Official records

The Archives collection comprises the official administrative records of the College and its predecessors, the Australian and New Zealand Councils of the RCOG, The Royal Australian College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RACOG) and the Royal New Zealand College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RNZCOG). Dating from 1947, holdings are from the various College committees and associated bodies.

Personal papers

The Archives also includes several significant collections of personal papers of past Fellows of the College.
Major collections include:

• Browne, Francis James (Professor) 1879-1963.
  Obstetrician, gynaecologist. Papers on his research in antenatal and postnatal care.

• Forster, Frank Menzies Cameron (Dr) 1923-1995. Obstetrician, gynaecologist, medical historian. Papers on his research in birth control, obstetrics, sexology and the history of medicine, particularly relating to Australia.
• Shearman, Rodney Phillip (Professor) 1928-1993
  Obstetrician, gynaecologist. Papers on his research in maternal and perinatal mortality, reproductive endocrinology, family planning and contraception.

Other personal papers include those of Dr Ian Cope, Mr Barry Kneale, Dr Margaret Mackie, Dr F A Maguire, Mr Ian McDonald, Dr George Simpson and Mr Malcolm Stening.

MRCOG Case Record Books

The Archives include case record books of Members of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (MRCOG) dating from the 1930s which provide a unique insight into the practices of the time.
Items of historical interest

The Archives also house an audiovisual collection of slides and photographs, glass slides, audiotapes, videotapes and DVDs.The DVDs include material transferred from film of procedures dating from the 1940s featuring obstetrical procedures including lower segment extraperitoneal caesarean section, breech delivery and Ventouse extraction.

Other items of historical interest include:

• Letter from Professor James Y Simpson, Professor of Midwifery, University of Edinburgh, regarding his former coachman, George Taylor 1857.
• Original indenture for James Florance, aged twelve years, to serve as an apprentice to his father, William Florance, surgeon, apothecary and man-midwife, Dorset, England, 1841.
• Letter written by Lady Diana, Princess of Wales, offering her resignation as Patron of the Royal New Zealand College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, 1996.

Significant Benefactors

The Forster & Maguire Collections

For further information see the following articles:

• The FA Maguire Collection at the RANZCOG
  ANZJOG 2004; 44: 280-282 - Rosalind Winspear
• A College benefactor: Frank Forster – obstetrician, gynaecologist, medical historian and bibliophile
  ANZJOG 2004: 44:3-5 - Rosalind Winspear

Frank Menzies Cameron Forster (1923 - 1995) made an outstanding contribution to obstetrics and gynaecology in Australia. A passionate medical historian, he donated his entire medical history collection of books, pamphlets, medical instruments, research papers, decorative objects and obstetrical and gynaecological ephemera to the College in 1987. Forster was an inspirational lecturer with encyclopaedic knowledge,who specialised in assisting women with difficult deliveries throughout his career, and designed a specialised instrument for inserting a cervical suture, the  Frank Forster Needle (124.54 kB)