Heritage at the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow

22/05/2026

Please note: Our library and exhibitions will be closed on Monday 25th May for the bank holiday. Back in again as usual from 9am on Tuesday 26th May. Don't forget you can still "visit" our collections on our website at any time https://heritage.rcpsg.ac.uk/
We wish you all a lovely weekend

19/05/2026

You can pop in to see one of Paisley born Alexander Wilson's books, currently on display in our Library. He met John James Audubon in America and inspired him to create his own ornithological masterpiece, The Birds of America.
https://heritage.rcpsg.ac.uk/exhibits/show/audubon-birdsofamerica?fbclid=IwVERTSAR4mA5leHRuA2FlbQIxMABzcnRjBmFwcF9pZAwzNTA2ODU1MzE3MjgAAR7YtwsdZ_1ITDGSaNNyWxwOrs-sJTqhyc89GwSfjhhGU8MwT5FzCJN_-J180w_aem_jjvGZmW1ywoTxoLtSeP2Cw

In May 1812 Paisley born Alexander Wilson, known as the ‘Father of American Ornithology’ embarked on a birding trip to Cape May, New Jersey with his friend George Ord.
There Ord discovered a bird that was new to both of them. Wilson described and painted the bird, naming it the Cape May warbler in volume 6 of his book American Ornithology.
It’s fitting then that of the three UK records to date for this North American bird, the first was of a male recorded in Gleniffer Braes Country Park near Paisley in June 1977.��

Image description: �Drawing of a male Cape May warbler by Alexander Wilson (1766 – 1813) – small bird with olive-green back and wings with a white wing-bar, brilliant yellow underparts with dense black streaks, distinct chestnut-brown cheek patch and dark crown.
Image copyright of OneRen, the trading name of Renfrewshire Leisure Limited

13/05/2026

Our Heritage exhibition ‘Darwin and Audubon: A Natural Connection’ will be on display in our College Library until June 2026 and accompanies the exhibition on ‘The Birds of America’ by John James Audubon.

The exhibition feature our first edition of ‘On the Origin of Species’ by Charles Darwin alongside one of our first editions of JJ Audubon’s double elephant folios of ‘The Birds of America’.

Find out more at:
https://heritageblog.rcpsg.ac.uk/2026/03/17/darwin-and-audubon-a-natural-connection/

Visit our free Library exhibitions on Mondays 14.00-17.00 (except bank holidays) by contacting [email protected]

Heritage at the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow

12/05/2026

08/05/2026

Our Audubon show has made it into Country Life!

After discovering a volume of the one-time world's most expensive book under a dust sheet, a museum in Glasgow is offering visitors the chance to view it up close.

04/05/2026

03/05/2026

The Birds of America by John James Audubon is so big it takes at least two people to turn the pages.

03/05/2026

It's been a whirlwind of a week for the Heritage team.

We opened our Audubon exhibition on Friday and have been bowled over by the level of interest in our amazing volumes of The Birds of America.

Please bear with us as we work our way through the mountain of enquiries we are receiving. We are so happy that our beautiful ornithological plates are proving so popular. ❤️

On Saturday, in a change of subject, it was a real honour and a pleasure to be invited to present at the British Islamic Medical Association conference in Glasgow today.

Monique Lerpiniere, our University of Strathclyde PhD student, presented a paper on the history of 19th century migration to Scotland of South Asian Muslim doctors and the colonial imperative behind their moves to the UK under the British Raj.

Claire McDade from the Heritage team then spoke about the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow remarkable collection of 15th and 16th century Latin translations of Arabic texts written in the 10th and 11th centuries during the Islamic Golden Age. Works such as Avicenna's massive encyclopedic Canon of Medicine which was the standard textbook in European universities to the 1700s.

Both talks demonstrated the very long standing connections, shared histories and cross pollination of knowledge and ideas that have existed between Europe and Islamic countries going back over 1,000 years.

We're now taking a break over the long weekend and will be back to work on Tuesday 5th May

01/05/2026

01/05/2026