Birth and breeding : the politics of reproduction in modern Britain an exhibition at the Wellcome Institute for the History of Medicine, October 1993 / Ken Arnold, Lesley Hall, Julia Sheppard.

  • Wellcome Institute for the History of Medicine.
Date:
1993
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: Birth and breeding : the politics of reproduction in modern Britain an exhibition at the Wellcome Institute for the History of Medicine, October 1993 / Ken Arnold, Lesley Hall, Julia Sheppard. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    INTRODUCTION The history of childbirth in the twentieth century is inevitably a history of contention and debate. Mothers, doctors, policy makers, feminists, scientists, philosophers and journalists have all sought to influence the poli- tics of reproduction. Drawn from papers kept in the Contemporary Medical Archives Centre in the Wellcome Institute Library, this exhibition portrays various aspects of this history as it has unfolded in modern Britain. By focusing on six influential organisations and individuals it seeks to put in historical context arguments that continue today: arguments about who should control the place and process of birth; about the role of contraception, sterilization and abortion in modern society; and about the extent to which it is right to interfere with 'natural' processes. This catalogue is composed of three sections: Lesley Hall's introductory essay setting out the broad history of reproduction in Britain since 1900; then the text and labels from the exhibition; and finally, Julia Sheppard's outline of the nature and history of the archives on which the exhibition is based. KEN ARNOLD