Celebrating History of Cultural Diversity at Northwestern University Medical School

Historical Notes: Cultural Diversity at Northwestern University Medical School

Ron Sims, Special Collections Librarian, Northwestern University, Galter Health Sciences Library, Special Collections, has compiled a tribute to a few of Northwestern University Medical School's illustrious alumni.

Celebrating Cultural Diversity at the Medical School

http://www.galter.northwestern.edu/news/index.cfm/2012/2/10/Celebrating-Cultural-Diversity-at-the-Medical-School

In celebration of Black History Month, Ron Sims has written biographies for three alumni in which he reveals their lives before medical school and their fascinating careers after receiving their medical degrees.

U. G. Dailey in his class photo, 1906

-Ulysses Grant Dailey, MD, ScD, LLD, FACS, FICS, class of 1906

-Theodore Kenneth Lawless, MD, class of 1919

-Alfred Bitini Xuma, MD, PhD, class of 1926

Please see last year's impressive roster, also from Ron Sims:

Celebrating African-American Graduates of the Medical School

 

http://www.galter.northwestern.edu/news/index.cfm/2011/2/7/Celebrating-AfricanAmerican-Graduates-of-the-Medical-School

This entry from 2011 features the following alumni from the late 19th century, including superstar surgeon, Daniel Hale Williams, MD:

-Daniel Hale Williams, MD, class of 1883

-Allen Alexander Wesley, MD, class of 1887

-Austin Maurice Curtis, MD, class of 1891

How is your Chicago medical institution celebrating diversity this Black History Month? Contact the CAMA blog!

News: Hektoen Institute announces Michael Reese Archive

Michael Reese Hospital lives on in new Michael Reese Archive

CAMA members and researchers interested in historic Michael Reese Hospital should be pleased with the news that the hospital, which closed in 2009, is gone, but not forgotten. Chicago's Hektoen Institute of Medicine has collaborated with the Michael Reese Research and Education Foundation to collect, preserve, and provide digital access to information related to the history of the hospital, which opened in 1881.

Please visit this page for more information on the Michael Reese Archive:

http://www.hektoeninternational.org/Articles_Michael_Reese.html

The Michael Reese Archive needs your help. To further develop this collection, the Hektoen Institute is looking for more documents related to the hospital. If you have a potential donation, please contact associate editor of Hektoen International, Lila Haile, with questions: lila.haile@hektoen.org

The Chicago Area Medical Archivists are grateful to the Hektoen Institute and the Michael Reese Research and Education Foundation for preserving the legacy of such an important part of Chicago's rich medical history and the history of Jews in Chicago. We thank you, and future researchers thank you!

David A. Ansell, MD, MPH, to speak at Hektoen Institute of Medicine event

The Hektoen Institute of Medicine to host David A. Ansell, MD, MPH

The Hektoen Institute of Medicine will host David A. Ansell, MD, MPH, at an upcoming free event at Cook County Hospital, March 27th.

Dr. Ansell conducting research.

For more information about this event and to RSVP, please visit the Hektoen Institute of Medicine's Events page:

http://www.hektoen.org/events.html

Date: Tuesday, March 27, 2012 

Time: Program: 4PM–5PM; Refreshments: 5PM–5:30PM

Location: Cook County Hospital, 627 S. Wood St., Chicago, 1st floor auditorium

Parking Information: Cook County Hospital parking on Wood & Polk. Enter Polk street at light. $3 parking voucher available at lecture.

Cost: Free

 

Dr. Ansell will be speaking about his book County: Life, Death and Politics at Chicago's Public Hospital, which was published last year. His book is a memoir of his years at Cook County Hospital and addresses the issue of health disparities in not only Chicago, but also the United States. Currently, Dr. Ansell serves as Chief Medical Officer at Rush University Medical Center.

In researching this book, Dr. Ansell delved into County's past and its longstanding relationship with its next-door neighbor, Rush-Presbyterian-St. Luke's Medical Center (now named Rush University Medical Center.) His book features photographs and other material from the Cook County Health and Hospital System Archives and the Rush University Medical Center Archives among other sources.

[Image caption: Dr. Ansell wasn't afraid to get his hands dirty when researching his book. In March 2011, he enthusiastically visited various areas of Cook County Hospital's campus with Rush Archivists Heather Stecklein and Nathalie Wheaton in the hopes of finding long-lost treasures for his memoir. Image courtesy Rush University Medical Center Archives.]

For more information on Dr. Ansell and County, please visit the book's informative page:

http://countythebook.com/

For more on the history of the Hektoen Institute of Medicine:

http://www.hektoen.org/history.html

Interested in Ludvig Hektoen? Visit CAMA's page on Hektoen to learn more about CAMA member institutions with Hektoen collections:

http://chicagoareamedicalarchivists.blogspot.com/2011/03/ludvig-hektoen-1884-1951.html

History of the Illinois Medical District

Research Tips

View east, showing Harrison and Wood near bottom center, 1973.

The Illinois Medical District, located on Chicago's Near West Side, is home to some of Chicago's largest medical centers, including hospitals, research facilities, and universities devoted to medical, nursing, and health sciences education. 

The Great Chicago Fire of 1871 destroyed several hospitals and medical schools in downtown Chicago. The Near West Side was untouched by the destruction and seemed a safe distance from the Loop for rebuilding. Cook County Hospital was the first medical institution to stake its claim, building its new hospital at Harrison and Wood Streets in 1876. Rush Medical College had lost its building at Grand Avenue and Dearborn Street in the fire and chose to build a replacement across the street from the new Cook County Hospital. 

[Image Credit: Rush University Medical Center Archives, Facilities Photograph Collection, Rush-Presbyterian-St. Luke's Medical Center, Aerial View, 1973, P553D.]

Over the years, more hospitals and medical schools were attracted to the area. Today, the Illinois Medical District includes the Cook County Bureau of Health Services, Rush University Medical Center, the Veterans Administration Healthcare System, and the University of Illinois Medical Center, whose College of Medicine is the largest medical school in the country. The district also supports research and development within its Chicago Technology Park.

Researchers might find this link to the History of the Illinois Medical District from the District's website interesting and useful: 

http://www.imdc.org/about/our-history

The site also includes an interactive map, showing the basic components of the district:

http://www.imdc.org/contact-us/interactive-map-of-the-imd 

Interested in learning more about the history of the University of Illinois Medical Center or Rush University Medical Center? 

Please contact the following archives:

University of Illinois at Chicago, Library of the Health Sciences-Chicago, Special Collections Department

Rush University Medical Center Archives

John Benjamin Murphy, 1857-1916

CAMA Historical Facilities/Figures Project

Murphy conducts a surgical clinic at Mercy Hospital, 1902

The Chicago Area Medical Archivists member institutions often house material related to the same individuals. Some of Chicago's most innovative physicians and surgeons belonged to the staffs and faculties of several Chicago hospitals and medical schools and were members and presidents of Chicago-based professional organizations. 

One such individual was surgeon John Benjamin Murphy, MD, LLD, MSc, who graduated from Rush Medical College in 1879. He went on to serve on the faculties of Rush Medical College, the College of Physicians and Surgeons (now the University of Illinois College of Medicine), and Northwestern University Medical School. He served some time on the staff of Cook County Hospital and was chief of surgery of Mercy Hospital from 1895 until his death in 1916. He served as president of both the Chicago Medical Society and the American Medical Association and was involved in the development of the American College of Surgeons, all of which are headquartered in Chicago.

Rush Medical College class composite, 1907

 

To learn more about Murphy's life and achievements, please read "An American Original: John Benjamin Murphy, MD" by Ron Sims, Special Collections Librarian at the Galter Health Sciences Library, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine.  

Their collection includes some wonderful items recently donated by Murphy's great-granddaughter, Barbara Miller.

http://www.galter.northwestern.edu/news/index.cfm/2011/4/7/An-American-Original-John-Benjamin-Murphy-MD

[1902 Clinic Image Credit: Special Collections, Galter Health Sciences Library, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine]

[1907 Murphy Image Credit: Rush University Medical Center Archives]

Medical School Class Photographs online

Research Tips

President J. Adams Allen with Rush Medical College, class of 1879

A new resource is available online! Thanks to the support of the Consortium of Academic and Research Libraries in Illinois (CARLI), class photographs from Rush Medical College are now available for viewing by genealogists and scholars through CARLI Digital Collections.

http://collections.carli.illinois.edu/cdm4/index_rsh_classp.php?CISOROOT=/rsh_classp

Also available through CARLI Digital Collections, class photographs from the University of Illinois College of Medicine and its predecessor, the College of Physicians and Surgeons.

http://collections.carli.illinois.edu/cdm4/index_uic_cmc.php?CISOROOT=/uic_cmc

Does your repository house class photographs from Chicago medical or nursing schools? CAMA would love to add them to this Research Tip!

Want to know more about CONTENTdm and CARLI's project? Here are some handy links:

CARLI Digital Collections Home:

http://collections.carli.illinois.edu/

Resources on digitization and CONTENTdm from CARLI:

http://wiki.carli.illinois.edu/index.php/Portal:CONTENTdm

Northwestern's Dispensaries and Outpatient Clinics

Research Tips

As part of the Galter Health Sciences Library's new exhibit, Photographing Pediatrics, Special Collections Librarian Ron Sims compiled a pictorial history of the dispensary and clinics at Northwestern. Here is part one of the article, which was originally published in Galter Health Science Library’s, Library Notes newsletter:

http://www.galter.northwestern.edu/news/index.cfm/2011/6/6/A-Brief-History-of-Northwesterns-Dispensaries-and-Outpatient-Clinics-Part-1-18591925

Waiting Room, South Side Dispensary, Davis Hall, c1910

This helpful article explains the relationships and name changes of institutions associated with Northwestern's medical past, including the Chicago City Dispensary, the Medical Department of Lind University, Chicago Medical College, Mercy Hospital, Davis Free Dispensary, and the South Side Dispensary. 

For more information on the Photographing Pediatrics exhibit and a previous exhibit, An American Original: John Benjamin Murphy, M.D. check out this CAMA blog post from earlier this summer:

http://chicagoareamedicalarchivists.blogspot.com/2011/06/galter-health-sciences-library-hosts.html

Now Online: Prominent Physicians, Surgeons, and Medical Institutions of Cook County, c.1900

Research Tips

Finally online! A great resource for CAMA members and anyone interested in the history of medicine in the Chicago area.

"Surgical Operation, Dr. Marie J. Mergler's Clinic, Woman's Hospital," page 259

Prominent Physicians, Surgeons, and Medical Institutions of Cook County in the Closing Year of the Nineteenth Century was digitized recently by the Rush University Medical Center Archives. The Rush Archives received a Book Digitization Initiative Grant from the Consortium of Academic and Research Libraries in Illinois (CARLI) last September. This two-volume collection of biographical sketches, descriptions of hospitals and medical schools, and beautiful photographs was the perfect candidate for digitization. 

"Cook County Hospital," page 431

The book also features wonderful images of surgical clinics, patient wards, and laboratories.

You can read and search the book online, download it as a PDF or full text, and even download it to your Kindle, iPhone, or other portable device.

Find it here:

http://www.archive.org/details/prominentphysici00unse

For more digitized documents from this project, please visit the Internet Archive's home page for the Rush Archives:

http://www.archive.org/details/rushuniversity

Questions about this project? Contact the Rush Archivists at Rush_Archives@rush.edu.

Rush History Book now Available in Free Digital Version

Research Tips

From CAMA Member Heather Stecklein, Archivist, Rush University Medical Center:

Many of the researchers who contact the Rush Archives ask us for a general history of the institution. Good Medicine: The First 150 Years of Rush-Presbyterian-St. Luke’s Medical Center, 1987, is a solid history of Rush that includes historical photos and information from a variety of resources in the Rush Archives. Unfortunately, the book is now out of print, and it is difficult to obtain enough copies to meet demand.

The Rush Archives is pleased to announce that Good Medicine is now available on the Internet Archive website for downloading or online viewing. Researchers can perform key-word searches of the text on the website or download the entire book in a variety of e-reader formats.

Last September, the Rush Archives received a Book Digitization Initiative Grant from the Consortium of Academic and Research Libraries in Illinois (CARLI). We created a collection of digital books from commonly requested works in our collections. In addition to Good Medicine, the Rush Archives page on the Internet Archive includes The Pulse Rush Medical College yearbooks from 1894 and 1895, two early alumni directories, and a variety of publications written by early Rush Medical College faculty.

Good Medicine, page 155

To view these fascinating historical works online, visit the Rush Archives page of the Internet Archive here:

http://www.archive.org/details/rushuniversity

View Good Medicine directly here:

http://www.archive.org/details/goodmedicinefirs00bowm

If you have questions about Rush history or this book digitization project, please contact the Rush Archives at Rush_Archives@rush.edu.