Introducing Jayna!

Hello! My name Jayna and I have taken over the role of Archive and Digitisation Assistant from Helena. My role is to carry on in assisting in the digitisation and online accessibility of documents within the archive and historical book collection. I am currently in the process of obtaining my Diploma in Archives and Records Management through the University of Dundee. It is great to be able to put all the theory that I have learnt into practice, especially in the area of digitisation and I look forward to advancing my knowledge and experience more. I have previously volunteered in the archive of St Paul’s Cathedral and occasionally return to visit.

Jayna in the RCVS Library

In the time that I have been here at RCVS Knowledge, I have seen many interesting pieces of work. The most visually pleasing piece that I have digitised is Andrew Snape’s Anatomy of the Horse (1863), which includes some very beautiful plates. This book is digitised and available to view here.

Plate of a horse found in Snape’s Anatomy of an Horse.

I also regularly come across morbidly interesting snippets while digitising The Veterinarian, like the article below that is about animal to human blood transfusions. The rest of the article can be found here.

Vet Vol 47, Issue 5, pg 366

As this year is the 175^th anniversary of the RCVS, I have recently scanned Thomas Walton Mayer’s collection of letters from vets in support of his petition to the Governors of RVC. The petition was a call for reform in veterinary education and kick started the process which eventually led to the creation of the RCVS.

Letter from J.W. Rogerson in Bedford in support of the petition

I really enjoy the social media part of my role. Finding new and interesting things to share with our followers on Instagram is something I look forward to. So far, we have a very nice and colourful looking feed! To find out more about our collections, follow us on Instagram and on Twitter.

Some of the posts from our Instagram page

As ever, we are keen to hear what you guys think, so please do let us know in the comments!