Historical library of the health sciences
Mission
The mission of the Fundación Uriach 1838 Historical Library is to manage, conserve and disseminate its library collections and offer quality service to researchers, historians and students, with a view to promoting study and research into the history of the Health Sciences.
History
In view of the lack of sufficient specialised libraries to cover the requirements of researchers in what was at that time, the incipient discipline of the History of Medicine, Laboratorios Uriach decided to set up a documentary centre in 1969 that included studies on the past of Health Sciences.
It should be borne in mind that at that time teaching of the history of medicine was only consolidated in the universities of Madrid, Salamanca and Valencia, whereas in the rest of Spain, this discipline was not taken at all seriously. As a result, with the firm backing of Dr. Juan Uriach y Marsal and the cooperation of his father, Mr. Juan Uriach Tey, a completely new documentary centre was set up.
In 1993, the library and all its collections were donated to Fundación Uriach 1838. From that time on, the establishment changed direction, basing its acquisitions policy on increasing its original collections and becoming a heritage centre dedicated not only to medicine, but to the Health Sciences in general. The final stage of the re-adaptation of the library was based on replacing the manual catalogue by the centre’s own electronic database, including the records of complete works and component part of journals, monographic articles, etc.
At the present time, after more than 40 years of history, the library has been converted into the most important privately-owned historical documentary centre in the field of the Health Sciences in Catalonia.
Collection
In general terms, the library has two types of documents:
The mission of the Fundación Uriach 1838 Historical Library is to manage, conserve and disseminate its library collections and offer quality service to researchers, historians and students, with a view to promoting study and research into the history of the Health Sciences.
History
In view of the lack of sufficient specialised libraries to cover the requirements of researchers in what was at that time, the incipient discipline of the History of Medicine, Laboratorios Uriach decided to set up a documentary centre in 1969 that included studies on the past of Health Sciences.
It should be borne in mind that at that time teaching of the history of medicine was only consolidated in the universities of Madrid, Salamanca and Valencia, whereas in the rest of Spain, this discipline was not taken at all seriously. As a result, with the firm backing of Dr. Juan Uriach y Marsal and the cooperation of his father, Mr. Juan Uriach Tey, a completely new documentary centre was set up.
In 1993, the library and all its collections were donated to Fundación Uriach 1838. From that time on, the establishment changed direction, basing its acquisitions policy on increasing its original collections and becoming a heritage centre dedicated not only to medicine, but to the Health Sciences in general. The final stage of the re-adaptation of the library was based on replacing the manual catalogue by the centre’s own electronic database, including the records of complete works and component part of journals, monographic articles, etc.
At the present time, after more than 40 years of history, the library has been converted into the most important privately-owned historical documentary centre in the field of the Health Sciences in Catalonia.
Collection
In general terms, the library has two types of documents:
- Documents on the subject of the health sciences: ancient documents about medicine, pharmacy, veterinary sciences and botany that bear witness to the history of the health sciences (manuscripts and works printed in the 16th, 17th, 18th, 19th centuries and the beginning of the 20th century)
- Historical documents: modern documents about the history of the health sciences (manuals, guides, etc.)
