Happy holidays to all from the History of Medicine Collections. Please share our newsletter with friends and colleagues. We hope you remain safe and well!
John Ridlon and Early Orthopedics in America
This fall we welcomed researchers back to our Reading Room including History of Medicine Travel Grant recipients. One of our travel grant recipients, Lisa Pruitt, Ph.D., visited in September. Dr. Pruitt spent time poring through the John Ridlon Papers, a collection of archival materials of a prominent orthopedic surgeon in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
Dr. Pruitt notes, "My larger project looks at the evolution over time of the concept of the 'crippled child.' Of course, physically impaired children have always been present and in all societies. But in the mid-19th century U.S. (a little earlier in Europe), reformers began to see physically disabled children of the impoverished and working classes as a social problem requiring both social and medical intervention. I was drawn to [Ridlon's] collection in hopes of learning more about the day-to-day work of orthopedic surgeons at that time and especially the impact of x-ray technology on their practice with children."
We invite you to read more about Dr. Pruitt's research and her work with the John Ridlon papers.
Civil War amputation kit, early to mid-19th century
Teaching with Artifacts, Virtually
The past year provided opportunities for new ways to engage with our users. Research Services Librarian Brooke Guthrie shares in this post ways in which she utilized new technologies to interact and share History of Medicine items with students in classes at Duke.
Anderson, A. Fitz Roy, author. Communism Controls our Medical Schools: Fight On! [New York] : [The Health Committee], [1947?]. This 16-page pamphlet presents controversial topics such as vaccination, euthanasia, and cancer treatments from the author's critical viewpoint of "organized medicine." Anderson declares throughout that physicians and medical schools contribute to the "pollution of the body" through vaccinations as well as other drug treatments. Peppered throughout the text are suggestions for other readings of similar-minded people.
Feigel, J. Th. A. (Johann Theodor Anton). Anatomische Abbildungen, oder, Erläuterungstafeln zu dem Handbuche der Anatomie. Würzburg: Selbstverlag [self-published], 1837. Feigel was a professor at the University of Wurzburg in Germany and an artist who provided illustrations for his published works. This particular volume includes over 50 plates, some with hand-coloring.
Tenth Annual Convention North Carolina State Association of Colored Graduate Nurses. Excluded from the North Carolina Nursing Association because they weren't white, the North Carolina Colored Graduate Nurses Association formed in 1923. The group met in Durham, NC, in 1932 and held their annual Business Meeting at Lincoln Hospital Nurses' Home. Speakers included C.C. Spaulding, Dr. Clyde Donnell, and Dr. Charles H. Shepard.
New Online Exhibit
Vaccination: 300 Years of Debate is now an online exhibit. Originally installed in the Trent History of Medicine Room in October 2019, the exhibit became unavailable in March 2020 at a time when it was becoming most relevant.
Items from the exhibit demonstrate that vaccine hesitancy is nothing new. Take a break from current news to view materials that give context to the ongoing historical debate.
Fall 2021 brought a return to instruction onsite. Below are several courses we worked with in-person over the Fall semester.
Writing 101: Doc Tales, Practitioner Narratives in History
The Josiah Charles Trent History of Medicine Room is OPEN again to the public. New items are on display as well as perennial favorites such as ivory anatomical manikins, surgical tools, and of course, the glass eyeballs.
