WHY ARE VETERINARY ORAL HISTORIES IMPORTANT?

Oral history interviews given by veterinarians and animal health professions provide first-hand knowledge and insights about how veterinary medicine was practiced in the past. Through the interviewee's own words, they provide precious recollections and primary evidence showing the tremendous changes that have taken place in this medical specialty, especially since the 1930s.

 

Some of these changes include:

• Introduction of effective veterinary drugs and antibiotics

• Vaccines to prevent viral and bacterial diseases

• Use of antibiotics and advanced pharmaceuticals

• Narcotics and controlled substance restrictions

• Shift from rural practices emphasizing large animals and agriculture to production medicine

• Evolution of small animal medicine and surgery

• Changing diagnostics, techniques, and equipment

• Revised veterinary education requirements

• Gender shift toward more women veterinarians in the field

• Public health and human disease prevention

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In addition to benefiting today's veterinary profession, interviews, recorded either in oral or video form, will enrich future generations by capturing the actual experiences of day-to-day practitioners, professors, and others.

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Both interviewers and interviewees report great satisfaction having contributed to the recording of veterinary history.