16 Mar 2021
RCVS Knowledge collaborates with former staff to rescue nearly 80 years of material at risk following last year’s closure.
Paul Imrie
Job Title
The AHT closed in July 2020. Image @ mike / Animal Health Trust / CC BY-SA 2.0
Former AHT staff have collaborated with RCVS Knowledge to rescue nearly 80 years of material at risk of being destroyed following the trust’s closure last year.
More than 160 boxes of material has been secured as part of RCVS Knowledge’s ongoing mission to preserve and promote veterinary history.
The collections were at risk when the Newmarket-based AHT closed in July 2020, but a team of former staff is said to have worked tirelessly with RCVS Knowledge to secure the material – some of which dates back to 1942 when it was founded by former RCVS president WR Woolridge.
A full set of annual and scientific reports from 1947 to 2019 was among the resources rescued, along with the royal charters, which will also be placed under the care of RCVS Knowledge and maintained in its archives.
Andrew Higgins, director of the AHT from 1988-99, said: “It was a shock to learn of the sudden closure in 2020 of what had been a world-class research institute, and a tragedy for the staff involved.
“I am so grateful to RCVS Knowledge for its encouragement and enthusiasm to save this unique record for posterity, and that so many important and unique documents and photographs are now stored safely in their archives.”
Keith Meldrum, former CVO and AHT council member, added: “I am absolutely delighted that some of the unique and priceless memorabilia from the trust has been saved by RCVS Knowledge so that it can be both seen and admired by generations to come.”
The AHT’s library of journals, textbooks and reports was gifted to Harper and Keele Veterinary School and RCVS Knowledge has offered to loan additional materials that may be of interest.
The collection joins the rest of the RCVS Knowledge archives, and plans for the collection include cataloguing material.
