ABSTRACT
In this chapter we consider the re-analysis of one very specific body of data: the life histories of a select group of pioneers of geriatric medicine from the point of view of what they tell us about the changing attitudes to family and community of one group of professionals. The original data were collected in 1991 in the form of life history interviews by Professor Margot Jefferys and two co-researchers. Her purpose was to present the story, in their own words, of the men (predominantly) who founded the geriatric specialty in mid-twentieth century. As she explains, they were contesting:
The predominant view, one shared by the public as well as the majority of the medical profession – most of whom would have been trained in the high prestige voluntary hospitals – … that sickness in old age could not be cured or treated.
