Tuesday, August 31, 2010

New Consortium for History of Medicine Finding Aids

The History of Medicine Division of the National Library of Medicine (NLM) is pleased to announce the release of its prototype History of Medicine Finding Aids Consortium, a search-and-discovery tool for archival resources in the health sciences that are described by finding aids and held by various institutions throughout the United States.

The new resource crawls existing Web content managed by partner institutions, provides keyword search functionality, and provides results organized by holding institution. Links point to the holding institution's Web sites. Formats indexed consist of HTML, PDF and Encoded Archival Description XML. The project does not include content held in bibliographic utilities or other database-type information. Crawls are conducted monthly to ensure information is current and to capture new content as it is released.

Current Consortium partners are:

-- NLM History of Medicine Division, Archives and Modern Manuscripts Program
-- Columbia University Health Center Library Archives and Special Collections
-- Medical Archives of the Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions
-- University of California-San Francisco Library Archives and Special Collections
-- University of Virginia Health Sciences Library Historical Collections
-- Virginia Commonwealth University Tompkins-McCaw Library Special Collections and Archives

NLM's History of Medicine Division invites libraries, archives and museums which include in their collections archival materials related to the history of medicine and health sciences to join.

For more information about the project or requests to join the Consortium, please contact John P. Rees, Archivist and Digital Resources Manager, NLM, at reesj@nlm.nih.gov, or visit the Consortium's web site.

"The Gross Clinic" Restored and on Exhibition

"An Eakins Masterpiece Restored: Seeing The Gross Clinic Anew" is an exhibition currently on display at the Philadelphia Museum of Art that will run through January 9, 2011. It features Thomas Eakins' famous painting of 1875, Portrait of Dr. Samuel D. Gross (The Gross Clinic), which has recently undergone a major restoration effort.

The large-scale painting (measuring 8' by 6'6") was purchased by the Philadelphia Museum of Art and the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts with the support of over 3,500 donors in 2007 after its previous longtime owner, the Jefferson Medical College (Dr. Gross' alma mater), proposed its sale to museums outside Philadelphia.

The Museum's web site provides much detailed technical and historical information about the painting's conservation treatments over the decades, and dramatically documents the painting's evolving appearance. The image depicted here reflects its current state.

Sunday, August 29, 2010

New Curator for Duke History of Medicine Collections

Rachel C. Ingold has been appointed the new Curator for the History of Medicine Collections at Duke University Medical Center Library. She will start September 1, 2010. The previous Curator, Suzanne Porter, retired at the end of July after a long and successful career at Duke, UNC, and other institutions.

Prior to this appointment, Rachel has served in the Conservation Unit in the Duke University Libraries, as an intern at the EPA Library, as an intern the Sallie Bingham Center for Women's History and Culture, and as a Library Technician at the Library of Congress. She has nearly 13 years worth of experience in a library setting.

Rachel holds a BA in Political Science and a BA in Women's Studies from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, an MA in Women's Studies from George Washington University, and an MLS from North Carolina Central University. She is a member of the America Library Association and the Special Library Association.

Truman G. Blocker, Jr. History of Medicine Fellowship

The Moody Medical Library of the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston is pleased to offer the Truman G. Blocker, Jr. Fellowship to support research related to the history of medicine conducted at the Moody Medical Library.

The Truman G. Blocker, Jr. Fellowship will provide between $2,000 and $4,000 per year to support travel, lodging and incidental expenses for the period between September 1, 2010 and August 31, 2011. Upon completion the recipient will deliver a paper at the University of Texas Medical Branch outlining the research, provide an expense report and a copy of the final research product. The University of Texas Medical Branch also reserves the right to post excerpts from the work, a photograph and biographical material of the Fellow on its website.

The fellowship proposal must demonstrate that the Truman G. Blocker, Jr. History of Medicine Collections contain resources central to the proposed topic. These collections consist of over 18,000 titles and 10,000 pamphlets and reprints documenting the development of Western medicine and allied sciences. The Moody Medical Library's holdings of books printed prior to 1501 place it among the top medical sciences libraries in the United States. Collection strengths include fundamental and secondary works in anatomy and surgery, anesthesiology, immunology, and occupational medicine. The Titus Harris Collection of the History of Psychiatry maintains over 4,500 volumes and is considered one of the most comprehensive accumulations of works on the subject.

The archival collections housed at the Moody Medical Library are among the largest and most significant in the history of the biomedical sciences in the southern United States. These collections provide records of state and national organizations, and professional societies in medicine and related fields in addition to the private and professional papers of University of Texas Medical Branch faculty, staff, students and alumni. An inclusive list of these archives may be found at the Texas Archival Resources Online website.

While preference will be given to applicants who live beyond commuting distance of Galveston, all are encouraged to apply, including graduate students. Applicants should submit a fellowship proposal outlining the subject and objectives of the research project and historical materials to
be used, (not to exceed 2 pages), a project budget including travel, lodging and research expenses, curriculum vitae and two letters of recommendation by November 1st, 2010. Award decisions will be made by December 1st, 2010.

Applications should be mailed to:

Robert O. Marlin IV, Archivist
Truman G. Blocker, Jr. History of Medicine Collections
Moody Medical Library
University of Texas Medical Branch
301 University Blvd.
Galveston, TX 77555-1035

Call for Papers: Southern Association for the History of Medicine and Science

The Southern Association for the History of Medicine and Science (SAHMS) invites paper proposals for its thirteenth annual meeting on March 4-5, 2011, at the famous Peabody Hotel in Memphis, Tennessee, sponsored by the University of Tennessee Health Science Center Library.

SAHMS welcomes papers on the history of medicine and science, broadly construed to encompass historical, literary, anthropological, philosophical and sociological approaches to health care and science including race, disabilities and gender studies. Participants may propose individual papers or panels of several papers on a particular theme. The deadline for submissions is September 30, 2010.

Each presenter is limited to 20 minutes, with additional time for questions and discussion. Please do not submit papers that have already been published, presented or scheduled for presentation at another meeting. All participants are responsible for their own travel expenses and must pay registration costs in advance of the meeting. Student travel awards are available each year; for more information, contact SAHMS President Michael Flannery at flannery@uab.edu.

To submit proposals, please visit the online submission site. Required elements for the online proposals include Title, Purpose Statement, Rationale and Significance, Methodology, Sources, Findings & Conclusions, and Three Learning Objectives. For questions or problems with the submission site, contact Richard Nollan (rnollan@uthsc.edu) or Lisa Pruitt (lpruitt@mtsu.edu).