Transcript Oral Histories of 20th Century Science and Medicine

Oral Histories of 20th Century
Science and Medicine
Workshop Presentation
July 8, 2003
Why do oral histories?
• Ideas and interactions once recorded in
written form and deposited in archives –
now only saved in ephemeral formats
– Telephone conversations
– E-mails
– Paper records lost to pressure for space
Why do oral histories?
• Important data stored only in memories of
individual scientists
– First generation in a field
– Working groups in laboratories
– Mentoring and collegial relationships
Oral histories may also open access
to written materials that might
otherwise be lost
• Personal correspondence
• Research notes
• Unpublished manuscripts
Methodology
• The oral history interview
– Organized around life and work of individual
– Interviewer does prior research, prepares questions
– Interview is structured as free-flowing
conversation
– Interviewer tries to ensure that all data is recorded
for the historical record
– But is also sensitive to oral author’s concerns
Agreement Form
One-page agreement form ensures that oral
author knows what the interview is about,
what will happen to the recordings, and who
will have access to the interview
The historian’s goal is to open all oral
histories to the public domain, but with
protection of the oral author’s rights
After the interview
• Transcription
• Audit-editing for:
– Transcript faithful to recorded interview
– Clarity and coherence; readability
– Accuracy of names, places, and technical terms
• Review by oral author
• Opening to researcher access
Recording and Preservation formats
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Printed Transcript
Audiotape
Videotape
Website Database
American Institute of Physics
• Project-based
• About 1500 interviews, totaling more than
3000 hours
• Most interviews transcribed; Most have
indexes and abstracts
• Twenty-three abstracts online; other
interviews catalogued in International
Catalog of Sources
UCLA Projects
• Pew Scholars in the Biomedical Sciences
– -- more than 100 interviews since 1988
• Liebeskind History Of Pain Collection
– -- 70 interviews, 1993-2003
• Oral History of Medical Genetics
– -- 8 interviews, 2002-2003
John C. Liebeskind History of
Pain Collection
The history of pain science, pain management, and pain relief
John C. Liebeskind History of
Pain Collection
• Founded 1993 by John Liebeskind (1935-97)
• Current Directors: Marcia Meldrum, PhD,
Katharine Donahue, MLS, Russell Johnson, MLS
• Funded by International Association for the Study of
Pain and American Pain Society
• Goals of project: to document the developments in
pain science and pain management in the 20th
century, and the growth of the professional field
Oral History Interviews
• 72 interviews, ranging in length from 1.5 hours
to 10 hours
• High fidelity audio recordings
• Each oral author asked to provide CV and photo
• Interviewer researches author, reads published
papers, and develops outline of topics to cover
• After interview, discussion of personal papers
and documents
Scope of the Oral History
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Life history
Choices of career and research interest
Clinical and basic research strategies
Collegial and mentoring relationships
Organizational work in pain field
Views on past and current controversies
Processing of Interviews
• Transcription and editing
• Oral author review
• Annotation
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Biographical Sketch
Topical Outline
Information about the Interview
Related Materials in the Collection
• Digitization in progress www.library.ucla.edu/libraries/biomed/his/pain
Mark Swerdlow, DM, FFARCS, 1918-2003
Founder, Intractable Pain Society of Great Britain,
1967
Consultant, WHO Cancer Pain Relief Programme,
1982-90
Interviewed by John Liebeskind, 1996
Short excerpt on following slide
SWERDLOW: I'd got three choices. As a very young, newly qualified doctor in the army, there were
only three specialties open to you for training, and they were radiology, which didn't interest me at all,
psychiatry, which interested me even less, and anesthesiology, you see.
LIEBESKIND: Now, why were the choices limited to those?
SWERDLOW: Because to be a trainee surgeon, they expected you to have some
surgical training already, and the same applies to internal medicine, you see, and all the
major specialties. And also, I suppose, because they'd got enough of the others and
they hadn't got many of these three particular things. Yes.
LIEBESKIND: Okay. That makes sense. Well, carry on, then. So you had your
training. Did you learn much about pain management at that time?
SWERDLOW: No, no, nothing at all. At that time, of course, there was very, very
little about pain management, very little. And, of course, there were very few
modalities, really, when you think about it. I came out of the army, got an appointment
as what we call a registrar anesthesiologist, and then a senior registrar straightaway, I
think, because I'd had this training in the army, you see, and because they were short
when I came out of the army. And then in, I think it was 1951, I got what we call a
consulting appointment.
LIEBESKIND: And that was here, in Manchester?
SWERDLOW: That was here in Manchester, yes, that's right. Yeah. And then the
pain side of it really started – my research in analgesic drugs started in 1954 when I
spent a year as research fellow with Professor Francis Foldes in Pittsburgh.
Building on the Oral Histories
• Document Collections (12 to date)
• Sponsored Symposia and Publications
– Pain and Suffering in History, 1998
– Opioids and Pain Relief in History, 2002
• Website Exhibits
– www.library.ucla.edu/libraries/biomed/iasp
“The IASP Online Archives”
– www.library.ucla.edu/libraries/biomed/his/painexhibit
“The Relief of Pain and Suffering”