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The Robert and Lilian Lindsay Library - Part one: in search of a home

British Dental Journal volume 228, pages 297–305 (2020)Cite this article

Abstract

A history of the BDA Library from its beginnings up to the move to its current home in 64 Wimpole Street. In its centenary year of 2020, this article looks back and reflects on how the library was first thought of, its inception and growth under the nurturing hand of its Honorary Librarian, Lilian Lindsay, and through its move from 23 Russell Square to 13 Hill Street and the tribulations of the Second World War. The development of the Robert and Lilian Lindsay Library is then followed post-war when its first full-time professionally qualified librarian was engaged, through the tribulations of the late 1950s into the 1960s and the safe hands of Muriel Spencer, who brought the collection to its specifically designed area at 64 Wimpole Street.

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References

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Acknowledgements

There are three people without whom this article would have been impossible to write. Firstly, Mr Ronald Cohen, and his wife, the former BDA librarian, E Muriel Spencer MBE, who spent so much time gathering original source material from friends of and staff members who had known Lilian Lindsay. Sadly, they are no longer with us. The third person is my colleague, Amy Grinnell, who patiently spent two years typing up the reports of the Library in the BDJ from 1920 to 1978. My gratitude also goes to the BDA museum curator, Rachel Bairsto, with whom I unearthed the lost Cohen box of Lilian Lindsay source material and finally to my partner, Barry, who has had to endure many BDA Library history lessons.

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  1. Library, British Dental Association, London, W1G 8YS, UK

    Helen Nield

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  1. Helen Nield
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Correspondence to Helen Nield.

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Nield, H. The Robert and Lilian Lindsay Library - Part one: in search of a home. Br Dent J 228, 297–305 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41415-020-1303-6

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