A collection consisting of approximately 5,000 photographs from the late 19th century to the present.

In 1882, Dr Barraquer Roviralta (1855-1928) founded Spain’s first neurology department, known then as the ‘Electrotherapeutic Dispensary’. This dynamic centre for neurological study was created at the same time as Jean-Martin Charcot’s Chair for Nervous Diseases in La Salpêtrière Hospital and The Neurological Institute of Vienna under Heinrich Obersteiner. Barraquer Roviralta compiled a vast archive of clinical and anatomical photographs, including some 2000 images which he took and developed himself. The collection contains 15 gelatin-bromide dry plates and 200 digital images dating from the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Items in the collection can be divided into three categories according to subject matter: anatomical pathology, clinical radiology, and clinical aspects in neurological patients.

The SEN’s 2012 Annual Meeting saw the inauguration of the Dr Pío del Río Hortega Lectures, which specifically address topics in historical neurology and are organised by MAH SEN. In light of this event, the Museum created an exhibit featuring selected letters by Dr Pío del Río which had been donated to the museum by the doctor’s beneficiaries. The photograph collection comprises 61 images.

This extensive collection spans the late 19th and the 20th centuries. It may well be considered one of Spain’s most significant collections of photographs and video recordings, with its 500 photographs and 45 rolls of film or audio tape. Of particular interest are the original photographs documenting the World Congresses of Neurology (1931-1977), portraits of neuroscientists, audio recordings of lectures, and photographs of neurology department personnel from numerous European and American institutions.

Between 1930 and 1989, the Department of Neuroanatomy and Anatomical Pathology of the Municipal Neurological Institute in Barcelona, Spain, directed by Eduardo Pons Tortellà (1906-1989), housed a neurological tissue bank, known as the ‘brain library’. It included over 1250 perfectly preserved pathological tissue samples and autopsied brains which had been photographed, classified, and stored.

The number and variety of the samples made for a priceless collection which unfortunately was destroyed in the early 1990s. Only a few slide boxes were saved, containing some 600 slides of great scientific and educational value. The Spanish Society of Neurology's Museo Archivo Histórico was recently granted access to these slides.