Agnes Lothian
Agnes Edith Lothian Short (1903 – 1980) was a British pharmacist and librarian recognised for her expertise in the history of pharmacy, especially on drug jars.
Early life
[edit]She was born Agnes Edith Lothian in 1903, the daughter of pharmacy teacher John Lothian.[1]
She qualified as a pharmacist at Herriot-Watt College, Edinburgh in 1926, and worked at retail pharmacies in Redhill, Surrey and at Allen & Hanburys in London for ten years, also having a stint as a representative of a baby food manufacturer.[1]
History of pharmacy
[edit]In September 1940, she became librarian of the Pharmaceutical Society, where she would remain until 1968. She was elected Associate of the Library Association in 1944 and qualified as a librarian.[1] This role put her in charge of the Society’s newly acquired historical collection of ceramics and proprietary medicines. She began a purchasing program to expand the collection, specialising in delftware and mortars.[2] The most significant acquisition came in 1957 when she acquired the collection of her friend Geoffrey Eliot Howard.[3] She also acquired the earliest known dated delft drug jar, a Worshipful Society of Apothecaries jar from 1647.[4] After her retirement, she was appointed 'emeritus Keeper of the Society’s historical collections' in 1969, and continued to catalogue them.[3]
From 1950, by which time she had collected nearly 300 drug jar inscriptions, she began making publications on these objects, and became recognised as a world expert in them.[3]
Her expertise in the history of drug jars led to her becoming the first woman to be elected a member of the Académie International d’Histoire de la Pharmacie.[1][5]
In 1973 she received the Fritz Ferchl medal from the German History of Pharmacy Society; and in 1977, the Schelenz-Plackette of the International Society for the History of Pharmacy, [6] having addressed meetings of the ISHP in Germany, Austria, Yugoslavia and Greece. She was also a Fellow of the Pharmaceutical Society.[3]
Personal life and death
[edit]In 1967, she married G.R.A. Short, another Fellow of the Pharmaceutical Society.[1]
She died in October 1980.[4]
References
[edit]- ^ a b c d e Rayner-Canham, Marelene F.; Rayner-Canham, Geoffrey (2008). Chemistry Was Their Life: Pioneering British Women Chemists, 1880-1949. Imperial College Press. pp. 412–3. ISBN 978-1-86094-987-6.
- ^ "Royal Pharmaceutical Society Museum". programme.openhouse.org.uk. Retrieved 4 December 2024.
- ^ a b c d Hudson, Briony (2006). English Delftware Drug Jars: The Collection of the Museum of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain. Pharmaceutical Press. pp. 10–18. ISBN 978-0-85369-643-8.
- ^ a b "English Delftware display jar, 1647". The Pharmaceutical Journal. 12 October 2017. Retrieved 4 December 2024.
- ^ Sonnedecker, Glenn (1 December 1955). "Impressions an American Pharmacist in Europe". American Journal of Health-System Pharmacy. 12 (6): 622–622. doi:10.1093/ajhp/12.6.622. ISSN 1079-2082.
- ^ Pharmaceutical Journal. J. Churchill. 1977.
External links
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