Royal College of Physicians Museum

Royal College of Physicians Museum Contact information, map and directions, contact form, opening hours, services, ratings, photos, videos and announcements from Royal College of Physicians Museum, Nonprofit Organization, 11 St Andrews Place, Regents Park, London.

The Royal College of Physicians (RCP) is a public museum comprised of collections of medical history, portraits, sculpture, archives and rare books library housed in grade-I listed modernist architecture on Regent's Park, London

16/06/2026

Have you booked yet?

Join us in person next Tuesday 23 June from 6pm at the Royal College of Physicians Museum to discover the fascinating history of interactive printmaking with two expert speakers - and create your very own interactive volvelle!

Book now 👉 https://a_body_of_knowledge_summer_lectures.eventbrite.co.uk/

The evening will feature:
⭐An introduction to exhibition 'A body of knowledge'
⭐Expert Suzanne Karr Smchmidt 'Playing with Premodern Interactive Books' streamed live into the venue from Illinois
⭐Get hands-on creating volvelles while exploring their fascinating history with Katie Birkwood
⭐A drinks reception

In June 2026 we will be hosting a lectures evening exploring interactive books with expert speakers Suzanne Karr-Schmidt...
29/05/2026

In June 2026 we will be hosting a lectures evening exploring interactive books with expert speakers Suzanne Karr-Schmidt and Katie Birkwood.

As the event gets closer we are looking back on our winter lectures where we shared a tour of exhibition 'A body of knowledge' and hosted two talks on recent research into how we investigate the history of libraries.

Doctoral researcher Samantha Brown explored 'Islamic knowledge in an Elizabethan physician’s library' & Dr Alice Wickenden considered 'Moving libraries: from the personal to the institutional'

Watch back https://history.rcp.ac.uk/blog/investigating-history-libraries-look-back-2025-winter-lectures

27/05/2026

Thank you to everyone who braved the heat and joined our half-term workshop yesterday to create their very own herbals. It was a lovely to share our rare books, explore the garden and get creative.

Royal College of Physicians Garden team supplied a wonderful selection of plants to feature in the books & there were some really beautiful books made and interesting recipes created!

Read our latest blog 'From foxed to fabulous: works on paper conserved through Adopt a Treasure scheme'👉 https://history...
19/05/2026

Read our latest blog 'From foxed to fabulous: works on paper conserved through Adopt a Treasure scheme'
👉 https://history.rcp.ac.uk/blog/foxed-fabulous-works-paper-conserved-through-adopt-treasure-scheme

As part of our recently launched Adopt a Treasure scheme, this is the first in a series of blogs looking into the objects themselves and delving into the conservation process that the generous donations received through the scheme have funded. Today's batch of items are all works on paper.

Royal College of Physicians

Augustus D’Este is the earliest known person for whom a diagnosis of multiple sclerosis can be made. As a young man, he ...
12/05/2026

Augustus D’Este is the earliest known person for whom a diagnosis of multiple sclerosis can be made. As a young man, he led an active life – hiking, horse-riding, and taking part in the War of 1812-1815 between Britain and the US – but when he was 28 he experienced a sudden loss of vision that lasted for several days.

In the years that followed, these episodes of sight loss continued and other symptoms developed, such as weakness in the legs, fatigue, and incontinence. However, he never stopped living the fullest life possible. In his last years, he recorded in his diary how many minutes he had been able to walk for in his room each day – writing the times he was particularly pleased with in red ink.

According to some physicians, his increasingly shaky demonstrates the loss of manual dexterity that is one symptom of MS.

https://history.rcp.ac.uk/blog/my-case-sir-augusts-frederick-deste

Royal College of Physicians

Plants have been used in the treatment of cancer for thousands of years. This we are sharing about the yew trees grown...
08/05/2026

Plants have been used in the treatment of cancer for thousands of years. This we are sharing about the yew trees grown in the RCP garden of medicinal plants - a variety of tree from which is derived a group of drugs used to treat this disease.

'Taxus baccata (European yew) and Taxus brevifolia (Pacific yew) are the source of a group of drugs called the taxanes. Docetaxel and cabazitaxel are both used to treat prostate cancer.
Docetaxel is also used to treat breast cancer, some lung cancers, stomach cancer and some cancers involving the head and neck.

Paclitaxel is used to treat several cancers including ovarian cancer and pancreatic cancer as well as breast cancer and some lung cancers.'

Discover more stories of plants and cancer with the brand new RCP garden trail. Pick up free on a visit to the garden of medicinal plants.

07/05/2026

Thank you to everyone who joined us at this week's Museum Late in the RCP garden of medicinal plants.

It was a lovely evening with:
✨ tours from the Garden Fellows – expert guides who are all qualified physicians and fellows of the RCP with a special interest in plants and medicine.
🌿 a beautiful indoor plant display
📚 a selection of gorgeous historic botanical books to peruse
🌱 a new garden trail exploring plants and medicine
📖 a tour of exhibition 'A body of knowledge' with curator & rare books librarian Katie Birkwood

Keep a look out for more upcoming events with both the RCP Museum & Garden teams coming soon.

Royal College of Physicians

The criminalisation of women doctors, and oppression of women more widely, are well documented in the RCP archives, toda...
01/05/2026

The criminalisation of women doctors, and oppression of women more widely, are well documented in the RCP archives, today we are sharing two examples centuries apart:

Women fought for and won admission to the RCP in 1909, but in the centuries before that hundreds of women doctors were sanctioned for ‘illegal’ practice. For example, Elizabeth Pratt was fined and imprisoned in 1709 - see the documents from her legal below signed by Elizabeth and the members of the RCP.

In 1911, doctor Mabel Ramsay and others bravely risked being criminalised for organising a census resistance party in protest against women being denied the vote. Two pages shown below are from Mabel's diaries in the RCP archives describing the resistance party.

Have you ever wondered what languages the books in the Royal College of Physicians library are written in?With the help ...
24/04/2026

Have you ever wondered what languages the books in the Royal College of Physicians library are written in?

With the help of staff and volunteers, Rare Books and Special Collections Librarian, Katie Birkwood, can now answer that question in our latest blog - https://history.rcp.ac.uk/blog/languages-library

Address

11 St Andrews Place, Regents Park
London
NW14LE

Opening Hours

Monday 9am - 5pm
Tuesday 9am - 5pm
Wednesday 9am - 5pm
Thursday 9am - 5pm
Friday 9am - 5pm

Telephone

+442030751510

Website

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Royal College of Physicians Museum posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Contact The Organisation

Send a message to Royal College of Physicians Museum:

Shortcuts

Featured

Share

Category