Health, Medicine, and Gender in the Archives: Healthcare from Below

RSVPs are appreciated but not required. Please RSVP to Matilda Hemming, PhD Candidate (English and GSWS): mhemming@sas.upenn.edu.

What can we learn about constructions of gender, sexuality, and race through archival documents on health and medicine? How have people understood their well-being in different historical periods? In what ways do these documents align with institutionalized medicine? In what ways do they chart additional histories of health and care? In this workshop we will examine archival materials spanning historical and geographic regions and will focus on how ordinary people have recorded their experience of pregnancy and postpartum care, abortion, birth control, sexual health and identity, children’s health, community care, and health activism.  

This workshop will be led by Alicia Meyer, Curator of Research Services in the Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts.

About the Series

Are you a teacher or researcher interested in the medical humanities and gender studies? Are you curious about how to use archival materials in your teaching or research? If so, please join a three-part workshop series on Health, Medicine, and Gender in the Archives at Penn. These informal workshops will introduce attendees to a wide range of exciting materials and will provide practical information about how to work with curators in your research and teaching. Graduate students are especially encouraged to attend.

Upcoming workshops (Thursdays at noon):

• January 25: The Barbara Bates Center, Suite 2U, Claire M. Fagin Hall (Jessica Martucci)
• February 22: The Kislak Center, Van Pelt-Dietrich Library Center, 6th Floor (Alicia Meyer)
• March 28: University Archives Research Center, 401 Market Street, Suite 210 (J. M. Duffin). Reception and swag to follow!

Featured image: Zorane-brand birth control pills (ca. 1974)