Introduction
A
Correspondence, 1961-88
B
Biographical material, c.1980-90
C
Papers relating to the Vogt family, 1933-c.1974
D
Photographs, n.d. [c.1940], 1948-9
| Abstract: Correspondence and papers of Edith Bülbring (1903-1990), pharmacologist and physiologist |
Edith Bülbring entered Bonn University to study medicine in 1923. On completion of her studies she worked initially as a physician, then as a research assistant to Paul Trendelenburg, professor of pharmacology, in Berlin. After his death in 1931 she found a position in the infectious disease unit of the Virchow Krankenhaus, also in Berlin, from where she was dismissed in 1933 because of her Jewish ancestry. During a holiday in England shortly afterwards she visited her former colleague at the Virchow Krankenhaus, Ulrich Friedemann, then a refugee working in Sir Henry Dale's laboratory in Hampstead. Through Dale she was offered a post with J H Burn, Director of the Pharmacological Laboratories of the Pharmaceutical Society in London. When Burn was appointed to the Chair of Pharmacology at Oxford in 1937, Bülbring also came to Oxford as his research assistant and departmental demonstrator. In the late 1940s she began independent research on the physiology of smooth muscle. She was to become a leading authority in that field, building up and obtaining funding for a large research group which published over 200 papers. In 1946 she was promoted to University Demonstrator and Lecturer and in 1960 to ad hominem Reader. In 1967 she was appointed to a personal professorship. She was naturalized in 1948.
The papers contain correspondence, photographs, an audio recording of an interview with Bülbring and other biographical materials, and papers relating to the Vogt family of Berlin. Professor Oskar Vogt and his wife, Cecile, were prominent neuro-anatomists. Their daughter, Marthe (1903-2003), a pharmacologist, worked with Edith Bülbring in the laboratory of Paul Trendelenburg in Berlin. She left Berlin for England in 1935 and, with Bülbring's help, found work initially with Sir Henry Dale at the National Institute for Medical Research in London. Posts at Cambridge and Edinburgh Universities followed. Her research made important contributions to the understanding of the role of neurotransmitters in the brain.
Bülbring's original order has been retained as far as possible. Original file titles, where they exist, are given in inverted commas preceding descriptions.
The papers were transferred from the University's Pharmacology Department to the Bodleian Library in 2010.
Further papers of Edith Bülbring are held at the Wellcome Library, Archives and Manuscripts Section. Also held there are papers relating to Marthe Vogt and her family. The archive of the Society for the Protection of Science and Learning, held by the Bodleian Library, contains correspondence with Edith Bülbring and Marthe Vogt.
| ‘Electronics engineers from Nihon Kohden Japan’, correspondence
and papers relating to the appointment of temporary electronics research
assistants to Bülbring’s smooth muscle group Date: 1961-71 Shelfmark: MS. Eng. c. 7886 (= Res.) Restrictions on Access: Restricted. |
| Correspondence, mainly social, principally with and relating to
Stephen Kuffler of the Department of Neurobiology, Harvard Medical
School, a former colleague of Bülbring Date: 1971-7 Shelfmark: MS. Eng. c. 7887 |
| Correspondence and papers relating to the award to Bülbring of
an honorary doctorate by Universitat des Saarlandes, Homburg Date: 1988 Shelfmark: MS. Eng. c. 7888 Scope and Content: Mainly in German. |
| Audio recording of an interview with Bülbring by Alison Brading
[Oxford University Lecturer in Pharmacology and a former colleague of
Bülbring], regarding her life and work up to the 1950s Date: 1989-90 Shelfmark: MS. Eng. e. 3765 Scope and Content: A transcript (ref. PP/BUL/A.4/2) of this interview and copies of the audio cassettes (ref. PP/BUL/A.4/1) are available at the Wellcome Library, Archives and Manuscripts Section. Comprises:
|
| ‘Coworkers’, mainly lists of names of people she worked with,
drawn up by Bülbring Date: c.1980 Shelfmark: MS. Eng. c. 7889 |
| Papers relating to the Vogt family Date: 1933-c.1974 Shelfmark: MS. Eng. c. 7890 Scope and Content: See 'Scope and Content' above. In German and English. Includes:
Two copies of a photograph, apparently of Marthe Vogt and others at work in a laboratory, c.1940, removed to MS. Photogr. b. 158 (below). |
| Loose photographs of Edith Bülbring and Marthe Vogt Date: n.d. [c.1940], 1948-9 Shelfmark: MS. Photogr. b. 158 Scope and Content: (items 1-2) Two group photographs of Bülbring with students and colleagues, 1948-9
(items 3-4) Two copies of a photograph, apparently of Marthe Vogt and others at work in a laboratory, c.1940 (removed from MS. Eng. c. 7890 above) |
| Photograph album relating to symposia on excitable membranes and
on calcium and smooth muscle in honour of Professor Edith Bülbring FRS,
organised on the occasion of the 365th anniversary of the University of
Groningen, 11-15 June 1979 Date: 1979 Shelfmark: MS. Photogr. c. 497 Scope and Content: During her visit to Groningen an honorary doctorate was conferred on Bülbring. Contains loose photographs. |