Opening up the Body: the post mortem case books of St George's Hospital

The Post Mortem Examinations and Case Books of St George’s Hospital, 1841-1946, chart the golden age of the post mortem from its heyday in the 19th century to its subsequent decline in the second half of the 20th century

We aim to conserve, catalogue and digitise the records dating from 1841 to 1917. This will enable access for academic research and public engagement activities. Conservation of the leather will be undertaken by the Leather Conservation Centre and digitisation and minor repairs of the text block will be carried out by the London Metropolitan Archives (LMA) in their dedicated studios. Two project archivists, based at St George's, University of London, will catalogue the collection under the supervision of the university archivist.

The catalogue data and digitised images will be searchable through Access to Memory (AtoM) software and will be available on the St George’s, University of London website. The collection will be promoted through a number of relevant archive and medical humanities networks to increase accessibility for academic researchers and others.