The project of the graduates registry of the Milan Veterinary Medicine School (1812-1933)

The recent arrangement and inventory of the Milan Veterinary School archives have highlighted the importance of several documents which are suitable for providing a reliable and continuous overview over time of all the names of the young graduates of the School throughout the 125 years of its activity, up to its aggregation to the University at the end of 1932, as a Faculty of Veterinary Medicine. Based on these sources, we have launched the project of a digital registry of graduates in the Milanese School, which will represent the main section of a website devoted to the history of the School and the training of veterinarians, which we plan to release by early 2024. The graduates' registry will gather various information, including: personal data, country of origin, date of graduation, and the title of the final dissertations (a useful element to enrich our acquaintance with the development of this branch of knowledge). Moreover, whenever possible, a brief biographical note will be provided for each graduate. We have therefore designed the grid of a database that will be progressively populated through a careful collection of information and then will be transferred to the website, where it will be searchable according to different keywords. Furthermore, the website will host other sections in which there will also be space for the results of research on the social history of the profession, for example on the contribution made by veterinary medicine to public and sanitary control of epizootic diseases, the wholesomeness of meat destined for slaughter and sale, the health conditions of livestock sold on the market (with the development of legal veterinary medicine) and of livestock raised in the countryside or used in the military. The activities both of the School and the graduates will also make it possible to illustrate the ties of the veterinary profession with state institutions, the city elites and the territory, crossing themes linked to economic development into a European dimension.