Innes Smith Medical Portrait Collection
Scope and Contents
Approximatly 300 portraits of medical men from the 16th to the early 20th centuries collected by Robert Innes Smith (1872-1933), a doctor who worked in the Brightside area of Sheffield. Most of the items in the collection are engravings, mezzotints, lithographs and photographs, the majority being portraits of distinguished medical men although some non-medical related portraits are also included within the collection. The collection reflects the interests of Innes Smith, a large proportion of the portraits being Scottish and Continental sitters. The largest component is the group of Georgian and Victorian medical men. Many of them are not listed in Burgess: 'Portraits in the Wellcome Institute', London, 1973. The nineteenth century photographs (e.g. Addison, Lister) are unusual and rare. This may well be the largest institutional collection of medical portrait-prints outside London.
For further details of this collection and digitised images, please see the External Documents section below.
Dates
- Creation: 1700s - 1911
Creator
Conditions Governing Access
Available by appointment
Biographical / Historical
Robert William Innes Smith (1872-1933) was a graduate in medicine of Edinburgh University and a general practitioner for thirty three years in the Brightside district of Sheffield. His strong interest in medical history and art brought him some acclaim, and his study of 'English-speaking students of medicine at the University of Leyden', published in 1932, is regarded as a model of its kind. Locally in Sheffield Innes Smith was highly respected as both a doctor and a scholar: his pioneer work in the organisation of ambulance services and first-aid stations in the larger steel works made him many friends.
Extent
Approx. 300 Item(s)
Language of Materials
English
Arrangement
Arranged by subject
Custodial History
Purchased by the University c.1936. On Innes Smith's death, part of his large collection of books and portraits was acquired for the University.
- Author
- Lawrence Aspden
- Date
- January 2002
- Description rules
- International Standard for Archival Description - General
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
Repository Details
Part of the Special Collections and Archives Repository
Western Bank Library
University of Sheffield
Western Bank
Sheffield South Yorkshire S10 2TN United Kingdom
+44 (0) 114 222 7299
lib-special@sheffield.ac.uk