Collection of the month

This month we are focussing on the Macfie collection. John William Scott Macfie (1879-1948) worked as a Medical Office in West Africa between 1910 and 1922. He embarked on 8 tours of West Africa, visiting Nigeria and the Gold Coast [Ghana]. While there he studied malaria, yellow fever and other diseases and illnesses carried by parasites in West Africa. On applying to the Colonial Office to become a Medical Officer, he was told that he had to study tropical medicine at either the London or Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine; he chose the Liverpool School and the archives holds the notes from his lectures, including those given by Sir Ronald Ross. The collection also contains material from his 8 tours including diaries, photographs (such as the one shown of a laboratory motor van in Accra, Gold Coast in 1922), travel details, correspondence with the Colonial Office and invoices for provisions – it is very interesting to see what he ordered to eat while he was in Africa. The collection was donated to the archives in the 1980s by his nephew. For further information, please see the archive catalogue at: http://www.lshtm.ac.uk/library/archives/