The Square Chronicle
By Abigail Heath, UCL School of Pharmacy
A report about the latest Peter Homan Small Grant Award.
Established by the Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain in 1842 the University College London (UCL) School of Pharmacy is integral to the history of pharmacy. With the motto “Bringing health to the world” the School’s impact was not just national, but international. The story of the School of Pharmacy can be found in the School’s archive, where scientific breakthroughs sit along student musings often in creative formats such as cartoons, songs or dramatic performances. This is best illuminated in The Square Chronicle which was created as a modest journal that aimed to “form an interesting history of the school, as well as acting as a circular letter for past students”.
The Square Chronicle ran from 1912 to 1988 publishing school news, commentary on lectures, work experience reports as well as social events and alumni news. Previously accessible only through visiting the School of Pharmacy archive, the Peter Homan Award enabled the digitalisation of the of the complete collection of this journal. Researchers can now search the collection online through the following buttons:
The collection will be of interest to alumni of the School and family historians, but also researchers interested in the history of pharmacy both in the UK and across the globe. The first international PhD student attended the School in the early 1920s and the School has continued to attract international students throughout its history. Many of them returned to their home country and articles submitted to The Square Chronicle describe their experiences.
Accounts of travel also build up a picture of pharmacy abroad such as the article in volume 68 describing the situation of pharmacy in West Germany (1968), or reflections teaching B Pharm in Burma (Vol 74, 1976). Major milestones were also covered in the journal, 'Hospital Pharmacy-Past, Present and Future' comments on the Noel Hall Report (Vol 75; 1977), and ‘Pharmacist heal thyself’ (1987) reflects on the impact of the Nuffield report. With alumnus such as Maragaret Buchanan and Isabella Clarke, the School news also encompassed reports from the Association of Women Pharmacists, and other related groups, such as the British Pharmaceutical Student’s Association formed in 1943.
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