Bruce-Chwatt, Professor Leonard Jan

Aside from a few published papers in WTI/LBC/F/2/1 and photographs in WTI/LBC/H/1, relating to Bruce-Chwatt's work in Nigeria in the 1940s, the collection dates primarily from 1950 onwards. It consists mainly of published and unpublished writings, reprints, reports, and drafts, both those of Bruce-Chwatt himself, and those of professional colleagues. Also included is a quantity of photographic and other visual material.

Bruce-Chwatt's interest in the history of medicine is represented by his translation into English of Charles Nicolle's Destin des Maladies Infectieuses and his research material on the history of Cinchona.

c. 1902-1980s

29 boxes, 1 oversize box, 1 oversize item

The collection is arranged in the following sections:

A. Biographical

B. Malaria Control, Nigeria

C. Missions, consultancies and projects

D. Charles Nicolle

E. History of Cinchona

F. Published and unpublished writings

G. Collected papers by others

H. Photogaphs and illustrations

Bruce-Chwatt donated the majority of these papers to the Wellcome Tropical Institute in 1988. They were transferred to the library at Wellcome Collection in 1989. Between 1989 and 1992 his widow subsequently added further material, including papers relating to Bruce-Chwatt's historical research.

Bruce-Chwatt was born in Poland in 1907 and trained in medicine in Warsaw and Paris. He worked at the Institut Pasteur and the Hôpital Saint-Louis until the outbreak of the Second World War when he joined the Polish Army Medical Corps, later escaping to Britain where he joined the Polish Rifle Brigade. In 1942, as an officer in the Royal Army Medical Corps, he was posted to West Africa where he worked as a malariologist. After the end of the War he worked initially as a medical entomologist in Nigeria with the Colonial Medical Service and then, in 1948, he was assigned to the Rockefeller Yellow Fever Research Institute in Lagos. From 1949 to 1958 he was Senior Specialist (Malariologist) in charge of the Federal Malaria Service of Nigeria.

In 1958 Bruce-Chwatt became Chief of Research and Technical Intelligence in the Malaria Eradication Division of the World Health Organisation in Geneva, where he remained for the next 10 years. In 1968 he joined the staff of the Ross Institute at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, becoming Director the following year. Upon his retirement in 1974 he joined the Wellcome Museum of Medical Science and then, in 1985, the Wellcome Tropical Institute. It was during this period that he was able to indulge his long-standing interest in the history of malaria. He died in 1989.

This collection has been catalogued and is available to library members. Some items have access restrictions which are explained in the item-level catalogue records.