Introduction to the Hospice History Programme
The Hospice History Programme carries out historical work in hospice and palliative care, and related areas. It began in 1995 when Professor David Clark first initiated the Hospice History Project at the University of Sheffield. In the years since, the Programme has developed and built on expertise in recording and documenting history, and safeguarding and cataloguing archival records. The current history team consists of staff from the University and collaborating colleagues from elsewhere. It is located within the International Observatory on End of Life Care, at Lancaster University.
- To undertake and to foster academic study in the history of hospices, palliative care and related fields
- To catalogue and help safeguard archival records relevant to hospice and related developments in Britain and Ireland.
- To establish a hospice and palliative care digital archive
The Programme has an extensive collection of oral history interviews with people involved in the growth of the hospice and palliative care movement worldwide. These interviews record personal experiences and perspectives that cannot be found in documentary sources. The Programme also seeks to preserve hospice records and personal papers that may otherwise be lost to posterity by means of careful and secure archival procedures.
