The Oldham Notebooks: an analysis of the development of IVF 1969–1978. I. Introduction, materials and methods

In this introductory paper, we describe the primary source material studied in this Symposium, namely a set of 21 notebooks and 571 pages of loose sheets and scraps of paper, which, on cross-referencing, have allowed us to reconstruct the sequence, timing and numbers of the laparoscopic cycles planned, attempted and undertaken between 9 January 1969 and 1 August 1978 by Robert Edwards, Patrick Steptoe and Jean Purdy in Oldham, UK, as well as to identify most of the patients involved. In addition, we describe the background to the five papers that follow, and the secondary sources and recorded interviews, which have provided useful ancillary material.