John Goodwin

In this paper, I outline my ongoing research into the life and work of the forgotten sociologist Pearl Jephcott (1900–1980) with three objectives in mind. First, I consider the practice ‘doing’ of biographical research into Pearl’s life and work as well as briefly discuss how researching ‘sociological biographies’ intersects with ‘genealogical’ research. I do this to give a clear overview of the biographical research process and offer some insights into the realities/practicalities of the ‘doing’ of biographical research. This is important to ‘throw light on our practices’ (p. 167) as mentioned by Moore, Salter, Stanley, and Tamboukou [2016, The archive project archival research in the social sciences. London: Routledge] so that those who want to engage in this approach can learn directly from those who do biographical research. Second, using her notebooks, I briefly outline Jephcott’s sociological/biographical research practice. Pearl was a biographical research practitioner well before this approach became ‘fashionable’ and ahead of the ‘biographical turn’. Finally, the paper concludes with the sharing the lessons that I, and others, have and can learn from Pearl’s work, and I reflect a little on how researching Pearl’s biography has changed my sociological practice.*

*For some reason a few errors appear in the published version. Frustrating but it is what it is.

The social sciences are replete with past research studies, worthy of a ‘second look’ but which have often become lost in the mists of academic time. Once cutting-edge research produced by innovative researchers seemingly passed over in pursuit of the ‘new’. In this introductory paper, we reflect on why valuable studies have come to be disregarded by focusing on the work of Pearl Jephcott. We offer a brief biographical sketch before reflecting on why it is important for contemporary researchers to revisit the work of previous generations. We illustrate some of Pearl’s concerns as detailed in ‘Time of One’s Own’ (1967) by focusing on her innovative use of images. We go on to introduce the papers in this special issue of Women’s History Review all of which originated from a conference honouring Jephcott: Gender, Youth, Community, Methodology and More: A Symposium Celebrating the Life and Work of Pearl Jephcott.

Papers are by

Barry Hazley, Valerie Wright, Lynn Abrams & Ade Kearns

Tony Jeffs

Susan A. Batchelor

Helen McCarthy

Lynn Abrams, Linda Fleming, Barry Hazley, Valerie Wright & Ade Kearns

Full written paper will be available by mid-June.

Read more about Pearl here:

http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0038038514530536

We explore Jephcott in detail in our new book

We will be presenting the following paper at:

Tracing the trace: What is an archive? What is a collection? What is a document? Fri 13 Jan 2017 @ the University of Edinburgh

Abstract

A feature of sociological practice is to continually record experiences and observations so as to sustain the ‘sociological imagination’. As Mills (1959) famously instructs, sociologists should ‘start a file’ to capture these observations, fringe thoughts or snippets of conversation. So it is, perhaps, in these files that the ‘traces’ of previous generations of sociologists are to be found. For any researcher seeking to understand the disciplinary contribution of those who have gone before the analytical and explanatory potential of such notebooks and personal research ephemera is immense. However, such materials are not easy to find as they are rarely formally archived but, instead, are retained by the individual researcher or their estate.  Considering these issues, in this paper we focus on three aspects of our research into the life and work of Pearl Jephcott (1900-1980). First, we outline our journey of ‘tracing the traces’ of Pearl and our quest to discover as much as we could about this forgotten sociologist. A journey which took us via the various ‘formal’ archives linked to Pearl’s work and on to the genealogical work of Goodwin (2015) who managed to locate Pearl’s relatives – dispersed family members who had fortuitously retained the remnants of Pearl’s personal research archive. Second, we contrast the formally deposited archived materials relating to Pearl’s research with the personal research notebooks and ephemera unearthed via the trace. Finally, we present and explore Pearl’s ‘sociological craft’ by focusing on one notebook she collated during her trip to Australia in 1971 aged 71. The Australia notebook reveals Jephcott to be an exceptional sociologist who, epitomising the ‘craft’ advocated by Mills, methodically and richly documented her visit via notes, original artwork, clippings and postcards. Detailed personal research ephemera that offer insights into Pearl’s sociology that could not have been ascertained from any formally archived materials.

 

 

Artwork courtesy of the estate of Pearl Jephcott.  Digital images: John Goodwin, University of Leicester.