Video Archive
Developed in conjunction with Northern Ireland Screen – Digital Film Archive, explore the region’s rich medical history and heritage through weekly video updates, featuring content from across the 20th century.
The Digital Film Archive is a free public access resource featuring hundreds of hours of moving image titles from 1897 to the present day.
Primarily focused on Northern Irish society, the moving image collection also includes news, feature films, television dramas, sport, documentaries, animation, light entertainment, amateur footage, newsreels and more.
The Old Chemists (1965)
Charlie Witherspoon visits Maginnis’s Chemists, the oldest chemists in Derry and possibly in Ireland. Established by Sir John Maginnis who was also the Mayor of Derry, this chemist’s still makes pills and tonics the old way. He meets Mr Ferguson, the Managing Director, who shows him some wonderful old documents.
PUBLISHED 05 JULY 2024
Isaac Has the Flu! (1966)
Flu broke out in 1966 across Northern Ireland and poor Issac King suffered miserably with it. He tried all kinds of remedies to relieve his discomfort. This was filmed at Havelock House but we don’t know if Issac is a really good actor, or was brought in for his misery to be filmed for posterity.
PUBLISHED 21 MARCH 2024
Presenting Braille Watches to Blind Pupils, Jordanstown (1965)
The Jordanstown School was built by the Ulster Society for Promoting the Education of the Deaf and the Blind (or simply the “Ulster Society”), which was founded around 1836. The original school had two locations in Belfast before the site where the school still stands was built on in 1961. In this video, braille watches are being handed out to the pupils.
PUBLISHED 20 FEBRUARY 2024
A House Not Fit for Habitation, Co. Antrim (1964)
Charles Witherspoon reports from The Rock, outside Armagh where a terrible rat infestation is plaguing a young family. Andrew Donovan and his wife tell Charles about their terrible living conditions. The family have had no luck trying to get a new home and are getting no help from anyone. The conditions are horrendous. Mr Donovan later undertook a protest walk from Armagh to Stormont.
PUBLISHED 20 JANUARY 2024
The Tonsil Family (1964)
Inside the McKelvey Pavillion for Sick Children at Ards District Hospital in Newtownards, five children from the McKibben family are all in to have their tonsils removed!
PUBLISHED 09 OCTOBER 2023
Another Diet? Drink Milk (1964)
Women have always been under pressure to look a certain way. The 1960s were no different. Here we have women on a diet drinking milk and being weighed. This diet was sponsored by the Milk Marketing Board.
PUBLISHED 08 SEPTEMBER 2023
Invacars: Mobility for the Disabled (1976)
Dissatisfaction is rife as the Ministry of Health withdraws the motorised trikes supplied and maintained on the NHS for people with mobility issues. Despite the scheme closing IN 1976, Invacars could still be seen on the road until a complete ban in 2003. Due to safety concerns they were called in and the government crushed about 50 cars a week. These motorised trikes are now museum pieces and collectors’ items symbolising a post war attempt to improve mobility.
PUBLISHED 16 AUGUST 2023
Polio in Belfast
A swimming gala at Grove Baths in Belfast. This particular gala was for children affected by polio and prizes were presented by Lady Jenkins, the wife of the Mayor of Belfast. The Mayor of Dublin is also present, indicating this must have been an all-Ireland event.
A serious polio outbreak in the 1950s led to many children being affected by the disease.
For more on polio, listen to our podcast interview with Hannah Brown (Ulster University) or read this article.
PUBLISHED 27 JULY 2023
Epidemic Belfast at the Digital Festival for the History of Science
Watch our 60 minute presentation on how we first came up with the idea of Epidemic Belfast and how our project has developed since 2020.
Includes oral history interviews and our exciting future plans.