Imperial Microbiology: The National Collection of Type Cultures and the Management of Microorganisms, 1916–1922

Since its founding in January 1920, the National Collection of Type Cultures (NCTC) has played a fundamental role supporting microbiological research in Britain and globally. NCTC is an international repository for authenticated bacterial strains of medical and veterinary significance, making many available to researchers. Among the oldest collections of its kind still operating today, it presently holds almost 6,000 historically and microbiologically significant strains. Drawing on records of the Medical Research Council, which sponsored the NCTC, and uncataloged, previously unstudied archival holdings at the UK Health Security Agency, this article lays out and for the first time critically examines details of the establishment of the NCTC, and explores its far-reaching impacts on microbiology in the 20th century, and particularly on microbial taxonomy and classification.