The Why Behind the Research
From the start of my career as a Historian I have had a strong interest in medical history, with a specific focus on psychiatry and the Nineteenth Century. My undergraduate dissertation focussed on reforms introduced by Physician Charles Hood at Bethlem Asylum during the 1860's.
It is from these initial interests and research points that I decided to look into an asylum which is fairly local to myself, Prestwich County Asylum and produce an exhibition which told the stories of patients. Due to funding and logistical issues, the production of this website was more suited to the project in these initial stages.
As my career developed into education and museums I gained a specific interest in public history an customer engagement with public history. I began to think about how museums, exhibitions and research projects can/do tell the stories of medicine throughout the past and how these things are interacted with.
‘In medicine's history, the initiatives have often come from, and power has frequently rested with the sufferer, or with lay people in general, rather than with the physician or the medical professional.’
Porter, Roy, ‘The Patients View: Doing Medical History from Below’, Theory and Society, (14: 2, 1985), p, 176, pp. 175-198.
The quote above from historian Roy Porter provokes thoughts about how the story of medical history has been told and researched throughout modern times. This quote inspired and underpinned the routes of this research project.
Although it is inevitable that the stories of the patients will in part be told through the records of the medical professional. These will not be the focus and through focussing on their lives beyond the asylum it allows for their stories to be told in a way which is honourable.
In humanising the stories of these patients I hope to produce relatable and 'down to earth' research for the general public and to alter their views on asylum and psychiatric history.
Taking Inspiration
With the initial purposes of this project having an eventual physical exhibition as the focus, I visited a range of museums to take inspiration from. Story telling and telling 'history from below' was always at the forefront of these visits.
The Thackary Museum of Medicine - Leeds, UK
Imperial War Museum North - Salford, UK
The Science Museum - London, UK
