Kolkata update

After several attempts at another post late last night (problems with internet connections)I gave up, so here I go again – fingers crossed.
I want to mention the marvellous British Council staff, who are unflaggingly generous, kind, and fixers of the highest order. They also do a rather good blog. Edd McCracken of the Sunday Herald, also did a blog and the Book Fair will be featured in the paper this Sunday, though I’m sure Edd’s got enough material to get a series going.
It’s difficult to keep track of everything we’re doing here. (I'm afraid I spent a whole day with a, er, tummy bug, and lay around feeling faint like a Victorian memsahib). As a result I was disappointed to miss tea at the Governor's residence.
The visit to the Scottish Cemetery was a highlight; we hope that the efforts by RCAHMS and the Kolkata Scottish Kolkata Heritage Trust to restore it will bear fruit.
A talk by Lord Bruce on Scots and India was very well received, and he was followed by the very learned Prof. Barun De, who revealed that he is a great fan of the NLS. He reminisced fondly about his visits there in 1957.
Later, we visited the Eastern Zonal Cultural Centre, and watched a workshop where rural artists are given a chance to raise themselves above the poverty line. They do some beautiful work, and we were particularly struck by the similarity of the painted scrolls they produce and one we have in NLS which dates back to 1788.

Book Fair begins... kind of

Still the building work continues, but the Fair goes on for another couple of weeks yet, so they've got time.
Kevin and I bought some books for the NLS, including one on the development of vaccines. We don't want to weigh down our suitcases, but as we are leaving behind what feels like several kilos of NLS leaflets, then we should be OK!

After our welcome by the Mayor on Monday (previous post) we were given a walking tour of Dalhousie Square which is being renovated. Naively, I thought it was being pedestrianised, but in fact the police were holding back a huge build up of traffic for us. All along our route we were assailed by photographers; this happens everywhere we go, and they are now referred to as the Book Fair paparazzi.
Then on to St Andrew's Church (established 1818), for a lighting ceremony by the Governor of Bengal (high security throughout), followed by a church service, more tea and refreshments (always on offer here), and then back to the hotel. By this time, Kevin and I were zombie-like after missing a whole night's sleep travelling the previous day.

We spent the next morning at the Scottish Cemetery (see the RCAHMS blog link for more information) and also Park Street Cemetery, but that's another posting...

O Calcutta!

Kevin Halliwell (Foreign Collections) and I are at the 33rd Kolkata Book Fair, where Scotland is the theme country. Everyone has been so charming, and the Scottish delegation (including Sir Andrew Cubie, Lord Charles Bruce, Alexander McCall Smith and the British Council staff), were welcomed and presented with bouquets of flowers at the impressive and historical City Council Chambers (pictured).
The Book Fair itself is open but there was still a lot of building of stalls going on when we left at 6.30 today - including a mini White House for the U.S. pavilion, with cut-out Obama figure!
We've had a hectic couple of days, so more reports and pictures later.

New opportunities - fair chances for the future

This very readable command paper (Cm 7533) recently arrived on my desk. In the forward by the Prime Minister he states
"A Britain where everyone should be able to say that their destiny is not written for them, but written by them."
The Command paper is about what the Government can do for everyone in the global slowdown, to be ready and able to come through the downtime faster and stronger. A series of case studies shows how the Government is addressing this, for example
Supporting child development
Investing in children's schooling
Investing in young adults
Supporting the families
Empowering communities.
An annex sets out the most important milestones for the policies announced within this Command paper.

Louis Pasteur

Following my last post about Robert Koch's visit to India in 1897, I have been reading about another world renowned scientist's contribution to veterinary medicine. Louis Pasteur (1822-1895, pictured) is credited with discovering that microbes cause disease and is admired still for his pioneering work in microbiology. The French scientist began studying anthrax and fowl cholera in the late 1870's. Inspired by Jenner's inoculation against smallpox, Pasteur weakened (attenuated) the fowl cholera bacteria and created a vaccine that prevented animals contracting the disease.
In 1855 his rabies vaccine was tested on 9 year old Joseph Meister who had been bitten many times by a rabid dog. The boy lived and the vaccine was another one of his achievements that saved millions of human and animal lives.
Rabies features heavily in the Medical History of British India Project as it infects both animals and humans. Notable volumes I have worked with include:
Sir David Semple's work in India on his 1911 vaccine
Pasteur Institute at Kasauli
Pasteur Institute of Southern India
Various articles featuring in the Indian Journal of Veterinary Science and animal husbandry
Plus a recent book (2007) on rabies in Britain Mad Dogs and Englishmen

There is no doubt that both Koch and Pasteur were brilliant scientists, but there are also many more who did important work in the field of microbiology and veterinary medicine. I will be writing about those I have found in the veterinary volumes in the coming weeks.
Picture of Pasteur holding eyeglasses credit: Wellcome Images.

A memorable visit?

I have started metadata for volumes from Indian veterinary colleges and laboratories and am enjoying discovering the pioneering work that was done over 100 years ago.
The Imperial Bacteriological Laboratory based in Muktesar is now known as the Indian Veterinary Research Institute. It dates from 1891 when Dr. Alfred Lingard was the Imperial Bacteriologist, and its main achievement was producing vaccine and antisera for animal diseases such as rinderpest, anthrax and tetanus.
The coloured photograph shows the 1897 visit of Professor Robert Koch (credit: from the website of the Indian Veterinary Research Institute). Nobel Prize winner German scientist Koch is best known for confirming that microbes cause disease and discovering the tuberculosis and cholera bacillae. He also was interested in the causes of anthrax and rinderpest and his Indian visit saw him working in the field straight from several days’ travelling accompanied by Professor Pfeiffer. You can see him in action in the top photograph, from the Wellcome Library's Wellcome Images.
Dr. Lingard, who authored the report for this memorable visit, unfortunately does not stray from his usual prosaic writing style, ending with “As Professor Koch had received instructions from his Imperial Government to at once proceed to German East Africa, his visit to Muktesar terminated, somewhat prematurely on June 15th.” (1897-98 report).
It is up to the reader to imagine what fascinating conversations the scientists may have had in those busy times of medical discovery!

Some mothers do 'ave 'em...

Had enough of being cooped up with your family over the holidays? Aw, don't be mean - they're not that bad (are they?). The Government wants us to think about our families in a positive way and has published Families in Britain: an evidence paper. It recognises the changing shape of families (not just Ma and Pa and 2.2 kids anymore - not for a long time), and is trying to shape a "modern family policy".

Happy and peaceful holidays to all our readers!

A lot of our bloggers are, or will be, away for the holidays, so the blog will also be having a little rest. Here's hoping you all have a happy Christmas and a peaceful new year. I'll leave you with this image from the United Nations Information Centre for Western Europe (UNRIC), which be launched early next year. It's in tandem with the Road to Copenhagen initiative on climate change and citizen participation.

Don't drink and fly...

The Department for Transport's report on disruptive behaviour on aircraft shows it's not just roads that enrage us - it's being in the air, too. The report shows that consumption of (too much) alcohol adds to the problem, and that many more men indulge in such behaviour than women. The stats seem to show that the most likely trouble-maker is an alcohol-imbibing male, in his 30s and travelling in a group.

Cabinet Papers online 1915-1977

The National Archives have made another great resource available, The Cabinet Papers Online. A JISC funded digitisation programme, it's packed with information, photographs and maps on the workings of cabinet government at a fascinating period of UK history.

Commission on Scottish Devolution

(or Calman Commission) has produced its first report . The Commission was set up after a debate in the Scottish Parliament in 2007, and had its first meeting in April this year. It's tasked with looking in detail at how devolution has worked in Scotland since 1998.

The Eddies! (Edublogs awards)

Edublogs hosts hundreds of thousands of blogs for teachers, students, researchers, professors, librarians, administrators and anyone and everyone else involved in education, definitely worth a look. They have awards for the best blogs in various categories every year.

World Aids Day

Monday December 1st is the 20th World Aids Day,and the message seems to be that, while great advances have been made, this is no time for complacency.
We collect publications by the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (or UNAIDS), just search our catalogue - choose search type "Author", then type in Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS.

Influenza in India 1918

While I was working in the stacks on the India Papers Collection I had a look at some of the Sanitary Commissioner's annual reports from 1918, when influenza swept the world and killed millions. Thousands were killed in the Madras Presidency; in some districts as many as between 30-50,000 people. One problem was the superstitions of the people, particularly in rural areas:"Several people, mostly in the interior, were averse in the beginning to resorting to a medical treatment under a superstitious belief that the epidemic was a visitation of the Goddess or Amman and that no treatment by drugs should be attempted." (Annual report of the Sanitary Board, the annual report of the Sanitary Commissioner and the annual report of the Sanitary Engineer, Madras 1918)
Meanwhile the European Army in India had 19,308 men admitted to hospital and 775 deaths. As in the rest of the world, the second wave in autumn 1918 caused high mortality amongst sufferers.

Road safety week 10-16 November 2008

This week is the Road Safety Week campaign.
One of the House of Commons parliamentary papers I have recently catalogued is "Ending the Scandal of Complacency: Road Safety Beyond 2010, report, together with formal minutes, oral and written evidence" (HC 460).
In it , you'll find out that the first motorway in Britain was opened fifty years ago in December. There were just over seven million vehicles licensed in Britain in 1958, and 6000 deaths resulted in that year. Not suprisingly, the number of vehicles licensed have increased by 400% by 2007; however, the deaths on the road have gone below 3000 which I find incredible.

Scottish Cemetery

Off a busy street in Kolkata lies a little corner of Scotland - the old Scottish cemetery, containing the remains of hundreds of Scots who made their home in what was the heart of Imperial India. The decaying cemetery is now the subject of a project by our heritage colleagues from the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland (RCAHMS). At the invitation of the Indian National Trust for Art & Cultural Heritage and the Kolkata Scottish Heritage Trust, RCAHMS staff are on their first field trip there to assess the damage and draw up a restoration plan.
Names from the interment register will be added to a database, and the team will not only restore the monuments, but help create a green space for the city.

You can follow the team's progress in their very entertaining blog!

Deadly flu

It is 90 years since the end of World War I, in which millions of people died. But did you know that it is also 90 years since another event killed millions more? Beginning as a first wave in spring 1918, “Spanish Flu” infected an estimated third of the world’s population and killed vast numbers (estimated at 50 million worldwide), mostly those who were between 20-40 years old. It reached its peak with second and third waves in autumn 1918 and winter 1919, just when peace was settling on the countries torn apart by warfare.
Even today no one knows why it was so fatal despite teams of scientists working to try and understand the origin of the virus. This may be crucial in preventing another devastating pandemic.
There are many Official Publications dealing with the threat of another influenza pandemic which include a Scottish framework for responding,Oral Evidence from the House of Commons, and NHS Scotland public health advice for travellers.
The Guardian's interactive feature, showing news articles and adverts from when the 1918 flu struck the UK, is very good and worth a look.
Meanwhile, Google is using today's search engine technology to track flu trends in the USA.
Photo of influenza virus credited to CDC/Dr. F. A. Murphy[via pingnews]

90th anniversary of the Armistice

The Armistice with Germany was signed at 5 a.m. on the morning of 11th November, 1918. The Prime Minister, David Lloyd George, rose and made the announcement to the House of Commons. He then read the conditions of the armistice. In conclusion, he said:
"I hope we may say that thus, this fateful morning, came to an end all wars."

One of the most poignant items we have in our collection is Soldiers Died in the Great War, especially the page (above) listing all those killed and injured on the day of the Armistice itself.

The Great War

With the 90th anniversary of the end of World War I approaching, we've been looking at some of our official publications from that time. From
Notes from The Front, and The field service pocket book we found some diagrams of the trenches, not only British, but German ones, too. The German trench even has a figure of a soldier with his trademark pointed steel helmet, and what appears to be a handlebar moustache. There's a lot of detail on construction and materials used, and also signs for sketching routes and battlefields, such as roads, woods, villages and churches.

UN Audiovisual Library of International Law

The Audiovisual Library describes itself as:
"a unique, multimedia resource which provides the United Nations with the unprecedented capacity to provide high quality international law training and research materials to an unlimited number of recipients on a global level. The Audiovisual Library consists of three pillars: (1) the Historic Archives containing documents and audiovisual materials relating to the negotiation and adoption of significant legal instruments under the auspices of the United Nations and related agencies since 1945; (2) the Lecture Series featuring a permanent collection of lectures on virtually every subject of international law given by leading international law scholars and practitioners from different countries and legal systems; and (3) theResearch Libraryproviding an on-line international law library with links to treaties, jurisprudence, publications and documents, scholarly writings and research guides. The Audiovisual Library is available to all individuals and institutions around the world for free via the Internet."

It's got some useful resources on it, and easily findable

Wellcome Library blog

I am pleased to see that Wellcome Library which is part of the Wellcome Trust has a new medically themed blog. I have used the site quite often in my medical history research and the blog is a useful addition to that. See video clips, learn about the latest digitisation projects, browse images and subscribe to feeds. The Wellcome Trust is the funding body for all 3 phases of the Medical History of British India Project.

Too little, too late?

In 2007 the Australian commonwealth, state and territory governments commissioned Professor Ross Garnaut to investigate the potential effects of climate change on the economy. The final report is now ready, and it includes criticism of the lack of urgency from other governments around the world to cut back on carbon emissions.

P.S. And in the same week WWF publishes its Living Planet report which outlines the terrifying scenario of dwindling resources and too many people using them up.