Ina Cooke was the first woman employed by the RCP. She served as assistant secretary and later secretary from 1934 to 1969.

The Evan Bedford library of cardiology is a rich source of rare books relating to the heart, its diseases and their treatment. As part of the UK Medical Heritage Library some of the 19th century volumes are now available online.

In 1666 London, including the Royal College of Physicians, was devastated by fire. From September 2016 a new RCP exhibition explores the fire, its consequences and medical treatments for its effects.

Three lithotomy instruments used in bladder stone removal from the Prujean chest of surgical instruments in the RCP museum are on loan to the National Maritime Museum’s exhibition ‘Samuel Pepys: Plague, Fire, Revolution’.

The life of Eric Anthony Barker and his wife Maggie is just one of thousands of entries in the RCP’s series of obituaries, known as the ‘Lives of the fellows’ or as ‘Munk’s roll’.

The RCP library holds a rare collection of first editions of an early English obstetrics book, Thomas Raynalde’s The byrth of mankynde.

Digitised books from the RCP library reveal the history of man’s attempt to battle the common cold in the 19th and early 20th century.

The history of the specialty of dermatology can be traced back to at least the 16th century, but Robert Willan compiled the first systematic classification of skin diseases in the early 19th century.

Items from the RCP archives including Oliver Cromwell’s Great Seal of the Commonwealth illustrate the turbulent history of civil wars of the 17th century.

New research has revealed that the 17th medical diploma of John Wallace in the RCP archives was forged to alter both the name and the date.