Celebrating Volunteers' Week 2026

Every year the Archives, Heritage Library and Museum's volunteers contribute hundreds of hours to enriching our services and helping preserve the RCP's rich heritage. Read on for a glimpse of what they have been up to this past year.

Thank you, volunteers, for your hard work and dedication!

A young man with short dark hair and glasses, wearing a blue jumper, stands in a library. He is holding a large open book with metal fastenings and smiling. Around his neck is a 'volunteer' lanyard.

Euan Bownman with Plutarch in the library.

Euan Bownman, PhD Student, Institute of Classical Studies

My time volunteering for the RCP has been very enjoyable. The library and archive team are kind, helpful, and (importantly) always have great chat! Over the past 3 months, they have shown me the ropes working in a library/archival setting. The main tasks I was responsible for during this placement included transcribing 20th-century handwriting from accession registers, tracking down unprovenanced books in the RCP archive and Dorchester library, and updating the online library catalogue with donor information. I remember being particularly mind-blown one day after stumbling on a very early copy of Hippocrates during one of these visits to the Dorchester!

While seeing that manuscript was undoubtedly very cool, especially for an ancient history PhD, perhaps the biggest highlight was finding wee slices of home in the RCP’s collections. The archive only has a few books written in Scottish Gaelic or by authors connected to the Highlands and Islands. Despite this, I found the snippets illustrating the relationship between Gaels and the wider British medical establishment fascinating and highly relevant today. On a lighter note, I would highly recommend reading Gaelic names of diseases and of diseased states (1898) by Hugh Cameron Gillies in the RCP catalogue. There are some surprisingly similar medical idioms used in both Gaelic and English. I will let yous guess what kind of gastric sickness ‘an ruith’ (lit. ‘the run’) is in English!

A young woman with shoulder length brown hair sits at a desk, a laptop and various documents are in front of her.

Bella Mason cataloguing warrants for the removal of bodies for dissection.

Bella Mason, archives volunteer

I have been volunteering at the RCP since September 2025. I was looking to gain experience working with museums and archives, and this role gave me the perfect opportunity to bring together my interest in public health developed through my interdisciplinary undergraduate degree with hands-on experience in this sector.

Working under the supervision of the department’s assistant archivist, I have had the chance to work on a range of different tasks and projects. One of the first projects I worked on involved a series of late nineteenth and early twentieth-century casebooks on the study of shingles. I formatted and consolidated digitised images of the casebooks’ pages and uploaded these to the Internet Archive, creating an accessible resource which has been used in research by Imperial College London. In working with these casebooks, I was able to see first-hand how medical knowledge was recorded and developed, which I found particularly interesting.

Within this role, I also carry out essential tasks such as cataloguing the Munk’s Roll files – the biographical files for deceased fellows of the College – and undertaking condition checking. Most recently, I have been cataloguing warrants for the removal of bodies that were used by the RCP for its dissection lectures in the 1870s and ‘80s. Other notable tasks have included transcribing interviews with LGBTQ+ physicians for an LBGTQ+ History Month display and retrieving archive material for a schools session on Gothic literature (with a focus on Frankenstein and Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde).

Engaging with the history of the College through working with archive material has been really rewarding and volunteering has enabled me to develop new skills and confidence within a supportive environment.

A young woman with dark curly hair sits at a computer, a large folder beside her.

Holly Wilks digitising painting conservation files.

Holly Wilks, Museum Volunteer

I have been a museum volunteer since 2023 and have loved being able to work on many different projects and continue to develop my museum and medical history knowledge.

After completing the rehousing projects working with other volunteers, I have had the opportunity to work on many other projects such as conservation cleaning of the busts in the Dorchester library and auditing the print and medal collections. Also, I have volunteered at some museum late events, and with the handling collection, which has been extremely interesting to learn from visitors' knowledge and to help them to engage with the activities.

Last summer I was able to volunteer at the installation of Making Visible, where I handled some of the rare book collection with other volunteers and the AMS team to demonstrate the proportion of books which had been owned or used by women within the library's collection. It was amazing to learn new skills, handle these rare books and to be part of making the contribution that women have had to history visible.

At the moment I am digitising the conservation files for the collection's paintings, which has shown me another side to the museum and has expanded my understanding of collections care.

I have really appreciated volunteering at the RCP and am so thankful for the support of the Archives, Heritage Library and Museum team.

A young woman in glasses reached for a book on a shelf. She in wearing a grey and purple sweater, her hair in a ponytail, and a green 'volunteer' lanyard around her neck.

Sofia Frattaroli in the stack.

Sofia Frattaroli, MA placement student

I spent two weeks with the RCP on a work experience placement as part of my MA Library and Information Studies at UCL, where I worked with Katie Birkwood, the Rare Books and Special Collections Librarian. During this time, I was tasked with combing through the digitised heritage collections, covering the 19th and 20th centuries, looking for clues regarding the books’ provenance histories. This meant searching through numerous donor bookplates, autographs and stamps to trace the journey through history each book had taken before landing at the RCP and updating each catalogue record accordingly. My personal highlights include finding an ink outline of a hand from the early 19th century in the back of a book, and revision notes in between pages!

I also spent time with Katie in the Dorchester Library, looking through older volumes for interactive parts, such as moveable volvelles in astrology books from the 16th century. The library is full of hidden treasures, and I had a fantastic time exploring the stacks; I leave this placement feeling inspired and looking forward to returning to spend more time with the collections for my own research!

A pair of hands in blue gloves handle a small lancet case and lancet at a table. A box of boxes is visible in the background.

Asmaa Elmongi location checking the medical collection.

Asmaa Elmongi, Museum Volunteer

This is my third year of volunteering at the RCP, working with the museum collections. During the last year, I conducted inventory, rehousing, and photographing the Prints collection. I edited the collection’s images, as a next step, to meet the catalogue standards. Additionally, I conducted conservation cleaning of the Sculpture collection, and condition check of a suite of 11 George I walnut seat furniture. I helped the team in the installation of exhibitions, including ‘Healing Words’ and ‘A Body of Knowledge’.

This year, I carried out condition check of paintings’ frames from the Fine Art collection. I have been carrying out location audit of part of the therapeutic and decorative art collection.

Volunteering with the RCP museum team has enhanced my experience and skills in collections management. Assisting in exhibitions installation as well as visiting other exhibitions, libraries, and museums with the team was helpful in providing insights of what is more interesting to the RCP and how other institutions engage the audience in their collections.

Only arms of a person in a grey jumper are visible as they place a blue page on the flatbed of a scanner.

Annabel Dorling digitising object history files.

Annabel Dorling, Museum Volunteer

I have been volunteering at the Royal College of Physicians’ Museum since early 2025. Since then, I have been involved with several projects, such as a collections audit of prints and photographs.

I was very grateful for the opportunity to be a part of the team of staff and volunteers helping with the Making Visible display. This project involved carefully wrapping early-printed books from the Dorchester Library in blue paper, to visually represent the proportion of which were once owned by women. This taught me both about handling rare books, as well as the degree to which the contributions of women have been overlooked in the practice of historic library cataloguing.

My current project involves scanning paper object history files and uploading them to the collections management system. I enjoy getting to piece together information from different sources, from grant applications and meeting minutes to handwritten letters (with the additional challenge of deciphering some of the handwritings!), to build an understanding of their past ownership, displays, and importance. Through this experience, I have come to appreciate that conservation is not only about preserving physical objects, but also the histories and narratives connected to them.

I am very thankful to the Archives, Heritage Library, and Museum team who have facilitated my volunteering at the RCP, making it a very informative and enjoyable experience.

A young woman with dark shoulder length hair, stand behind a full book trolley, in between shelves lined with books.

Nivedhana Pandian retrieving leprosy records from the stores

Nivedhana Pandian, PhD Student, Comparative Literature

My placement with the Archives team at the RCP has been an immensely enjoyable experience. As a PhD student in Comparative Literature, I was keen to gain hands-on experience of working with archival materials while also deepening my knowledge of the history of medicine, both of which this placement has allowed me to engage with in a memorable, educational, and practical way.

Over the past few weeks, I have had the privilege of developing my own project on the institutionalisation of leprosy in colonial contexts, with generous support from the RCP team. Working with the Archival Assistant Felix Lancashire, I gained firsthand experience with library organisation, retrieving documents, and even looking at various fascinating bits and pieces from the RCP’s expansive archives!

I’m very grateful to the team for their time, guidance, and warmth throughout the placement. The experience has strengthened my archival skills and given me a clearer sense of how I would like to integrate collections-based work into my research going forward.

A young woman with shoulder length red hair smiles at the camera while reaching for an archival box on a shelf. She is standing between archive shelves.

Alannah Fordham organising the fellows biography files

Alannah Fordham, MA Student, Archives and Records Management

I started volunteering with the RCP in September 2025 and I already feel that I have learnt so much! I am currently working towards my MA in Archives and Records Management and I wanted to get some hands-on experience in the field.

Since starting, I have worked on a diverse range of projects: from digitising the Henry Head case studies, which allowed me to handle some incredibly beautifully illustrated books on shingles, to condition-checking texts in the strongroom, to transcribing audio interviews, to cataloguing Munk’s Roll entries. I have definitely become more capable of handling archival texts and I’ve loved learning to navigate Axiell Collections.

The RCP has also been extremely generous, allowing me to go on several fascinating trips with the archive, to locations such as Cambridge University Library for an exhibition on Medicine in the Medieval World and to the new V&A East Storehouse. These unique opportunities have been really instructive and fun.

Volunteering with the RCP has been an amazing opportunity. I feel more confident in my University studies and I am encouraged to ask questions and talk about what I’m learning whilst volunteering. I can be quite shy, but I feel incredibly supported at the RCP and everyone has been so friendly and welcoming. Volunteering here has really increased my confidence and allowed me to consolidate my knowledge as I work towards a qualification.

Thank you, Volunteers, for all your hard work!

Library, Archive and Museum

Related pages

Volunteers' Week 2023

Volunteers' Week 2023 (Part one)

Volunteers' Week 2023 (Part two)

Volunteers' Week 2024

Celebrating volunteers’ week: honouring your dedication