Kevin Brown
Trust Archivist and Alexander Fleming Laboratory Museum Curator
Name: Kevin Brown
Matriculation Year:
Subject:
Occupation: Trust Archivist and Alexander Fleming Laboratory Museum Curator
I always wanted a career that involved history – archives or museums were then the highly competitive options. On leaving Hertford, I worked for a year at the Bodleian then did an archives course at University College London. After jobs as diverse as being the male archivist at a girls’ school, working in a county record office and developing a film archive, I was appointed to set up an archive service for St Mary’s Hospital and Medical School. There came the opportunity to become involved in museums too. I set up a new medical museum, the Alexander Fleming Laboratory Museum featuring an in situ recreation of Fleming’s lab as it was when he discovered penicillin there, and became its curator.
In my role I am responsible for anything to do with the history and heritage of a large institution, which has involved me in leading tours, organising exhibitions, advising researchers, giving talks to schools and university groups (even guest lecturing on a MSc drugs development course), writing historical articles and becoming the ‘history man’ of the NHS Trust.
The Fleming Museum has given me a more international profile and taken me all over the world. I was even the first historian and non-scientist to deliver the Andrew J. Moyer Lecture at the United States Department of Agriculture. Over time I became an acknowledged authority on the history of penicillin and was urged to write a biography of Fleming. Finding a publisher was easier than I expected and after that first book I was asked to write another. Seven books on the history of medicine have resulted, all researched and written in my spare time. In turn this has led to a sideline of guest lecturing on cruise ships.
Perhaps it hasn’t been the most typical of careers, but it has offered lots of opportunities and job satisfaction. I am keen to encourage and offer advice to any members of college interested in making their own adventurous trail in the world of heritage.