Healing words
Chamomile illustration from Blackwell's Herbal
Healing words
The unofficial story of medical practice in England 1500–1800
Recipe books were highly collaborative, incredibly detailed, and painstakingly handwritten household manuals. Produced mainly within rural communities, they contained recipes for preparing and preserving food, household products, and medical remedies.
These books have become a testament to women’s experiences across all levels of society, showing their skills at household management. They also demonstrate a wide context of legitimate but unofficial medical information sharing.
The books show us how medicine was understood and practiced at community level. They are glimpses into a world in which communities were self-sufficient, and people were intimately connected to one another, the land, the seasons and the cosmos. These books contributed to the very survival of families and communities.
This exhibition is the culmination of a long term project to provide online access to these unique manuscripts and highlight their part in the story of the development of modern medicine.
Please be aware, this exhibition contains descriptions of cruelty to animals, and medical procedures on children.
Healing words exhibition
11 September 2024 – 25 July 2025
Royal College of Physicians, London – plan your visit.
Upcoming events
2024 exhibition events
Museum Late: Healing words - science or superstition? | Thursday 6 February - past event
Museum Late: Healing words - women's books | Thursday 6 March - past event
Women talking, women's health* | Friday 7 March - past event
Transcribathon 2025: women's health, women's handbook* | Friday 14 March -past event
Book now
Museum Late: Healing words - healing plants | Thursday 3 April - past event
Healing words: botanical drawing workshop | Wednesday 23 April - past event
Museum Late: Healing words in the RCP Garden | Thursday 1 May - past event
Plants and potions children's workshop | Wednesday 28 May - Book now
Coming soon
Healing words: Summer lectures | Wednesday 18 June
Museum Late: Meet the curator | Thursday 3 July
Teas from the Garden | Wednesday 16 July
*Online events
Further resources
The plant images which illustrate the online version of this exhibition are from A curious herbal by Elizabeth Blackwell (c.1700–1758). She was a skilled and resourceful botanist, illustrator and entrepreneur. Between 1737–1739 she published a two-volume work containing 500 medicinal plants which she personally illustrated, engraved and hand painted.
This curious’ (meaning accurate and precise) herbal was endorsed by the RCP, showing it contained formally accepted medical knowledge. It was a significant contribution from a woman to the wider understanding of medicinal ingredients and their domestic use.
Digitized copies of all our recipe books are now available online via the Internet Archive:
Online exhibition
Can't make it to the exhibition? explore the online version:
