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Mothers and Midwives - A history of Maternity in the East Midlands

This exhibition ran from January - April 2012. 

This exhibition was curated by staff from the School of Nursing working in collaboration with Manuscripts and Special Collections at The University of Nottingham.

The experience of having a baby has changed dramatically over the last hundred years. It has moved from a social and domestic occurrence, which predominantly took place in the home, to a medical one which usually happens in hospital. The exhibition explored this development through historical and contemporary sources. It looked at reasons behind the change, and the impact that it has had on women, families, midwives and communities. It revealed changing trends in pregnancy, labour and postnatal care, infant feeding and baby care, and the growing involvement of fathers.

The display’s main focus was the experience of maternity in the East Midlands. It explored pregnancy, birth and the early weeks of caring for a new baby through a variety of local sources, including interviews with mothers and retired midwives, photographs, and equipment relating to midwifery and baby care. Historic material from the Manuscripts and Special Collections at the University of Nottingham provided examples from published sources and archives of medical understanding and practice from earlier times.