Collections

The Museum of the Order of St John has a collection of more than 60,000 objects, ranging from historic arms and armour through to modern first aid equipment. Browse the selection below to learn a little more about our collections.

A poster with a painted image of a book in front of medical items suck as pill bottles with 'THE CURE OF BOOKS' in red block capitals.
Posters

The Cure of Books

LDOSJ SJA2076

This poster is an advertisement for the St John & Red Cross Hospital Library Project. Formed for the Second World War, the service provided books, magazines and illustrated papers for patients in hospitals and convalescent homes at home and abroad. The books were almost all donations from the public, distributed, bound, redound and repaired by volunteers and cadets. Throughout the war nearly three million items were distributed from hospital library depots in London and all over the country. 

While the service management was reorganised a few times, the service continued to serve patients within the NHS and armed forces after the war. In 1970, over three million books were issued, with 4.000 volunteers working around the country. The service came to an end around 1996, when St John Ambulance divisions around the country took over their local services to continue to provide books to the hospitals.  

To read more about the Hospital Library and St John Volunteers in Hospitals, read this blog post.  

Sponsors

The Museum of the Order of St John would like to thank all those who have supported and continue to support its work. In particular, the Museum would like to thank the following for their generosity: