Traditional historians have written about medical objects in a clinical approach often neglecting other important aspects. Last term, I wrote a historiographical paper which revealed that, birthing forceps, 18thc to the present, had political implications for the relations between physicians and midwives. Alongside the development of better antiseptic and anaesthesia techniques, birthing forceps gave rise to increasing professionalism of childbirth and the physicians.
In contrast, material culture historians include other aspects. For the purpose of this paper, I will look at birthing forceps in an original way using a design approach focusing on such elements as the aesthetics, design, and function. In addition, I will search for the cultural meaning of the objects pushing the boundary of medical objects beyond defining them just as tools.
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