Barbara Brookes - Unfortunate Folk: Essays on Mental Health Treatment, 1863-1992

Although not all contributors replied to a request to tell us briefly what they are doing now, enough did to illustrate the variety of careers to which history research can lead.

Jane Adams completed her History Honours degree in 2000, and aims to complete her Law degree in 2001. After that, she hopes to travel widely, and to also undertake further History study. Her work on criminal lunacy arose out of her desire to combine into one topic her interests in psychiatric history, gender studies, and criminal law.

Sandy Bardsley finished her Honours dissertation at Otago in 1991, then headed to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill for MA and PhD work in medieval history. She received her PhD in 1999 and now teaches history at Emory & Henry College in Virginia, USA.

Paula Cody completed her Masters thesis in 1996 and now works as a freelance historian and researcher in Dunedin. She believes the mental health field is a dynamic and relevant topic which interests those outside the academic arena because of its pertinence to peoples lives, and because of societys increasing interest in mental well-being shown by the way New Zealand has embraced self-help books, therapy and drug rgimes, and the investigation by various government departments into the causes of psychological problems.

Sue Fennell returned to Britain for six years on completion of her degree, where she lived and worked in London, She is now married with two young sons and lives in Wellington. She has retained an interest in medical history through collaborative research into an aspect of medical education at Otago and hopes to complete her Masters thesis on this subject when her sons occupy a little less of her time.

Susannah Grant wrote her History Honours dissertation in 1998. She is currently researching Sir George Greys governorship of New Zealand 18451853 for a doctoral thesis at the University of Otago. She enjoys cooking, children and travel with her husband Shaun.

Judith Holloway completed her BA (Hons) dissertation in 1991. She thinks she was attracted to the field of mental health because she had always been somewhat suspicious of normality of what society condones and what it condemns. After four years travelling and working in Asia and Europe, Judith returned to Dunedin in 1999. She is currently employed by the Hocken Library, University of Otago, as well as studying towards a qualification in Japanese.

Caroline Hubbard completed her History Honours dissertation in 1977. Since then she has travelled the world several times, lived in France and England and pursued a career in the New Zealand Public Service. Her history degree provided a good training in how to analyse issues and think beyond the obvious.