Update
The dedicated website for the 'John McLean Archive: a living history of dentistry' will be launched at the 2013 BDA Conference and Exhibition at Excel, London from 25th - 27th April.
The fifth witness seminar for the 'John McLean Archive: a living history of dentistry' took place on Thursday 20th September 2012 at BDA headquarters. The theme was the dental media.
The first seminar was held in March 2011 and discussed regulation of the dental profession since 1948. The seminar bought together leading members of the dental profession and was introduced by BDA Chief Executive Peter Ward and chaired by Nairn Wilson, then Dean of King's College Dental Institute. The second seminar took place in October 2011 on the theme of changes in dentistry since 1948. The third seminar took place on 22nd March 2012. The theme was the changing roles of dental care professionals and the dental trade. The fourth seminar, in June 2012, focused on dental materials.
The recordings and transcriptions of the seminars will be stored in the BDA Archive and excerpts will be available through the BDA Museum’s website in due course.
If you think you could make a contribution to the discussion and would like to attend, or would just like to find out more first, please contact the co-ordinator at the museum.
Background to the project
The British Dental Association Museum is working in association with King’s College London Dental Institute to establish the 'John McLean Archive : a living history of dentistry'. The archive is being established in memory of the leading dental practitioner and internationally renowned dental materials scientist, author and lecturer John McLean. It aims to document the history of dentistry since the start of the National Health Service. The project will gather reminiscences through a series of witness seminars and individual oral history interviews, covering topics such as the start of the NHS and the rise of private dentistry, dental education, dental contracts and other significant events and changes.
Witness Seminars 
A series of five witness seminars will be held on a series of topics covering dentistry from the establishment of the NHS in 1948. The seminars will involve 30 to 40 people gathering together to discuss their reminiscences about a particular subject. The discussions will be recorded and transcribed and will be available through the BDA Museum. If you think you could make a contribution to the discussion and would like to attend, or would just like to find out more first, please contact the
co-ordinator at the museum.
Oral Histories
The oral history interviews will be carried out with prominent individuals from the dental profession as well as dentists and DCPs. The interviews will also be recorded and transcribed and both the recordings and the transcriptions will be available through the BDA Museum.
The BDA Museum is looking for volunteer interviewers to carry out the oral history interviews. The oral history interviews will represent what was happening in dentistry all over the country so are looking for interviewers from England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
There are other volunteer opportunities too, for example listening to interviews, cataloguing the archive and carrying out research prior to interviews. If you are interested in the project and would like to be involved in any of these roles or would just like to find out more information, please contact the
co-ordinator on 020 7563 4549.
