaches to unique and distinctive collections.”
For press information please contact
Kate MooresMedia & Communications Lead, Wellcome Collection
Notes to editors
Wellcome Collection is the free museum and library for the incurably curious. Inspired by the medical objects and curiosities collected by Henry Wellcome, it connects science, medicine, life and art. Through its exhibitions, live programming, and digital and publishing activity, it makes thought provoking content which aims to challenge how we think and feel about health.
Wellcome Collection is part of Wellcome, which exists to improve health by helping great ideas to thrive. We support researchers, we take on big health challenges, we campaign for better science, and we help everyone get involved with science and health research. We are a politically and financially independent foundation.
Archive Service Accreditation is supported by a UK-wide partnership of The National Archives, National Records of Scotland, Public Record Office of Northern Ireland, the Welsh Government through its Museums Archives and Libraries Wales Division, Archives and Records Association (UK & Ireland), Scottish Council on Archives, and Archives and Records Council Wales. The National Archives is the assessor body for services in England.