The collection was founded in 1985 when Oxford Polytechnic (now Oxford Brookes University) and the Royal College of Physicians entered into a collaborative agreement to record on videotape interviews with Fellows of the College and distinguished medical scientists. Those conducting the interviews have included Dr Max Blythe (principal interviewer), a Principal Lecturer and then Reader in the School of Biological and Molecular Sciences at the University, Sir Gordon Wolstenholme, who was at that time Harveian Librarian at the College and responsible for the historical resources of the College, Lord Walton of Detchant, and Sir Christopher Booth, who succeeded Sir Gordon Wolstenholme as Harveian Librarian. Most of the interviews were filmed and edited in the University's television studio, under the technical direction of David Dillon, the production officer in the Audio Visual Unit. The project has established links with the Royal Australasian College of Physicians, the Australian Academy of Science, the Nuffield Trust, the Association of Anaesthetists of Great Britain and Ireland, and the Royal College of Anaesthetists; and in 1995 the Wellcome Trust awarded a grant to fund the development of the collection for two and a half years.
From the guide to the Medical Sciences Video Archive, 1985-1998, (Headington Library, Oxford Brookes University)
