Help us research hidden stories about people’s health in the 18th century for our Places of Science project!
by Epworth Old Rectory on May 15th, 2024 in blog
Epworth Old Rectory has been chosen as one of thirty-six small museums across the UK to be awarded funding of £3,488 by the Royal Society in the latest round of its Places of Science scheme to engage communities with their local science stories. Places of Science aims to celebrate projects that will evoke curiosity, interest and enthusiasm by exploring science in a creative way, while also contributing to the museum sector’s recovery.
Our project is called ‘Cures from the Garden: 18th century Medicine at Home.’ Epworth Old Rectory was the childhood home of John Wesley. John was passionate about improving the wellbeing of everyday people and wrote a book called Primitive Physick (1747) which contains 800 ‘tried and tested cures’ that could be made at home using herbs/plants from the garden. The Old Rectory has a Physick Garden containing herbs and plants from Primitive Physick. Working in partnership with the community, the project will uncover ‘hidden’ stories about everyday people’s health and the cures available to them in the 18th century. We will work with a local artist called Helen Stark and volunteers to create engaging and accessible signage, with an accompanying trail in the Physick Garden. The interpretation will help bring the stories of everyday people in the 18th century to life and highlight the similarities and differences to health and medicine experienced by people today. Anya Johnson, Visits and Collections Manager, said “We are so excited to work in partnership with the community and uncover hidden stories about everyday people’s health and wellbeing in the 18th century. We will work with volunteers to replant our Physick Garden and create engaging signage and a trail to explore the hidden stories.”
We need your help!
For the Places of Science Project ‘Cures from the Garden: 18th century Medicine at Home’ we will be researching ‘hidden’ stories about people’s health in the 18th century. We have compiled an archive of free online texts which contain letters, journals, manuals and texts from the 18th century. We need volunteers to help us read through these texts and extract the ‘hidden’ stories about people’s health, for example, if the writer makes reference to a period of illness or a specific cure being used. Each volunteer will be assigned a specific text to read through. Any research completed will contribute towards the writing of interpretation boards in the Physick Garden.
If anyone is interested in helping out with research we are holding a meeting on Thursday 6th June at 10:00am at the Old Rectory, 1 Rectory Street, Epworth, DN9 1HX. We will give guidance and explain how to take part in the research. You will need access to a computer and the internet to take part in the online research – if you don’t have access to a computer/internet we have a small selection of books which are available to read. We can also advise on places to access a computer and the internet free of charge. The meeting will last up to one hour. Please let Anya Johnson (Visits and Collections Manager) know if you wish to help with research and can attend the meeting by emailing vcm@epwortholdrectory.org.uk. The period of research will take place from 6th June until October 2024.
