The papers of Cicely Williams (1893-1992) in the Contemporary Medical Archives Centre at the Wellcome Institute

Abstract

The papers of Cicely Williams were given to the Contemporary Medical Archives Centre in 1993, and subsequently catalogued. They cover most aspects of her work in the field of maternal and child health, as practitioner, teacher and consultant, 1929-1989, especially in the developing world. The collection includes correspondence, reports, lectures, publications, photographs and sound recordings, and is of relevance to a wide range of issues related to maternal and child health and the development of appropriate local health care systems. In particular, it is of interest in relation to Williams' pioneering work on the identification of the childhood malnutrition disease kwashiorkor. The Cicely Williams papers complement many other collections held by the Contemporary Medical Archives Centre. This article focuses on two pre-war reports of her work in the Gold Coast and Singapore, which show the early development of ideas which are echoed throughout the rest of her papers.