Welcome to the E-Team!

We’re very pleased to welcome Molly to the team (at least remotely). Molly is a History student at University of Birmingham and is joining us for her remote work placement until her academic term starts in Autumn 2020. Along with Sally (who we introduced earlier in the week), Molly will be assisting with research for our hopeful Birthing Stories project next year, and will be delving into our oral histories and archive collections, specifically. Enough from us, here’s a word from Molly:

““My name is Molly and I am going into the second year of my History undergraduate degree at the University of Birmingham.

I really enjoy archival research, given my History degree and previous work experience in archives, and am therefore very enthusiastic about this research placement. Because of my editor position at my university student newspaper, I am also delighted to have the opportunity to share my research through posts and blogs.

During this placement, I am very much looking forward to delving into online archives and learning more about the history of birth and obstetrics in Worcestershire. By listening to oral histories and reading transcribed interviews, I aim to help make accessible online resources on this topic, both as a historical record and also as a tool for the future of medicine. Learning about history orally is a fascinating and rare method of research, allowing personal experiences to be heard in their original form - I cannot wait to share my findings.””

— Molly Schoenfeld

Welcome to the E-Team!

Sally Boyle is one of two students joining George Marshall Medical Museum from the University of Birmingham to help research a project we’re working on with Heritage Freelancer Nadia Stone.

With an initial stall due to coronavirus, we’re aiming to apply for funding to record memories of birth through the decades by the end of this year and create podcasts and teaching resources. Sally will be helping us to find community groups within Worcestershire who might like to be involved.

Watch this space for more details!

“I’m Sally and am currently an undergraduate History student at the University of Birmingham.

I jumped at the chance to be part of this placement as I felt it combined several areas I am interested in. Having studied biology previously, researching obstetrics and birthing stories perfectly combined this interest with my enthusiasm for history.

Additionally, by reaching out to medical organisations and community groups, I’ll be delving deeper into the social care sector and the creation of community connections, which are areas I’d ideally go into post-graduation. Through this project, I hope to amplify the voices of people in and around Worcestershire by researching and sharing their stories, and allowing others to access, relate to or learn from these experiences”

— Sally Boyle

Medicine in the Age of Revolution

We were invited by the University of Kent to help them create one in a series of wonderful short films about the factors driving change in medical practice during the Age of Revolution.

Watch the film about the Kymograph, with George Marshall Medical Museum’s Curator, Louise Price below, and head to their webpage to see more films, which are particularly useful for students studying the History of Medicine as part of a GCSE or A level course.

Thanks for including us!

An Anti-racist organisation

Racism has devastating consequences. We recognise, that as an organisation promoting the study and commemoration of the histories and material cultures of medicine and healthcare in the Midlands, we accept that we have not more, but everything to do. We apologise for being silent for so long. We want a society built on inclusion and equality of access and opportunity. We want to overturn institutional racism. We want a collection and workforce to reflect diversity and affect change.

Last year we trained with ‘Inclusive Boards’ to understand how we might be able to embed the Creative Case for Diversity in our small organisation and we are progressing. We are making new connections to diversify our small workforce of volunteers, including our steering group who report to the Board of Trustees at the Charles Hastings Education Centre.

Right now we are beginning to gather oral histories and witness testimony from staff within hospital and healthcare settings in Worcestershire focussing on the coronavirus pandemic and hope to highlight the reliance of the county and nation on Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic staff (our doctors, nurses, cleaners and porters amongst them), who have been disproportionately affected by Covid-19.

There is still everything to do, because Black Lives Matter.