Witnessing the witnesses: Potentials and pitfalls of the witness seminar in the history of twentieth-century medicine

The Historiography of Contemporary Science, Technology, and Medicine: Writing Recent Science

Volumn , Issue , 2006, Pages 260-278

  Tansey, E M ^a  

^a WELLCOME TRUST SANGER INSTITUTE   (United Kingdom)

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EID: 84883032297     PISSN: None     EISSN: None     Source Type: Book    
DOI: 10.4324/9780203323885     Document Type: Chapter

References (83)

1. Oxford English Dictionary online, http://dictionary.oed.com/entrance.dtl
2. Since 1990 we have, inter alia, organized seminars and symposia on a wide range of topics in twentieth-century medical history, held a Summer School and published a regular Newsletter. For further details, http://www.ucl.ac.uk/histmed/modern/20thcentury.html, accessed on March 21, 2006-updated url added in proof.
3. In addition to Hoddeson (this volume), a useful summary is Soraya de Chadarevian, "Using Interviews to Write the History of Science," in The Historiography of Contemporary Science and Technology, ed. Thomas Söderqvist (Amsterdam: Harwood Academic Publishers, 1997), 51-70;
4. see also Paul Thompson, "Introduction," in Oral History, Health and Welfare, ed. Joanna Bornat, Robert Perks, Paul Thompson and Jan Walmsley (London: Routledge, 2000), 1-20;
5. and Ulla-Maija Peltonen "The Return of the Narrator" in Historical Perspectives on Memory, ed. Anne Ollila (Helsinki: SHS, 1999), 1-20, for views on the growing acceptance of the important role of oral history in contemporary historiography.
6. The Institute for Contemporary British History became the Centre for Contemporary British History in October 2002. See http://icbh.ac.uk for more details of its activities, accessed on July 21, 2004.
7. G. Köhler and C. Milstein, "Continuous Cultures of Fused Cells Secreting Antibody of Predefined Specificity," Nature 256 (1975): 495-497.
8. Harry Schwartz, "Talking Points: American Protectionism-The Schwartz View," Scrip Magazine (June 1993): 6-9.
9. See also S. de Chadarevian, Designs for Life: Molecular Biology after World War II (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002), esp. "The Monoclonal Antibody Scandal," 353-362.
10. See Alberto Cambrosio and Peter Keating, Exquisite Specificity: The Monoclonal Antibody Revolution (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1995) for the inclusion of witness seminar contributions by Ita Askonas (41); David Secher (78); and Sir James Gowans (125).
11. César Milstein, "Georges Jean Franz Köhler," The Biochemist 17 (1966): 13-14;
12. César Milstein, "With the Benefit of Hindsight," Immunology Today 21 (2000): 359-363.
13. Early transcripts were published by the Wellcome Trust and later by the Wellcome Trust Centre for the History of Medicine, both in London. All are published in the series Wellcome Witnesses to Twentieth Century Medicine (hereafter WW20), except for S. Lock, L. A. Reynolds, and E. M. Tansey, eds, Ashes to Ashes: The History of Smoking and Health (Amsterdam: Rodopi, 1998).
14. E. M. Tansey and P. P. Catterall, eds, Technology Transfer in Britain: The Case of Monoclonal Antibodies, in WW20, vol. 1 (London: Wellcome Trust, 1997), 1-34.
15. See also E. M. Tansey and P. Catterall, "Monoclonal Antibodies: a Witness Seminar in Contemporary Medical History," Medical History 38 (1994): 322-327.
16. A. Ness, L. A. Reynolds, and E. M. Tansey, eds, Population-based Research in South Wales: The MRC Pneumoconiosis Research Unit and the MRC Epidemiology Unit, WW20, vol. 13 (London: Wellcome Trust, 2002);
17. P. D'A. Hart, "Chronic Pulmonary Disease in South Wales Coalmines: An Eye-witness Account of the MRC Surveys (1937-1942)," ed. E. M. Tansey, Social History of Medicine 11 (1998): 450-468.
18. E. M. Tansey, S. V. Willhoft, and D. A. Christie, eds, Self and Non-Self: A History of Autoimmunity, in WW20, vol. 1 (London: Wellcome Trust, 1997), 35-66.
19. Lock, Reynolds, and Tansey, Ashes, 198-220.
20. E. M. Tansey and D. A. Christie, eds, Endogenous Opiates, in WW20, vol. 1 (London: Wellcome Trust, 1997), 67-101.
21. E. M. Tansey and L. A. Reynolds, eds, The Committee on Safety of Drugs, in WW20, vol. 1 (London: Wellcome Trust, 1997), 103-135.
22. D. A. Christie and E. M. Tansey, eds, Making the Body more Transparent: The Impact of Nuclear Magnetic Resonance and Magnetic Resonance Imaging, in WW20, vol. 2 (London: Wellcome Trust, 1998), 1-74.
23. L. A. Reynolds and E. M. Tansey, eds, Research in General Practice, in WW20, vol. 2 (London: Wellcome Trust, 1998), 75-132.
24. E. M. Tansey and D. A. Christie, eds, Drugs in Psychiatric Practice, in WW20, vol. 2 (1998), 133-207.
25. E. M. Tansey and L. A. Reynolds, eds, The MRC Common Cold Unit, in WW20, vol. 2 (London: Wellcome Trust, 1998), 209-268.
26. E. M. Tansey and L. A. Reynolds, eds, Early Heart Transplant Surgery in the UK, WW20, vol. 3 (London: Wellcome Trust, 1999).
27. E. M. Tansey and D. A. Christie, eds, Haemophilia: Recent History of Clinical Management, WW20, vol. 4 (London: Wellcome Trust, 1999).
28. E. M. Tansey and D. A. Christie, eds, Looking at the Unborn: Historical Aspects of Obstetric Ultrasound, WW20, vol. 5 (London: Wellcome Trust, 2000).
29. L. A. Reynolds and E. M. Tansey, eds, Post-Penicillin Antibiotics: From Acceptance to Resistance? WW20, vol. 6 (London: Wellcome Trust, 2000).
30. L. A. Reynolds and E. M. Tansey, eds, Clinical Research in Britain, 1950-1980, WW20, vol. 7 (London: Wellcome Trust, 2000).
31. D. A. Christie and E. M. Tansey, eds, Intestinal Absorption, WW20, vol. 8 (London: Wellcome Trust, 2000).
32. This meeting was incorporated into a larger project that included both additional and supplementary material. Ness, Reynolds, and Tansey, South Wales.
33. D. A. Christie and E. M. Tansey, eds, Origins of Neonatal Intensive Care in the UK, WW20, vol. 9 (London: Wellcome Trust Centre for the History of Medicine, 2001).
34. L. A. Reynolds and E. M. Tansey, eds, British Contributions to Medical Research and Education in Africa after the Second World War, WW20, vol. 10 (London:, Wellcome Trust Centre for the History of Medicine, 2001).
35. L. A. Reynolds and E. M. Tansey, eds, Childhood Asthma and Beyond, WW20, vol. 11 (London: Wellcome Trust Centre for the History of Medicine, 2001).
36. D. A. Christie and E. M. Tansey, eds, Maternal Care, WW20, vol. 12 (London: Wellcome Trust Centre for the History of Medicine, 2001).
37. D. A. Christie and E. M. Tansey, eds, Peptic Ulcer: Rise and Fall, WW20, vol. 14 (London: Wellcome Trust Centre for the History of Medicine, 2002).
38. L. A. Reynolds and E. M. Tansey, eds, The MRC Applied Psychology Unit, WW20, vol. 16 (London: Wellcome Trust Centre for the History of Medicine, 2002).
39. L. A. Reynolds and E. M. Tansey, eds, Foot and Mouth Disease: The 1967 Outbreak and its Aftermath, WW20, vol. 18 (London: Wellcome Trust Centre for the History of Medicine, 2003).
40. D. A. Christie and E. M. Tansey, eds, Leukaemia, WW20, vol. 15 (London: Wellcome Trust Centre for the History of Medicine, 2003).
41. D. A. Christie and E. M. Tansey, eds, Genetic Testing, WW20, vol. 17 (London: Wellcome Trust Centre for the History of Medicine, 2003).
42. D. A. Christie and E. M. Tansey, eds, Environmental Toxicology: The Legacy of "Silent Spring," WW20, vol.19 (London: Wellcome Trust Centre for the History of Medicine, 2004).
43. L. A. Reynolds and E. M. Tansey, eds, Innovation in Pain Management, WW20, vol. 21 (London: Wellcome Trust Centre for the History of Medicine, 2004).
44. D. A. Christie and E. M. Tansey, eds, Cystic Fibrosis, WW20, vol. 20 (London: Wellcome Trust Centre for the History of Medicine, 2004).
45. D. Zallen, D. A. Christie and E. M. Tansey, eds, The Rhesus Factor and Disease Prevention, WW20, vol. 22 (London: Wellcome Trust Centre for the History of Medicine, 2004).
46. Costs include travel, accommodation and hospitality, transcription of the tapes, and publishing. We cannot invite overseas witnesses to the meetings, although there have been the occasional, often self-financed, exceptions. The focus of each meeting, and the subsequent publication, is predominantly on British experiences. However a current project at the University of Amsterdam, under the chairmanship of Professor Eddy Houwaart and modeled on our work, is for Witness Seminars on some of the same subjects as those held in London. Ultimately there will be comparative volumes on aspects of recent medicine and medical history in both Britain and the Netherlands. See http://www.metamedicavumc.nl/mge/index.htm, accessed on March 21, 2006-updated url added in proof.
47. In addition to the Amsterdam initiative (Note 43), Dr Janet McCalman supervises a Witness Seminar series at the University of Melbourne. See "Witness to Australian Science," http://www.chs.unimelb.edu.au/programe/jnmhu/witness.html, accessed on March 21, 2006-updated url added in proof.
48. Whilst trying to avoid what A. J. P. Taylor considered the problem of "old men drooling about their youth" (quoted in Brian Harrison, "Oral history and Recent Political History," Oral History 1 (1972): 30-46, on 46), we are aware that younger people may well be too close to the events under discussion to contribute meaningfully.
49. See Anthony Seldon "Interviews" in Contemporary History: Practice and Method, ed. Anthony Seldon (Oxford: Blackwell, 1988), 3-6.
50. Younger observers who were witnesses to their elders' discoveries, achievements, or failures have, however, proved to be very informative, see for example, Monoclonal Antibodies, Early Heart Transplant and Clinical Research.
51. See Lillian Hoddeson, this volume.
52. Some are already catalogued and available for study; see Wellcome Library catalogue, http://catalogue.wellcome.ac.uk, accessed on July 21, 2004.
53. Witness Seminars are in Manuscripts and Archives at class mark GC/253. For mention of the renal transplant meeting, see Thomas Schlich, "How Gods and Saints Became Transplant Surgeons: The Scientific Article as a Model for Writing History," History of Science XXXIII (1995): 311-331.
54. Thomas S. Kuhn, The Essential Tension (Chicago, IL: Chicago University Press, 1977): 327.
55. As far as we know, we are unusual in providing this level of editorial care/intervention. The Witness Seminars published by the Institute of Contemporary British History are much shorter and more sparsely footnoted, although clearly they are edited for style. See, for instance, the three sequential Witness Seminars edited by Brian Brivati and David Wincott, "The Campaign for Democratic Socialism, 1960-64," Contemporary Record 7 (1993): 363-385;
56. Brian Brivati and David Wincott, "The Labour Committee for Europe," Contemporary Record 7 (1993): 386-416;
57. Brian Brivati and David Wincott, "The launch of the SDP 1979-81," Contemporary Record 7 (1993): 417-464. Similarly, published round-table discussions rarely describe how the meetings were set up, the participants selected and briefed, or the discussions edited and offer little in the way of explanatory footnotes.
58. See, for example, Laurie M. Brown and Lillian Hoddeson, eds, The Birth of Particle Physics (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1983), 261-293;
59. D. J. Bradley, K. Kirkwood, and E. E. Sabben-Clare, eds, Health in Tropical Africa during the Colonial Period (Oxford: Clarendon, 1980).
60. Interviews by Dr Max Blythe, of the Oxford Brookes University Medical Biography Video History Project, http://www.brookes.ac.uk/schools/bms/medical/index.html, accessed on July 21, 2004.
61. Hart, "Chronic Pulmonary."
62. This interview has also been published separately: C. Lee and C. Rizza, "Witnessing Medical History: An Interview with Dr. Rosemary Biggs," ed., E. M. Tansey, Haemophilia 4 (1998): 769-777.
63. This is a large and distinct field. On this issue see Terri A. Schorzman, ed., A Practical Introduction to Videohistory: The Smithsonian Institution and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Experiment (Malabar, FL: Krieger, 1993).
64. See Doel and Henson, this volume.
65. For a particularly brazen example of visual distortion, see David King, The Commisar Vanishes: the Falsification of Photographs and Art in Stalin's Russia (New York: Metropolitan Books, 1997).
66. See Lillian Hoddeson, this volume.
67. Witness Seminars differ markedly from both the "focus group discussions" and "community interviews" described in Hugo Slim and Paul Thompson, with Olivia Bennet and Nigel Cross, "Ways of Listening" in The Oral History Reader, ed. Robert Perks and Alistair Thomson (London & New York, Routledge, 1998), 114-125, esp. 118-119.
68. G. Nigel Gilbert and Michael Mulkay, "Experiments are the Key: Participants' Histories and Historians' Histories of Science," Isis 75 (1984): 105-125, on 107.
69. See, for example, Christie and Tansey, Neonatal, 44.
70. "To Catch a Cold," BBC Radio 4, first broadcast February 6, 2004.
71. "Few books are so intellectually stimulating or uplifting," in J. N. Blau, "Book of the Month: Review of Wellcome Witnesses to Twentieth Century Medicine, Vols 1 and 2," Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine 29 (1999): 206-208, on 208.
72. Speech by the Duke of Montrose, January 14, 2002, House of Lords, Hansard (London: Her Majesty's Stationery Office, 2002), Column 928.
73. J. H. Comroe and R. D. Dripps, "Scientific Basis for the Support of Biomedical Science," Science 192 (1976): 102-111.
74. Jonathan Grant, Liz Green, and Barbara Mason, "From Bedside to Bench: Comroe and Dripps Revisited," (Brunel University: Health Economics Research Group, 2003), Report 30.
75. (Note added in proof: even more helpful is Steve Hanney, Miranda Mugford, Jonathan Grant and Martin Buxton, "Assessing the Benefits of Health Research: Lessons from Research into the Use of Antenatal Corticosteroids for the Prevention of Neonatal Respiratory Distress Syndrome," Social Science & Medicine 60 (2005): 937-947.)
76. Whilst this may not be such a major issue nowadays, it was raised by oral historians when the Twentieth Century Group was formed. A hint of the debates within the UK medical history community about the necessity, or not, of transcription is in Zineta Sabovic and David Pearson, A Healthy Heritage: Collecting for the Future of Medical History (London: The Wellcome Trust, 1999), 57.
77. See also Raphael Samuel, "Perils of the Transcript," Oral History 1 (1971): 19-22.
78. Access to transcript material is also available via the World Wide Web, currently http://www.ucl.ac.uk/histmed/publication/wellcome_witness/index.html, accessed on March 21, 2006-updated url added in proof.
79. "This is oral history at its best. ..all the volumes make compulsive reading... they are, primarily, important historical records," in Irvine Loudon, "Wellcome Witnesses to Twentieth Century Medicine: A Review," British Medical Journal 325 (2002): 1119.
80. For a brief review of the problems posed by the immense proliferation of modern scientific literature see E. M. Tansey, " 'The Dustbin of History, ' and Why so much of Modern Medicine should End Up There," Lancet 354 (1999): 811-812.
81. For a specific example of these problems, see D. J. Cook, M. O. Meade, and M. P. Fink, "How to Keep Up with the Critical Care Literature and Avoid Being Buried Alive," Critical Care Medicine 24 (1996): 1757-1768.
82. Peter Medawar, "Is the Scientific Paper a Fraud?" in The Threat and the Glory: Reflections on Science and Scientists (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1991), 228-233.
83. Saul Benison, "Oral History: A Personal View," in Modern Methods in the History of Medicine, ed. Edwin Clarke (London: Athlone Press, 1971), 286-305, on 291.