Revisiting ‘The Last Refuge’: Exploring the Past and the Present through Photography.

Revisiting ‘The Last Refuge’: Exploring the Past and the

Present through Photography

This paper describes research we are doing – Julia Johnson and myself from the Open Unversity - with Randall Smith from the University of Bristol. It is a two-year project, funded by the ESRC, which started on 1 May last year. As the title indicates, we are revisiting Peter Townsend’s seminal study, The Last Refuge, which was published in 1962 (Townsend 1962).

In this paper I focus on two aspects of the research: the photographs Townsend took for his research and how he used them; and our own approach to exploring the past and the present through photography.

The Last Refuge was a study of residential care provided under the 1948 National Assistance Act in England and Wales. During the fieldwork, which was conducted between 1958 and 1959, Townsend took many photographs, 38 of which are published in the book. His fundamental research question was: ‘Are long-stay institutions for old people necessary in our society and, if so, what form should they take?’

He was surprised to find that, despite the promises of the welfare state, a substantial proportion of older people were still being accommodated in homes like this, which, before the war, had been Public Assistance Institutions (PAIs) (Townsend and Thompson 2004). The fieldwork included visits to173 local authority, voluntary and private residential care homes. Although a majority of the homes visited were judged to be of poor quality, the research uncovered gross inequalities in provision for people with the same needs.

The aim of our study is to find out what happened to the 173 homes Townsend visited. Our research involves two discrete but related projects.

1) The first is a tracing study of the large number of homes which are no longer registered as care homes. We wanted to involve older people in our research and use local expertise, and so we have recruited volunteer investigators through the University of the Third Age (U3A), local history associations, Older People Researching Social Issues (OPRSI), and Older People’s Forums to help with the tracing study. We also contacted, through Joan Rapaport, retired members of BASW and the response was very enthusiastic, with 15 BASW members coming forward to volunteer. In total, 103 people have volunteered to become local researchers. Through archival research, they are tracing the history since 1959 of homes in their area which were in Townsend’s sample.

Some investigations by volunteers have been straightforward; others have led the volunteers on lengthy, complex and mysterious trails. Because of their perseverance and ingenuity most of these have in the end yielded the required information. We now know that some homes were demolished, others were refurbished and became hotels – one became a museum, another a retreat and conference centre, another a doctor’s surgery, one a vet’s surgery and two were turned into schools. Some have long stories of changing use: one has changed from being a care home, to offices in the 1970s, to a geriatric unit in the 1980s, and is now awaiting planning permission as a new large hospital.

One pleasant surprise for us has been the sheer volume of material collected by many volunteers and included in their reports. Documents forwarded to us include photocopies of maps, land registry documents, newspaper cuttings and copies of the relevant sections of the electoral roll. There are also many showing the former homes as they are now. The amount of documents ensures that the project will build a substantial archive of its own, and the photographs contribute to our theme of a longitudinal study comparing ‘then’ with ‘now’.

2) The second project is a follow up study of the 30 homes that have survived and are registered as care homes. We want to find out how they have managed to survive and what they are like now in comparison with what they were like in the late 1950s. By focusing on a particular cohort of homes, we are examining care policy for older people through a different lens, one that might open up new insights into the history of residential care for older people

In revisiting the surviving homes, we intend to replicate Townsend’s method, including the taking of photographs, but with some modification in order to accommodate not only historical and cultural changes in policy and practice but also changes in methods of social inquiry. There are some issues regarding replication which I will highlight in this paper.

Meaning and Place of Photographs in The Last Refuge

On close inspection, it is clear that the photographs in The Last Refuge are carefully placed in the book to conduct an argument, to make contrasts and to form subject groups.

Although there are no headings, the photographs are clearly organised into subject groups, and in each subject group, the aim appears to be two-fold: (1) to reveal the terrible conditions in the PAIs; and (2) to contrast the three different types of homes that are depicted - former PAIs; other kinds of local authority homes; and voluntary homes – and the photos have therefore been carefully chosen.

If we look at how Townsend interpreted his images, he did not analyse his photos – he did not mention them at all in the text. But nor did he simply let them ‘speak for themselves’ – a disputed concept in any case (Jordanova, 2000). Instead they were not only accompanied by captions, but were also an accompaniment to the text, the one being intended to illuminate the other. There are of course many issues surrounding the selection of images to make an argument, which we too are grappling with in our research.

Replication

What is our aim in taking photographs? And how will we deal with the issues raised by replication?

We are aware that photography is now theorised quite differently and is not seen as undisputed documentary evidence. As many writers, including Tagg, Sontag and Bell have emphasised, photographs have become a contested area. However, as Bogdan and Biklen have written, photography ‘allows researchers to understand and study aspects of life that cannot be researched through other approaches’ (Bogdan and Biklen 1992).

There are several issues which arise if our aim is to replicate Townsend’s approach. The first of these is to do with ethics and confidentiality.

Ethics, confidentiality and consent

Townsend anonymised all the homes. But ethics issues today are not as simple as that. As a specific example, how do we ensure, when we take a photograph in a lounge or public room as he did, that we have everybody’s consent not only to take the photo but also to publish it? Some people may be asleep, others may not be aware of the implications of their agreement. We may therefore also need the consent of their families. Our information and consent forms, both for individual residents and for the home manager include permissions relating to photographs. Using a digital camera, we are able to show the photographs we have taken to residents and staff and to delete any they are not happy with. I have so far only taken small group scenes – with their permission. But so far, most of the photographs have been of the individual residents we have interviewed. And in this we have designed a new subject group – Townsend did not take many individual photographs. This new group has emerged because of the ethical constraints and the need for consent. We have found that the individual portraits tell us a lot about dignity and empowerment – and give us the opportunity to represent this.

We have also tried to replicate Townsend’s subject groups as far as possible, and already some have revealed interesting changes over time. As yet there are no photographs in the category ‘work’, and this highlights another difference between then and now. Whereas when Townsend visited, the residents helped to run the homes and had an important role in the garden, kitchen or laundry, the type of work has changed as both the philosophy of care, and the age of residents has changed.

Colour or black and white?

Another dilemma for the researchers is whether to use black and white photographs as Townsend did, or to take advantage of the latest technology to produce digital colour images. Black and white can create a somewhat Dickensian atmosphere. It can also hide a lot – worn carpets, peeling paintwork and so on. Colour on the other hand may exaggerate the freshness and brightness.

But in our aim to replicate, do we use the one or the other – or can we use both? This is an issue we are still struggling to solve. We are taking both colour and black and white photographs, so that we can highlight this issue and have the choice at a later stage as to which to use in publications.

Conclusion

There are many issues to be grappled with in replicating such an important and vibrant piece of research. One way in which we could both be seen to be replicating and also accommodating Townsend’s own later comments about his use of photographs, is to take more photographs – both monochrome and colour - and to include more than he did in our text. He wished he had used more photos, and he recognised their value in telling parallel stories, both enriching and elucidating the text. That still leaves us with the fundamental ethical tension between historical method where people’s words and deeds are recorded and acknowledged, and the methods of social enquiry where anonymity is assured in order, ostensibly, to get at the truth.

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