Found in the Archives...

Who watched "Call the Midwife" on PBS? While watching Episode 3, I saw something familiar. Myles Textbook for Midwives is shown in that episode, and I thought we had a copy in our Archives. So I looked, and sure enough we had several copies of different editions (though not one with the same cover as in the show) with the oldest being a second edition, copyright 1956.

Copies of the second and third edition of Myles Textbook for Midwives

What was even more interesting, though, was the condition of the oldest copy. It was covered in tattered paper, with the title handwritten on the front.

TEXTBOOK FOR MIDWIVES
Myles
Please do not remove from the Hospital Wards

Intrigued, I opened the book, and found this inscription on the front page.

It reads:

To the Confluence Midwives,

With well-wishes and remembrances
of many happy days and nights in and
around the Middlefork.

Nora K. Kelly, SRN, SCM, MTD
27.3.56

Please return to
Helen Browne at
Wendover

I don't know who Nora Kelly might have been (nor what the credentials after her name stand for), but I have of course heard of Helen Browne. Since "Brownie," as she was called, was just awarded a posthumous honorary doctorate at graduation last month, it was especially interesting to see something that she might have used regularly.

I will continue exploring the archives to see what other stories might present themselves!