00:00Hi, my name is Hilary Wilson. I'm a consultant physician at Glasgow Royal Infirmary and I'm
00:19also a trustee of the Friends of Glasgow Royal Infirmary. This is the Friends of Glasgow
00:24Royal Infirmary Museum. It's a small museum located on Cathedral Precinct and it's just
00:31to the left of Glasgow Cathedral up the stairs under the Queen Victoria statue. I think a
00:36lot of people who come into the museum are quite amazed at the number of discoveries
00:42that they make when they come and look at the exhibits in the museum. Glasgow Royal
00:45Infirmary has had a very rich history for medical, surgical and nursing achievements
00:50within Glasgow, most notably Joseph Lister who founded antisepsis in this hospital in
00:571865 when he worked here. And we had the first x-ray department opened up by John McIntyre,
01:04an electrician at the hospital. And we also celebrate William McEwen who was a surgeon
01:10who did the world's first successful brain operation in the hospital. In terms of nursing
01:15we have Rebecca Strong, she was our first matron and she revolutionised the profession
01:19of nursing. So these are probably the four major exhibits when people come in. We have
01:25some very nice pictures of the architecture of the Royal Infirmary. The first building
01:32which was designed by the Addams Brothers, that was in 1794. And then some other architectural
01:39drawings from the Miller Building which is the existing building which was finished in
01:441931. So if you're interested in the architecture of the Royal Infirmary there's lots to see
01:48relating to that. Relating to Joseph Lister we have a portrait of him which you can see
01:53behind me that was painted by Norman Rockwell, he was a very famous American artist. And
02:00this was painted as a commission by a pharmaceutical company as a gift to the Royal Infirmary.
02:07Joseph Lister when he worked in Glasgow he stayed at a house in Woodside Place and one
02:14of the items that a visitor brought in was the original postbox on that house. So we
02:20were really pleased to get that because we were just amazed at the amount of correspondence
02:25that would have passed through that postbox. So we managed to trace a letter that was written
02:30by Joseph Lister from that address with 17 Woodside Place as the headed notepaper and
02:37we've obviously put up the letterbox as well. We certainly get a lot of people wanting to
02:42bring us some items. We had a very nice donation of an ebony and ivory tendon hammer from
02:51somebody's collection and the other thing that came from that collection was a Jenner
02:57vaccinator. So Edward Jenner who discovered vaccination used this device to inoculate
03:05people against cowpox and this gave them protection against smallpox. So John McIntyre worked
03:11as an electrician at the Royal Infirmary and he also created the world's first x-ray department.
03:18He didn't discover x-rays per se but he created the first department and on display we have
03:25one of the x-ray tubes that was used in that first department. At the moment we're celebrating
03:30William McEwen because it's 100 years since he died but our plan is to put on a series
03:36of other exhibitions. We're hoping to do one next year about Rottenroe Hospital. That
03:41was Glasgow's most famous maternity hospital which was knocked down and we wanted to celebrate
03:49the history of that building. So we had some students from Glasgow University Museum Studies
03:54course and also Strathclyde University student who worked on that project so we'll be launching
04:00that next year. This space was really just a derelict part of the hospital. It was full
04:04of old rubbish bags that was boarded up with plywood and the health board very kindly gave
04:10us the permission to renovate it and turn it into the museum that it is today. Initially
04:15we were only open four hours a week because we rely on volunteers to run the museum but
04:21over the last two years it's really gained momentum and I think with the increased opening
04:26hours, the increased footfall from Cathedral Precinct and just people getting to know where
04:32we are. We're now open five days a week. Usually we're open Tuesday 1-3, Wednesday,
04:37Thursday, Friday 11-3 and Saturday 12-2. The museum is free and everybody is welcome and
04:44there are quite steep stairs coming up to the front entrance but there is disabled access
04:49at the back of the hospital where there's a ramp where you can come in that entrance
04:53as well.
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