RCS Collections Review

The Royal College of Surgeons of England Library, Museums and Archives completed a comprehensive survey of the Designated collections held at the College in December 2015. This project, funded by Arts Council England, involved an appraisal of the care, use, condition and significance of all the heritage items on display and in storage at the College.

This included 2,274 boxes of archive material, approximately 100,000 volumes of both historic and contemporary books, pamphlets and periodicals in the library collections, and around 54,000 items in the museum collections including human, animal and plant specimens, instruments, microscope slides and art works.

The data gathered as part of this project are essential in planning for the long-term provision of services and resources that are based on our collections.