A few weeks ago, we were delighted to welcome our new Project Officer, Emily Colborne! Emily has joined the team working on Birthing Stories which is the collaborative oral history project taking place between Voices of Motherhood and the George Marshall Medical Museum.
“I was thrilled when this role came along. My ongoing work with Nurture Families has deepened my understanding of infant mental health and parent-infant relationships, and so the Birthing Stories project seemed like the perfect complement to that. My own transition to motherhood sparked a deep conviction that mothers’ experiences of giving birth, and the profound changes that come with that, should be heard. And yet, as mothers, we are rarely afforded the opportunity to tell our stories. This project aims to change that.
So far, I’ve been exploring the archives for Worcestershire birth stories, going back as far as possible. Unsurprisingly, mothers’ voices are largely absent, but we’ve unearthed some wonderful finds – from an early 20th century midwife’s casebook, to a 1928 commemorative “Baby Week” book, to a handwritten letter by Mary Coventry to Lady Coventry about the birth of her baby son in 1826.
We’ve also been busy collecting Worcestershire birth stories – we always want more so please keep them coming! The next phase of the project will involve in-depth interviews with mothers to create oral histories of their birth experiences. At the end of the project, our exhibition at The Hive will bring to life the rich variety of memories that have been shared with us, and truly give a platform to mothers’ voices over the decades.”