Exhibition Research and Findings: The Rare Privilege of Medicine

Abstract

On 8 March 2018, the Geoffrey Kaye Museum of Anaesthetic History launched its latest exhibition in an online format, The Rare Privilege of Medicine: Women Anaesthetists in Australia and New Zealand. The launch was deliberately timed to coincide with International Women's Day which carried the theme of “Press for Progress.” These women's stories reveal them to have been champions for progress, as well as having the potential to be inspirational beacons of progress for the future, thereby fitting easily into the theme.

This article highlights the stories of Dr. Janet Greig and Dr. Lily Jörgensen, two women featured within the exhibition. Other women are also represented, as their stories provide some degree of context to the two featured women, even though there is no evidence to suggest that they did significant work in anesthesia practice. However, this article should not be considered biographical in nature. Instead, it operates within a distinct theoretical perspective, examining the way in which historians research and interpret the past. It also considers the exhibition research, and the exhibition itself, to be a launch point for more nuanced work in this area.