{"id":197,"date":"2024-04-11T15:22:32","date_gmt":"2024-04-11T15:22:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/libraryblogs.is.ed.ac.uk\/one-health\/?p=197"},"modified":"2024-05-01T13:54:24","modified_gmt":"2024-05-01T13:54:24","slug":"women-and-the-politics-of-care-in-zoo-animal-advocacy-and-veterinary-archival-records-1910-1930","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/libraryblogs.is.ed.ac.uk\/one-health\/2024\/04\/11\/women-and-the-politics-of-care-in-zoo-animal-advocacy-and-veterinary-archival-records-1910-1930\/","title":{"rendered":"Women and the politics of care in zoo, animal advocacy and veterinary archival records, 1910-1930\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"
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LONDON, UK – 4 DECEMBER 2018: A statue of the English suffragist and union leader Millicent Fawcett, an early feminist campaigner for women’s suffrage (Photo: Shutterstock).<\/p><\/div>\n

Welcome to this series on research for the One Health archival project!\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

This week, I will present a bit about my current research project with Dr. Alette Willis, Chancellor\u2019s Fellow and Senior Lecturer in the School of Health in Social Science. We have been looking at the roles of women in care practices in the early twentieth century, through evidence we find across OneKind (SSPV), the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland (RZSS) and the Royal (Dick) Veterinary College archival materials. I\u2019ll provide a quick glimpse into what we\u2019ve found so far regarding women\u2019s caring roles during the time period of 1910-1930 in the three organisations.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

OneKind (SSPV): women as moral compass and source of compassion<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

Some women involved in women\u2019s suffrage in the UK in the early twentieth century also became anti-vivisectionists. We found that women were central to the Scottish Society for the Prevention of Vivisection (SSPV), and many also proved active in other social movements. Women in the UK experienced the threat of government-sanctioned and medically applied control over their bodies after the passing of the Contagious Disease Act 1866 (see this <\/span>article on the Victorian Web for an overview<\/span><\/a>). Women, then, could identify with the suffering of animals whose bodies were controlled completely during acts of vivisection. <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Image of Our Fellow Mortals Magazine, volume number 6, February 1913, SSPV<\/p><\/div>\n

But, the brutality of vivisection was also railed against as corrupting good souls, and women in the SSPV expressed a neo-romanticism that rejected material and impassionate science, apparent in their magazine, <\/span>Our Fellow Mortals, <\/span><\/i>with volumes published from 1911 to 1925; my previous research of cultural attitudes towards animals in France showed a similar perception in the 19<\/span>th<\/span> century of the corrupting power of witnessing or participating in acts of brutality or cruelty towards animals. Examples can be found in the SSPV magazine of women characterised, and characterising themselves, as the moral compass of society, the source of compassion. For instance, the SSPV included a quote from poet George Barlow\u2019s essay, \u2018Science and Sympathy\u2019, in volume number 6 of the magazine, February 1913, page 7:<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2018More and more, for good or evil, women are beginning to study physiology and to take active part in medical practice … We must remember that the feminine faculty of tenderness is the saving factor in the coarse and selfish world. If we teach women to be cruel, our folly will re-act upon ourselves in unforeseen and terrible ways … No amount of scientific knowledge, no fabulous increase of material comforts or luxuries, would ever compensate mankind for the loss of its one most priceless faculty, the gift of loving-tenderness’ <\/em>(1618\/1\/4\/2\/1)<\/p>\n

Thus, women who entered medicine or veterinary medicine, could lose their feminine compassion. This perception of women also laid the burden of caring about and for other animals at their feet; women <\/span>should <\/span><\/i>care deeply about the fate of animals used in vivisection, as well as animals killed for food and other goods. This positioning of women is apparent in flyers held by the SSPV from the Council of Justice to Animals, in this case an appeal to women regarding humane slaughtering, by the Secretary of the Council, Violet Woods, most likely dated in the early to mid 1920s:<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2018It is to the women of this country that we must appeal to bring about this reform. Will they fail to realise their responsibility? The fate of thirty million animals slaughtered every year in these isles is in their hands, and humanity cries aloud to them to do their duty. Another year may prove whether it may be proclaimed to foreign lands that every animal in Britain has a painless death, because the women realised their sufferings, realised their own responsibility, exercised their power, <\/em>and have done their duty.\u2019<\/em> (1618\/2\/3\/2\/2)<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Women within the SSPV cared about animals but were not necessarily \u2018on the ground\u2019 caring for, and they represented the upper classes.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Royal Zoological Society of Scotland (RZSS): unpaid labour and generosity<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

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Red Pandas at Edinburgh Zoo (Photo: Elizabeth Vander Meer, 2024)\u00a0<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n

Women appear in the RZSS archival records in terms of caring for animals, and plants, in the form of unpaid labour, undertaking keeper work and gardening on zoo grounds. Unpaid labour defines women\u2019s involvement in care practices at Edinburgh Zoo in the early twentieth century, with wives of keepers, architects and garden designers fulfilling these roles alongside their husbands; this was the case for zoo founder, Thomas Gillespie, whose wife, Mary Elizabeth, supported many aspects of zoo animal care and management. Women also cared about animals and the establishment through monetary, food and animal donations. Women who donated money or food could be characterised as inhabiting higher socio-economic strata in Edinburgh, evident in RZSS Annual Reports for the period. Several women appear in paid work as refreshment manageresses, as described in the RZSS Annual Reports.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

We can find what could be considered an <\/span>anthroporphising of <\/span>animals in the case of descriptions of mothers and mothering found in the RZSS Annual Reports. This example is useful to consider here, from the 1930 Annual Report, page 12:<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

‘For the first time in the history of the Park a litter of three polar bear cubs was born, but \u201cSheila\u201d did not prove a good mother, and devoured them as soon as they were born\u2019\u00a0\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Polar bears, usually males, eat cubs when resources are scarce in wild conditions, but females are protective of young (National Geographic has shared footage of a male polar bear killing and eating a cub, February 2016); in this case, the zoo context at the time could be considered carefully to understand what triggered cannibalistic behaviour in the female.<\/span><\/p>\n

Royal (Dick) Veterinary College: the absence of women<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

Women are conspicuously absent from the veterinary archival materials, due to the late allowance of women into the College, by 1948. But Alette and I are approaching the archive in terms of this absence and the presence of men who are caring for animals. This research is work in progress, so I will share more if I can in a later blog post!<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Welcome to this series on research for the One Health archival project!\u00a0\u00a0 This week, I will present a bit about my current research project with Dr. Alette Willis, Chancellor\u2019s Fellow and Senior Lecturer in the School of Health in Social … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":210,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":174,"url":"https:\/\/libraryblogs.is.ed.ac.uk\/one-health\/2024\/04\/04\/archival-research-on-bacterial-infections-part-2-responses-to-tb-in-dick-vet-rzss-and-onekind-archival-records\/","url_meta":{"origin":197,"position":0},"title":"Archival Research on Bacterial Infections, Part 2: Responses to TB in Dick Vet, RZSS and OneKind Archival Records","date":"April 4, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Now for the next part in this series on bacterial infections, sharing some findings from archival research! The Dick Vet, RZSS and OneKind, or SSPV (Scottish Society for the Prevention of Vivisection), each related animal health and welfare to human health, but in somewhat different ways. All three organisations acknowledged\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/libraryblogs.is.ed.ac.uk\/one-health\/files\/2024\/04\/ArchivesSpace-300x217.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":224,"url":"https:\/\/libraryblogs.is.ed.ac.uk\/one-health\/2024\/05\/01\/one-health-research-wrap-up\/","url_meta":{"origin":197,"position":1},"title":"One Health Research wrap up","date":"May 1, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Hello again! This is my final week on the One Health project, in which I've undertaken research and academic engagement - it's been a fascinating and exciting project to contribute to, with a fantastic team. I thought I'd provide a quick recap of what's been done and what the future\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/libraryblogs.is.ed.ac.uk\/one-health\/files\/2024\/04\/Screenshot-2024-04-11-at-14.53.04-300x203.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":150,"url":"https:\/\/libraryblogs.is.ed.ac.uk\/one-health\/2024\/03\/25\/research-and-the-one-health-archival-collections\/","url_meta":{"origin":197,"position":2},"title":"Research and the One Health Archival Collections","date":"March 25, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Hello, I\u2019m Elizabeth, the postdoctoral researcher on the One Health archival project! During the Wellcome Trust grant, I was employed for five months from October 2023 to the start of March 2024 to develop academic engagement with the archival material and undertake a short research project. Thanks to funding from\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/libraryblogs.is.ed.ac.uk\/one-health\/files\/2024\/03\/Screenshot-2024-03-25-at-11.56.35-300x221.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":27,"url":"https:\/\/libraryblogs.is.ed.ac.uk\/one-health\/2022\/05\/19\/welcome-to-onehealth\/","url_meta":{"origin":197,"position":3},"title":"Welcome to One Health","date":"May 19, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"A new project is taking shape at Edinburgh University\u2019s CRC department! With funding from the Wellcome Trust, the One Health archival project aims to pull together resources relating to human responsibility for animal health in Scotland from 1823 to the present day. Animal health and welfare is a massive and\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/libraryblogs.is.ed.ac.uk\/one-health\/files\/2022\/05\/thumbnail_IMG_1326-300x225.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":219,"url":"https:\/\/libraryblogs.is.ed.ac.uk\/one-health\/2024\/04\/23\/one-health-academic-engagement\/","url_meta":{"origin":197,"position":4},"title":"One Health Academic Engagement","date":"April 23, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"My role in the Wellcome Trust One Health archival project has involved identifying research topics that can be found in archival records, undertaking research AND academic engagement. \u00a0 We have developed some very fruitful connections internally with Health in Social Science through my work with Alette Willis as well as\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":153,"url":"https:\/\/libraryblogs.is.ed.ac.uk\/one-health\/2024\/04\/03\/archival-research-on-bacterial-infections-part-1-one-health-one-welfare-and-tuberculosis\/","url_meta":{"origin":197,"position":5},"title":"Archival Research on Bacterial Infections, Part 1: One Health, One Welfare and Tuberculosis","date":"April 3, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"This week, I introduce my short research project on bacterial infections, with specific focus on tuberculosis (TB) as a zoonotic disease; these are diseases that can move from one animal species (including humans) to another. After spending two and a half months immersed in archival materials, I realised that this\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/libraryblogs.is.ed.ac.uk\/one-health\/files\/2022\/05\/OneKind-stacks-test-225x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/libraryblogs.is.ed.ac.uk\/one-health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/197"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/libraryblogs.is.ed.ac.uk\/one-health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/libraryblogs.is.ed.ac.uk\/one-health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/libraryblogs.is.ed.ac.uk\/one-health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/210"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/libraryblogs.is.ed.ac.uk\/one-health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=197"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/libraryblogs.is.ed.ac.uk\/one-health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/197\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":226,"href":"https:\/\/libraryblogs.is.ed.ac.uk\/one-health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/197\/revisions\/226"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/libraryblogs.is.ed.ac.uk\/one-health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=197"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/libraryblogs.is.ed.ac.uk\/one-health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=197"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/libraryblogs.is.ed.ac.uk\/one-health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=197"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}