The Galter Health Sciences Library includes an extensive and interesting special collection, with several archival materials produced before 1800. The archive is composed of three major collections; the Archibald Church History of Medicine Collection, the A. D. Black History of Dentistry Collection, and the G. V. Black Collection. These include rare references, manuscripts and books, as well as original instruments used by doctors and dentists years and years ago. On our tour, we were fortunate enough to see some of the first stethoscopes and microscopes, as well as pharmaceutical materials, surgery kits and books. Some memorable and astonishing relics included a foot-powered dental drill and an amputation tourniquet. The special collection is an incredibly useful resource for researchers.
Wednesday, January 17, 2007
Special Collections
The Galter Health Sciences Library includes an extensive and interesting special collection, with several archival materials produced before 1800. The archive is composed of three major collections; the Archibald Church History of Medicine Collection, the A. D. Black History of Dentistry Collection, and the G. V. Black Collection. These include rare references, manuscripts and books, as well as original instruments used by doctors and dentists years and years ago. On our tour, we were fortunate enough to see some of the first stethoscopes and microscopes, as well as pharmaceutical materials, surgery kits and books. Some memorable and astonishing relics included a foot-powered dental drill and an amputation tourniquet. The special collection is an incredibly useful resource for researchers.
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8 comments:
I liked this section of the medical library. Apart from the archivist's enthusiasm that interested me, the collection provides a brief overview of medicine in the past. Being a premed student, I've come to appreciate the work of medical researchers, and the technological innovations contributors have made in the history of medicine.
I thought it was cool that they had all that stuff from medicines past. It was cool that they had that old drill too even though it kind of freaked me out a bit...
I really enjoyed this room and it made the biggest impression on me. The archivist was so enthused about what he was displaying that we all had to smile and get excited too. This room also helped reassure me that I want to be a speech pathologist because I thought all of the medical stuff was very interesting but the thought of all that blood and pain made me cringe, especially with the amputation tools and manuals. Yuk! Liz and I really enjoyed the fetal skull in the back room because we had been talking about that and how it forms cleft palates in our phonetics class last semester.
This was definitely my favorite part of the tour, too! Even though the drill freaked me out, it was cool. It reminded me of the dentist from Little Shop of Horrors...but I digress. I'm so glad medical technology has progressed beyond foot-powered drills! The old stethoscopes were neat. I liked the folding one that doctors used on the battlefield.
I thought this collection was very intriging. I really liked to see all the tools they actually used back in the past for medical procedures. I really enjoyed that the keeper of this collection was so passionate about his pieces. It really made for a great presentation of this section of the library.
Even though half of the materials completely grossed me out, I thought this special collections library was the most interesting. It was really neat to see how far along we have come over the years.
The Special Collections at the Medical Library was also my favorite part of the visit. Although I am not planning on practicing medicine anytime soon, I love learning about the history of medicine and the causes of illnesses. This collection was absolutely amazing to see, and I believe it was probably one of the most informative Special Collections tours we received during the class.
As weird as some of the stuff was in the special collections, this library in general made me wish I was savvy enough in math and science to become a doctor. I really enjoyed this library; particularly the reading room. It's nice that they had something not medical-related for their students' leisure. I think this was probably one of my favorites.
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