Dear Colleague

The Veterinary History Society was once again represented at the BSAVA Congress this April, where our stand was in a good position to attract passers-by. Many showed an interest, and new members were recruited. And for the first time this year the Society has been asked to take part in the British Equine Veterinary Association’s Congress, also in Birmingham, August 9th–11th; we are providing and describing a display of old equine surgical instruments.

2010 Meetings. Utrecht April: having struggled to organise a joint meeting programme with our Dutch colleagues, we eventually cancelled this meeting – it would seem discourteous to go to such a meeting with a party of fewer than 15 to 20 persons, which we were unable to find.
Newmarket June 2nd/3rd: an interesting programme, with options for attending all or any parts. There are a few vacancies – please spread the word.
RCVS November 24th: we are offering a varied programme of scholarly papers and peculiarities as well as the AGM. Keep the date free.

2011 Meeting – undiscouraged, we are looking to France. Saumur in the Loire valley is a most attractive town, the home of both the Cadre Noire, the National School of Horsemanship, and the army Cavalry Training School; or alternatively the veterinary school at Lyons, the oldest in France, is celebrating its 250th anniversary next year. In future if we have a meeting abroad, we will take a complete programme with us and invite local veterinarians to attend, rather than try to arrange a joint meeting.

RVC Museum at Hawkshead has been overtaken by new ‘small group’ teaching methods. New front access is added to the Eclipse Building and the Museum room is now part of the teaching block. The display cabinets towards which the Society donated are now dispersed, in either the new reception area or in corridors. Eclipse itself is on the first floor on high, and publicity for the on-going appeal is centred around Sefton. That the London College no longer has a museum is extremely disappointing - once again the importance of veterinary archives and history has been reduced. The Society is still willing to organise a display in these cabinets, should our offer be accepted.

Archives. A meeting has been held on how to assess the extent and location of the profession’s archives with a view to cataloguing and preserving the material. A pilot scheme is proposed for Scotland; once the working method has been tested funding will be needed to progress further.

Publishing. This important new venture by the VHS is coming to fruition. Our first book, The Diary of an 1863 Veterinary Student, by Dick Lane, based on an original and unique diary first found by Norman Comben will be in print soon. All members of the Society will receive full details plus an order form (offering a membership discount on the purchase price) in the near future. This will be followed in a few months by Twentieth Century Veterinary Lives, by Bruce Vivash Jones, a book of some 100 plus memoirs/life stories of the famous, some infamous and many interesting members of the profession who lived in the last century. All books will be produced in a matching format – suitable for pride of place on the bookshelf.
Are there other potential authors in the membership? Do you have a book that you might have already started, or have in mind? – let us know and we will discuss it with you. Veterinary history is a broad church, and there are many subjects, memoirs, life-stories to be written. There are no royalties in prospect, but you could get your name in print!

Accounts. At a recent committee meeting it was pointed out that these are circulated only to those who attend the AGM each year, and are therefore not seen by the majority of the membership. The Newsletter is an appropriate place for a shortened statement. The Society’s income is mainly from the 120 plus individual members and nearly 50 libraries, from all over the English-speaking world, and last year totalled £4,140.00; there is also an ongoing sale of back issues of the Journal, and interest. A Current Account and a Business Reserve Account are used, and the Society has a surplus of £4,370.43 at the moment.
The greater part of the expenditure is for the production and distribution of the Journal, the cost of the two issues last year being £2,857.91; this is a constantly increasing figure as printing methods and postage change. The Society pays for the website, for all postage (Journal, Newsletters and flyers), for stationery and duplicating, and for committee meeting venues. Society Meetings are paid for by
those who attend the Meeting; charges are for the venue and refreshments, and we offer travelling expenses to speakers (which is often not accepted).
Libraries: notice of Meetings will be in the Newsletters, and in future libraries will not be sent flyers by post for individual Meetings; if libraries would like to receive flyers please send the Secretary your email address.

Finally: if you have a computer, the Secretary would like your email address.