Dr Claus Newman: archive

Papers regarding Dr Claus Newman’s clinical and legal work concerning children born with defects caused by thalidomide and subsequent assessments and legal battles. Includes files on X and Y lists, medical panel points scheme, medical records and clinical correspondence, and papers relating to compensation and claims. The archive also contains files regarding Newman's work with the Thalidomide Trust as a medical advisor and published reference material about thalidomide compiled by Newman.

As well as his work on thalidomide, the archive contains files regarding Newman's clinical work concerning children born with defects not caused by thalidomide. This includes medical records, clinical correspondence, research notes, professional correspondence and collated published papers. The archive also contains several files regarding publications and talks given by Newman on a number of topics.

The archive is arranged in five sections:

A: Clinical files - comprises material regarding Newman's clinical work with children with congenital differences, both those caused by thalidomide and others

B: Reference material - files compiled by Newman for reference, on thalidomide and other topics

C: Thalidomide Trust papers - material regarding Newman's work with the Thalidomide Trust as a medical advisor

D: Published papers and other outputs - files concerning Newman's publications, media appearances and participation in conferences and meetings

E: Career papers - CVs, letters of recommendation and papers regarding awards

Wellcome holds several other archive collections relating to thalidomide:

MS.9127: Ian Millan: papers on thalidomide and the early years of the Thalidomide Society

OH1: Thalidomide: An Oral History

PP/SML: Professor Richard Worthington Smithells: Archives

SA/TSY: The Thalidomide Society

SA/TTT: The Thalidomide Trust

Acquired from the home of Dr Claus Newman. Some records were destroyed by the donor prior to acquisition as the donor thought they were not of interest to us and contained sensitive medical information. Some records set aside for destruction were recovered from bin bags by archivists, and so original order of these files has been disturbed. Where this occurred, it is noted in the box list.

Digital material has been transferred from the original physical media to secure storage. The physical media has not been retained.

Catalogued by Victoria Sloyan, Spring 2024

Dr. Claus Newman was born Claus Neumann on 31 March 1930 in German. His family moved to London in the late 1930s to escape Nazi persecution of the Jews. His parents changed the family surname to Newman in 1946 due to British antipathy towards Germany.

Newman trained at Middlesex Hospital Medical School and later worked at Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Hackney and Great Ormond Street. He gained his consultancy in 1969 and was appointed Consultant Pediatrician at Queen Mary's Hospital, Roehampton. Part of his responsiblities was to care for a unit of thalidomide-affected children.Throughout his career he worked with thalidomide-affected children and their parents, including on X and Y lists, assessments and legal battles. He was also medical advisor to the Thalidomide Trust, the body set up in 1973 to administer compensation money to beneficiaries.

Copyright held by Newman was been transferred to Wellcome.

This collection is currently uncatalogued and cannot be ordered online. Due to ongoing work to improve our collections management systems we are unable to facilitate access to uncatalogued material until 2027.