It was originally established at the Royal College of Physicians in 1990 and comprised Sir Christopher Booth (the Harveian Librarian) and Professor Tilli Tansey.
The resultant publications are open access,[13] and made freely available online via the HoMBRG website, a partnership with the Medical Heritage Library,[14] and iTunes.
[15] The topics covered by the archive fall broadly into five themes: clinical genetics,[16] neuroscience, global health and infectious diseases, medical technologies and ethics of research and practice.
It recorded interviews on three themes, neuropharmacology, psychiatry/neuropsychology, and neuroimaging, with twelve neuroscientists, including Geoffrey Burnstock, Salvador Moncada, Michael Rutter and Uta Frith.
[28] Titles include The Development of Brain Banks, Narrative Medicine; Migraine; The National Survey of Sexual Attitudes and Lifestyles;[29] and The Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC)[30] The publication of these works are often referred to by specialists in their fields of medical practice.
"[32] Reviewing the series in the British Medical Journal in 2002, medical historian Irvine Loudon wrote, "This is oral history at its best...all the volumes make compulsive reading...they are, primarily, important historical records[33] In 2014 a seminar, chaired by Professor Sir Brian Follett, with Norman Rosenthal and Alfred Lewy, entitled 'The Recent History of Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD): 30 Years of SAD' was undertaken on the topic of Seasonal Affective Disorder.