The Royal Pharmaceutical Society holds a substantial collection of archive sound and video recordings which is little known except to those involved in its creation. The author reviews the collection and looks to the future
As the 20th century passes into history, we should perhaps be asking ourselves how future members of the pharmaceutical profession will view the performance of their forebears during an extremely eventful 100-year period.
Those of us who have experienced only the second half of the century have seen a complete revolution in therapeutics, with consequent changes in pharmaceutical science and practice. What was, in the town or village pharmacy of the year 1900, almost a "cottage industry", with skilled chemists and druggists producing elegant medicines from basic ingredients, has been transformed into something totally different.
What would the pharmacist who qualified in the year 1900 have thought if he could have seen a modern pharmacy? Where would be the racks of medicine bottles graduated in half-fluid ounces, the drawers full of corks of so many different sizes, the powder folder, the pill machine, the sets of apothecaries’ weights and the neat racks of white wrapping paper, with the red sealing-wax waiting by the gas jet?
With the problems of future historical researchers in mind, a programme of recorded interviews was commenced some years ago by the Royal Pharmaceutical Society. This now numbers some 80 interviews on a variety of recording systems. Standard audio cassettes account for the largest section, but older tape recordings include 5 inch and 7 inch reel-to-reel systems. A few recent interviews are on digital audio tape. The collection also includes about a dozen video-cassettes. Various pharmacists have acted as interviewers over the years and I have carried out just under one fifth of the one-to-one audio interviews.
The earliest recordings date from 1961 when Professor T. E. Wallis was interviewed by Professor E. J. Shellard. Other well known interviewees from the early days of the programme include Sir Harry Jephcott, architect of the remarkable post-war expansion of Glaxo Laboratories, who was interviewed by Dr Frank Hartley in 1972. In the same year Sir Hugh Linstead was interviewed by Mr Desmond Lewis, who also interviewed, at about the same time, Mr Cyril Maplethorpe, who was so influential in policy on pharmaceutical education. Mr Maplethorpe was interviewed by Mr James Bloomfield, who succeeded him as President of the Society in 1965, and Maplethorpe later interviewed Bloomfield. Other past-Presidents of the Society who have been recorded include Mr H. Steinman, president in 1955-56, Mr H. S. Grainger, who became President in 1961, Miss M. A. Burr, who succeeded him in 1962, Mr A. Aldington, who became President in 1967, Mr A, Howells (1968); Mr J. P. Kerr (1972), Mr C. C. B. Stevens (1974), Mr J. P. Bannerman (1975), Mrs E. J. M. Leigh (1977), Mr J. E. Balmford (1978), Professor A. H. Beckett (1981) and Mrs M. Rawlings, who became President in 1989. It is hoped that more former Presidents will be recorded in the future, this particular component of the overall programme having fallen somewhat behind.
Some interviews are already of considerable historical interest. For example the outstanding pharmaceutical historian, Leslie Matthews, was interviewed in 1994. Born in 1897, Leslie died just a few months short of his 100th birthday. At the time of his recorded interview he was possibly the last pharmacist who could clearly remember that remarkable day in January, 1913, when the first printed prescription forms appeared which were issued under the National Insurance Scheme, bringing a huge increase in chemists’ prescription business — the day when, remarked The Pharmaceutical Journal, "the business of pharmacy entered upon a new era".2 He later served as a stretcher bearer during the Battle of the Somme, being lucky to survive the conflict with no more than a serious arm injury. A founder member of the British Society for the History of Pharmacy, he is widely known as the author of the standard work ‘History of Pharmacy in Britain’.3 His later experiences included work in China and appointment as company secretary of Burroughs Wellcome.
While most of the recorded interviewees are pharmacists the programme is not exclusive. A fascinating interview was held with Dr Norman Heatley. Dr Heatley, not a pharmacist but a biochemist, was the first person to manufacture usable amounts of penicillin, which were employed in the research conducted by the team of Florey and Chain at Oxford. It was due to Heatley’s work in devising new techniques for the culture and extraction of penicillin that clinical evaluation of the antibiotic was completed without undue delay and penicillin became available in quantity in time for the D-Day landings of June, 1944. The counter-current method of extraction devised by Heatley became part of the standard procedure for penicillin production used in the pharmaceutical industry.4 Many industrial pharmacists would later find themselves engaged in production methods pioneered by Dr Heatley and the recorded interview is of considerable interest to those concerned with antibiotic history. Dr Heatley expressed his admiration for the world of pharmacy and following a lecture given by him to the British Society for the History of Pharmacy he presented that society with one of the original culture flasks which he devised for the earliest penicillin production in 1940, later presenting a similar example to the museum of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society.
The content of recorded interviews varies considerably, depending on the method adopted by the interviewer. I adopt a biographical approach, commencing with childhood and background, seeking any family connections with pharmacy, although these are relatively rare. Primary and secondary education are always relevant, particularly influences leading to the choice of pharmacy as a career. recollections of apprenticeship days and student experiences are invariably of interest, leading into the story of life as a practising pharmacist. Particular experiences, such as service on the Society’s Council, on branch committees and other pharmaceutical bodies are always interesting, and, not infrequently, war experience provides abundant recollections. Pharmacists come from very varied backgrounds and many have had fascinating lives in different theatres of the profession. These tapes contain a treasure trove of pharmaceutical experience.
At the present time, for technical reasons, access to the tapes is not possible. But inquiries are well in hand with the National Sound Archive, which is a department of the British Library, exploring the feasibility of depositing all the tapes with the national archive. This would ensure correct conservation of the material and appropriate systems of access for bona fide researchers. At a time when new technology is rapidly displacing magnetic tape, and reel-to-reel playback equipment has virtually disappeared, specialist work is required to transfer material to digital form and preserve this for future generations. Even today’s latest technology will be superseded in due course and the National Sound Archive is best placed to archive irreplaceable recordings.
In addition to the collection of the Society a number of other interviews have been conducted. Dr Stuart Anderson, a former hospital pharmacist and now lecturer at the department of public health and policy of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, conducted a series of some 50 interviews with retired community pharmacists and has published work based on this research.5,6 I conducted some 20 interviews in connection with a thesis, of which half were with pharmacists and the remainder with other health professionals.7 Tapes from both these sources are deposited with the National Sound Archive.
At the present time the Society’s programme of recorded interviews is in abeyance. This is regrettable. It is hoped that it will be re-established as soon as possible. Pharmacy in Britain has a distinguished heritage and we must be grateful to our forebears for the abundant records which have come down to us. The recorded interview will be a key source of biographical and general information for future generations of pharmacists. Recollections of a life in pharmacy which are not recorded in time are lost forever. It is our responsibility to preserve our history for the benefit of those who will follow, and all too easy to neglect this duty.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT I acknowledge the assistance provided by Ms Caroline Reed and Dr John Clements of the Society’s staff in the preparation of this article.
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Dr Hunt is a retired industrial pharmacist and a past president of the British Society for the History of Pharmacy