Sleeping Sickness Bureau

Papers of Sleeping Sickness Bureau consist of two volumes of press cuttings on sleeping sickness, 1908-1912.

This collection is open for consultation. Please contact the Archivist to arrange an appointment. All researchers must complete and sign a user registration form which signifies their agreement to abide by the archive rules. All researchers are required to provide proof of identity bearing your signature (for example, a passport or debit card) when registering. Please see website for further information at www.lshtm.ac.uk/library/archives

The Sleeping Sickness Bureau was founded in June 1908 at the Royal Society, under the direction of Arthur Bagshawe. It was established as a central bureau to collate and offer information on current research and control measures in sleeping sickness. It soon became apparent that sleeping sickness was not the only disease in need of attention; in 1911 the Kala azar Bulletin was published and in 1912 the Bureau moved to the Imperial Institute and was renamed the Tropical Diseases Bureau.

From 1914 onwards the Bureau, maintaining a comprehensive international sphere of interests, emphasised a growing awareness of sanitation as a necessary factor in control of disease in tropical latitudes by publishing also a Bulletin of Hygiene.

In 1920, the Bureau moved to share the new premises of the London School of Tropical Medicine in Endsleigh Gardens and in 1925 changed its name to the Bureau of Hygiene and Tropical Diseases. It moved in 1929 to the new School building in Keppel and was housed in the London School until 1993 when it became part of Commonwealth Agricultural Bureaux International (CABI).