Monthly Memoranda

These are bound voumes of typed - mainly single sided - monthly memoranda. Each memoranda was headed as 'Private' as these were internal ciruclars aimed at staff. They were primarily aimed at sales staff and gave updates of products and sales campaigns, often illustrated with photographs, graphs, tables and adverts.

New products were frequently highlighted in the Memoranda with essential information for sales staff. This included details of tests and risk factors as well as dosages and the extolled benefits.

There are often details of products in relationship to consumer requirements and competitors actions, e.g. where the company produced drugs which were in direct competition with another company. Endorsements from consumers were often included with direct quotes or 'case studies' included, the latter often being more akin to a feature story. Extracts and abstracts from medical journals on company products or key developments were also included. In some instances these include details of explorers with photographs. Supply to key organisations - such as the Royal Navy - were also noted.

The volumes deal with contemporary issues such as epidemics or seasonal requirments for medicine, in particular the latter volumes deal with war time issues of WW2 - such as rationing, drug availability etc. There is also a strong element of internal promotion to these volumes, including as they do, details on the Wellcome Historical Museum (W.H.M.M), the Wellcome Museum of Medical Science (W.M.M.S) and mentions of awards and recognition received by both the company and Henry Wellcome.

1919-1940

11 items

Please see main WF collection description (ref. 'WF').