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Wellcome Library

Blacker, Carlos Paton, (1895-1975)


IDENTITY STATEMENT

Reference code(s): GB 0120 PP/CPB

Held at: Wellcome Library

Title: Blacker, Carlos Paton, (1895-1975)

Date(s): c 1920-1974

Level of description: Collection (fonds)

Extent: 26 boxes

Name of creator(s): Blacker | Carlos Paton | 1895-1975 | psychiatrist

CONTEXT

Administrative/Biographical history:

Carlos Paton Blacker (1895-1975), MC, GM, MA, MD, FRCP, was a psychiatrist, and served as Secretary of the Eugenics Society 1931-1961. Born, 1895; Educated at Eton; Officer in Coldstream Guards, decorated with MC, twice wounded, 1915-1919; Balliol College Oxford, 1919-1922; Medical training, Guy's Hospital, 1923; MA, BM, BCh, MRCP, 1927; Registrar, Department of Psychological Medicine, Guy's Hospital, 1927-1936; DM, 1931; General Secretary, Eugenics Society, 1931-1952; Joins staff of Maudsley Hospital, 1936-1960; Regimental Medical Officer to 2nd Battalion, 1940-1942; Seconded to Ministry of Health as Adviser on Population and Medico-Social Problems, 1944; Honorary Secretary, Eugenics Society, 1952-1961; Consultant to Ex-Services Mental Welfare Society, 1962-1972; died, 1975.

CONTENT

Scope and content/abstract:

Papers of Carlos Paton Blacker, 1920-1974, reflecting his long and active career in psychiatry (including as including as psychiatrist at the Maudsley Hospital and as an Adviser to the Ministry of Health), and his activities as Secretary to the Eugenics Society and with a number of organisations interested in population and birth control, including the Birth Control Investigation Committee, the International Planned Parenthood Federation, and the Simon Population Trust. There is also some material relating to his return to military duty in the Second World War as a Regimental Medical Officer. The collection also includes correspondence (both personal and professional), which sheds light on his interests in ornithology and nature conservation, and other writings both published and unpublished.

ACCESS AND USE

Language/scripts of material: English

System of arrangement:

The collection is divided into sections as follows:
A. Personal correspondence and memorabilia, 1920s-1960s [8 boxes]
B. Eugenics Society (including Joint Committee on Voluntary Sterilisation, 1930s), 1929-1966 [3 boxes]
C. Birth Control Organisations, 1928-1934, 1955-1960 [2 boxes]
D. Mental Health and Psychiatry, 1929-1960s [3 boxes]
E. World War II: Military Service, 1940-1944 [1/2 box]
F. Other organisations, 1950s-1970s [11/2 boxes]
G. Simon Population Trust and Voluntary Sterilisation, 1960s-1970s [4 boxes]
H. Unpublished writings, 1928-1970 [11/2 boxes]
J. Published writings, 1922-1973 [2 boxes]
K. Reference materials, 1920s-1970s [1/2 box]

Conditions governing access:

The majority of the papers are available subject to the usual conditions of access to Archives and Manuscripts material, after the completion of a Reader's Undertaking.
Several files contain case notes and correspondence and are subject to closure periods:
A.8/1: closed until 1st January 2026.
D.9/1-4: closed until 1st January 2048.
D.13: closed until 1st January 2054.

Conditions governing reproduction:

Photocopies/photographs/microfilm are supplied for private research only at the Archivist's discretion. Please note that material may be unsuitable for copying on conservation grounds, and that photographs cannot be photocopied in any circumstances. Readers are restricted to 100 photocopies in twelve months. Researchers who wish to publish material must seek copyright permission from the copyright owner.

Finding aids:

Detailed catalogue

ARCHIVAL INFORMATION

Appraisal, destruction and scheduling information:

Some family and personal correspondence has been returned to the Blacker family, and duplicates have been disposed of.

Accruals:

Archival history:

Immediate source of acquisition:

This collection was received in two accessions. The first came in July 1996 along with several other collections transferred from the Wellcome Unit for the History of Medicine, Oxford. The Unit received a group of C.P. Blacker's papers, largely relating to his activities with the Eugenics Society and allied organisations, in 1983, from his son, Dr John Blacker, through the auspices of Dr Joan Austoker, then a Fellow at the Unit. A number of significant gaps were identified in these papers during detailed sorting and listing, and Dr John Blacker was contacted, with the result that additional material still in family hands was given to the Library in August 1997.

ALLIED MATERIALS

Related material:

In the Wellcome Library: Other relevant archive collections are the papers of the Eugenics Society, SA/EUG (available with the permission of the Galton Institute), the Family Planning Association (SA/FPA), and the papers of E.M. 'Max' Nicholson (GC/142), a colleague and friend of Blacker.

In other repositories: Blacker's correspondence with Marie Stopes is among her papers in the Department of Manuscripts, British Library.

DESCRIPTION NOTES

Archivist's note: Copied from the Wellcome Library catalogue by Sarah Drewery.

Rules or conventions: In compliance with ISAD (G): General International Standard Archival Description - 2nd Edition (1999); UNESCO Thesaurus, December 2001; National Council on Archives Rules for the Construction of Personal, Place and Corporate Names, 1997.

Date(s) of descriptions: Jan 2009


INDEX ENTRIES
Subjects
Alcohol | Alcohols | Organic chemicals | Chemicals
Complementary therapies | Therapeutics
Eugenics | Heredity | Genetics
Euthanasia | Right to life | Civil and political rights | Human rights
Health policy | Health
International agencies | Organizations
Military medicine | Medical sciences
Ornithology | Zoology
Psychoanalysis | Clinical psychology | Psychiatry
Therapy | Medical sciences
Tobacco | Plant products | Agricultural products
War | International conflicts
World War Two (1939-1945) | World wars (events) | Wars (events)
Therapeutics x Therapy
Demography
Family planning
Pharmaceutical preparations
Psychology

Personal names
Blacker | Carlos Paton | 1895-1975 | psychiatrist

Corporate names
Birth Control Investigation Committee
Eugenics Society
International Planned Parenthood Federation
Maudsley Hospital
Ministry of Health
Simon Population Trust

Places
Far East x East Asia
South Asia