00:00Our collection starts really with the closing of the Royal Infirmary and the Sheffield Royal Hospitals in the late 1970s.
00:08These hospitals were some of our earliest in Sheffield. The Infirmary opened in 1797 and the Royal Hospital in 1832.
00:17These were both voluntary hospitals, i.e. they depended on public subscriptions, donations, bequests, that sort of thing to keep them going until the NHS came about in 1948.
00:29The collection also includes items from the Northern General Hospital as it is now.
00:34That started life as the Sheffield Union Workhouse in 1881 providing accommodation for the poor who were unable to work and the poor sick and the destitute.
00:46That became a general hospital at the start of the NHS as well.
00:53No, it's not normally open to the public. We do open by request for groups by arrangement.
00:59So we're going to be open on Saturday the 20th and Sunday the 21st of September.
01:03We have bedpans. In the older days they were made out of ceramics or metal.
01:09And nowadays I think they're made out of cardboard and disposable.
01:13And enemas. People are always fascinated by these.
01:16We have feeding cups here.
01:19These are a variety of sizes and shapes and this is before somebody who's unable to feed themselves.
01:26I think many people recognise the eye baths. Very similar to what you would use today but these are very nice coloured in glass.
01:36And then urine bottles here.
01:38Sputum pots. This is unfortunately when particularly in the industry with chest issues they would be spitting up quite a bit.
01:47So this was the nurse's job mostly. Just looking after a patient's basic needs.
01:53This is Dr McCora's circulator. Very old. It would be used to treat a variety of conditions.
02:01Very spurious because it actually wouldn't have been able to do that.
02:05Can I show you it?
02:08So it operates by turning the handle on the affected part.
02:12And I think if you had a sore muscle it would certainly make an improvement.
02:15But it wouldn't have cured many of the most outrageous claims that it makes in the booklet.
02:20But if people come and visit us they can have a go with this themselves.
02:23But there were also children's homes as part of the workhouse.
02:26And children were being taught trades. Skills for trades in later life.
02:30Including shoemaking. And a shoemaker would come into the children's homes and teach mostly boys how to do this.
02:37So we have these examples of a lady's boots that were probably made here.
02:42And underneath they're stamped FVI which probably stands for Fur Vale Institution.
02:47A later name for the workhouse.
02:49And a good example of what would have been made and would have been worn in those days.
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