logologo-optometry

Optometry (promotional brochure) with hand-written annotations

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Catalogue Number: 4423
Optometry (promotional brochure) with hand-written annotations
Category: Book
Sub-Category: Booklet
Association: Australian Optometrical Association
Year Of Publication/Manufacture: 1960's
Time Period: 1940 to 1999
Place Of Publication/Manufacture: Melbourne
Publisher/Manufacturer: Australian Optometrical Association
Description Of Item: Booklet promoting optometry as a career titled 'Optometry' Printed card wrapper 20 pp. Australian Optometrical Association designed and written by Barry Cole. Early 1960s. 228 x 174 mm. This copy is profusely annotated with hand-written amendments and suggestions, most of which have not been incorporated into the later version. See cat no 2529 for the later edition, and Cat. Nos. 923, 3583 & 4202 for other copies of the first edition. This copy filed with cat No 923 in Ephemera drawer 2.
Historical Significance: Recruitment of students was a serious problem when the Australian College of Optometry was founded in 1940 and the course became 4 years full time at university level. Optometry was not well known and not held in high social regard. It was denigrated by the medical profession and the new course required completion of secondary school, matriculation and study at the BSc level, whereas previously training was by apprenticeship and evening classes based on intermediate certificate (year 10). University level training was undertaken by only a small proportion of young people in the 1930s and 1940s. Moreover there was a war from 1939 to 1945 so many young people had their professional training delayed by war service. Four students graduated in 1944 but none in 1945 and 1946 and only a total of 12 in the years 1947 to 1949. After the War there was an influx of returned servicemen retraining for civilian life but numbers fell away again in the mid 1950s. Considerable effort was put into student recruitment from 1940 to the end of the 1960s.
How Acquired: Donated by Optometry Australia
Date Acquired: October 2023
Condition: Good but crease at lower front cover
Location: Archive office. Pamphlet and ephemera filing cabinet. Drawer 2

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