Audio Collection of Lamaze International, 1956-2004 (inclusive), 1980-2004 (bulk)

The Audio Collection of Lamaze International contains primarily audio recordings of sessions, workshops, board meetings, faculty meetings, and awards ceremonies that occurred at the organization's annual conference. Also included are recordings of sessions, talks, and workshops held by the Childbirth Institute, as well as a handful of instructional recordings about childbirth education in general and Lamaze techniques of breathing and relaxation, specifically. Initially, Lamaze International conference sessions primarily addressed pregnancy, labor and childbirth techniques, and postpartum care. Presentations explored clinical concerns and technical topics such as epidural administration, inducing labor, vaginal birth after Caesarean, as well as topics of more general nature, including normalizing birth procedures, empowering laboring women, breathing exercises, beginning a pre-natal exercise routine, and female sexuality before, during, and after pregnancy. Attendance at some conference sessions provided licensed childbirth educators with continuing education credits and attendees were given a code at the end of each session that enabled them to receive continuing education credit. Beginning in approximately 1980, most, if not all, sessions of the conference were taped and available for purchase. Over time, sessions began to cover a broader range of topics, including advice on how to market childbirth education classes; strategies in administering and funding childbirth education centers; infant and toddler care; nutrition for mother and baby; postpartum depression; child educator burnout; breast feeding; effective parenting; engaging teaching strategies; interpersonal dynamics; communication and writing skills; power struggles within hospital administration; as well as power imbalances among obstetrician, nurse, childbirth educator, and patient. Many sessions, especially those in the Childbirth Institute, addressed the physical, mental and emotional well-being not only of pregnant women but of the childbirth educators and working mothers. Some Lamaze International sessions featured lectures by well-known doctors, such as T. Berry Brazelton, Eugene Declerq, and Harvey Karp; midwives, including Sister Angela Murdaugh and Ina May Gaskin; and pioneering childbirth educators, such as Elisabeth Bing. However, unlike traditional conference sessions which feature a presenter and passive audience, many of the Lamaze conference sessions incorporated dynamic audience participation, experiential training, group discussions, dance, and physical touch. Tapes are arranged chronologically and divided into two series.

Series I, CONFERENCES, 1980-2004 (#T-297.1 - T-297.635), contains tape recordings of Lamaze International's annual conferences and recordings of meetings of the Childbirth Institute, a group which served as a summit for childbirth educators and occurred immediately before Lamaze annual conferences. The Childbirth Institute recordings featured many of the same speakers and topics covered at the Lamaze annual meeting and were intermingled with annual conference recordings. All tape titles are original, created by the speaker or Lamaze International. Speakers' names are provided when known; in some cases, following the tape title and date, additional description was provided by the archivist. Tapes are arranged first chronologically; within each year, tapes are ordered according to a numeric session code that Lamaze assigned. In most cases, Childbirth Institute tapes follow the Lamaze annual conference tape recordings of that year; however, occasionally, following the original labeling and numbering sequence, Childbirth Institute tapes appear within the annual conference tapes. In these few cases, Childbirth Institute is noted in the tape title.

Series II, GENERAL CHILDBIRTH EDUCATION, 1956-1985, n.d. (#Phon-33.1-Phon-33.8, T-297-636 - T-297.643), includes instructional recordings of Lamaze breathing techniques and practices, the tape recording of a father-attended Caesarean birth, and instruction (tailored to men and women) on overcoming fear in second stage labor. It is arranged chronologically with undated materials appearing at the end.