By Robbie Turner, Director of Pharmacy and Member Experience
Today we launched the start of a project to put our museum collection online so it can be browsed and explored. It includes a wide range of pieces which give an interesting perspective on some of the history of our profession. But, like many historical records it doesn’t tell the whole story. Far from it.
The online collection is a representation of the physical collection we hold; it is mostly the history of what was felt to be important at the time by the people in power. The ‘Places of Pharmacy’ are in London, the ‘Faces of Pharmacy’ are all White.
We know this is not the whole story of Pharmacy. And, we know RPS must work better to make sure that our museum collection more accurately reflects the exciting diversity across our profession. This way, when in future people come to pull together our archives, we will have the full story and it will show that everyone in our profession belonged, and their our differences were celebrated and fully embraced.
Our next online exhibition will continue to celebrate our 180th Anniversary by exploring the many and varied roles played by women in pharmacy.
We’d like to improve the diversity of our historical and contemporary records and you can help. Please contribute and share your experiences, artefacts, and photos with us. If you’d like to share please email [email protected]