Duke Medical Center Archives Blog Category: Collection Spotlight

Construction of Duke Hospital

Duke 100 Centennial Spotlights
Posted On: March 25, 2024 by Rebecca Williams

Duke University was established in 1924 when James B. Duke, through the Indenture of Trust, designated a gift that transformed Trinity College into a comprehensive research university. The entire university is celebrating Duke’s centennial throughout the entire year of 2024. As part of the centennial celebrations, Duke is spotlighting important individuals from the past 100 years. Below are the Duke Health individuals featured in January-March 2024 along with the archival collections and resources from our collections where you can further research these individuals.

Bessie Baker     
First Dean of the Duke School of Nursing     
Her professional papers:… MORE

Category: Collection Spotlight

Mrs. Jessie Parker Smith, LPN, was a member of the first graduating classes of the Durham School of Practical Nursing during the late 1940s, as well as one of the cohorts of what is now known as the "Trailblazers", the first African American nurses hired by Duke. Smith remained a nurse at Duke for over 40 years. Initially a surgical nurse, she came to work with a variety of patients and specialties over her career. Tireless in her advocacy for the profession, Smith was an active member and Treasurer of the North Carolina Licensed Practical Nurses Association.

In April of 2022, Smith donated the North Carolina Licensed Practical Nurses Association (NCLPNA) Records to the Duke University Medical Center Archives. The NCLPNA was a predominately African American nursing group, and… MORE

Category: News, Collection Spotlight

Mrs. Jessie Parker Smith, LPN, was a member of the first graduating classes of the Durham School of Practical Nursing during the late 1940s, as well as one of the cohorts of what is now known as the "Trailblazers", the first African American nurses hired by Duke. Smith remained a nurse at Duke for over 40 years. Initially a surgical nurse, she came to work with a variety of patients and specialties over her career. Tireless in her advocacy for the profession, Smith was an active member and Treasurer of the North Carolina Licensed Practical Nurses Association.

In April of 2022, Smith donated the North Carolina Licensed Practical Nurses Association (NCLPNA) Records to the Duke University Medical Center Archives. The NCLPNA was a predominately African American nursing group, and… MORE

Category: News, Collection Spotlight

This is Part 2 of a multi part series on the Duke Center for Hyperbaric Medicine & Environmental Physiology (CHMEP) and the records held documenting CHMEP at the Medical Center Archives.

Part 1 “Duke Center for Hyperbaric Medicine & Environmental Physiology”, gives a brief history of the Duke Center for Hyperbaric Medicine & Environmental Physiology (CHMEP).

This piece highlights the working relationship between CHMEP and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) during the Apollo Missions in the 1960s and 1970s.

During the Cold War, the United States and the Soviet Union, the two super powers to emerge after World War… MORE

Category: Collection Spotlight

Dr. Robert Lefkowitz

Celebrating Robert Lefkowitz’s 50 Years of Scientific Discovery
Posted On: October 2, 2023 by Rebecca Williams

In honor of Dr. Lefkowitz’s 50 years at Duke, we would like to spotlight his collection of personal papers that are held at the Medical Center Archives.

The Medical Center Archives began collecting Dr. Lefkowitz’s materials in 2004 with the initial transfer of two boxes of records. The collection has since grown to 410.75 linear feet of materials and is one of our largest. It documents Dr. Lefkowitz’s career and contains his professional papers, including travel and conference materials, speeches, memoranda, committee materials, awards and honors, former employee files, old equipment files, grant materials, alumni files, material… MORE

Category: News, Collection Spotlight

Dr. Robert Lefkowitz

Celebrating Robert Lefkowitz’s 50 Years of Scientific Discovery
Posted On: October 2, 2023 by Rebecca Williams

In honor of Dr. Lefkowitz’s 50 years at Duke, we would like to spotlight his collection of personal papers that are held at the Medical Center Archives.

The Medical Center Archives began collecting Dr. Lefkowitz’s materials in 2004 with the initial transfer of two boxes of records. The collection has since grown to 410.75 linear feet of materials and is one of our largest. It documents Dr. Lefkowitz’s career and contains his professional papers, including travel and conference materials, speeches, memoranda, committee materials, awards and honors, former employee files, old equipment files, grant materials, alumni files, material… MORE

Category: News, Collection Spotlight

In 1963, the initial chamber for Hypo-Hyperbaric research was installed at Duke. Construction of the F.G. Hall Laboratory, named after Frank Gregory Hall and now part of the Center for Hyperbaric Medicine and Environmental Physiology, was completed in 1968. Six large chambers were installed, which allowed the center to simulate depths of 1000 feet of seawater (fsw) and up to 100,000 feet of altitude. Dr. Herbert Saltzman was named Director of the Laboratory, and, under his direction, program investigators emphasized studies of cardiopulmonary, hematologic, and neurologic consequences of exposure to substantially high or low atmospheric pressure.

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Category: Collection Spotlight

Root Causes

Root Causes Records are Available at the Medical Center Archives
Posted On: June 5, 2023 by Rebecca Williams

The Duke University Medical Center Archives is happy to announce that the Root Causes Records are open to researchers. The collection contains the groups’ administrative files, which date from 2017 to 2022. Files document the group's meetings, email communications, budget information, grant materials, public relations, education and outreach, event planning, articles of incorporation, and organizational structure.

 

Root Causes, a Duke led student group first organized in 2016, was created by health professionals with the mission to support sustainable and humane production of food in combination with access to healthy food. Through their efforts to serve, advocate, and educate they hope to involve the… MORE

Category: Collection Spotlight

Dr. Nelson Jen An Chao

Oral Histories from the Archives: Nelson Jen An Chao
Posted On: May 22, 2023 by Rebecca Williams

Oral history interviews are some of our favorite items to share from the Medical Center Archives’ collections. This month we are featuring a recent interview with Dr. Nelson Jen An Chao. He was interviewed by Joseph O'Connell as part of the Department of Medicine's Oral History Project on March 25, 2021.  

Dr. Chao is a Professor of Medicine in the Department of Medicine at Duke University School of Medicine. His leadership at Duke includes roles as Chief of the Division of Cell Therapy in the Department of Medicine and Director of the Global Cancer Program at the Duke Global Health Institute.

He received his medical degree from Yale University and completed his Residency in Medicine as well as a Fellowship in Oncology, Medicine at Stanford University. He first came to Duke… MORE

Category: Collection Spotlight

MEDSpace Digital Repository

Duke Nursing Magazine Available on MEDSpace
Posted On: December 15, 2022 by Rebecca Williams

Duke Nursing Magazine is now available to users on MEDSpace. Users can view past issues here. Issues available on MEDSpace go back to 2006, and the Archives will continue to add new issues as they become available. MEDSpace is the Duke University Medical Center Archives’ Digital Repository. Digital repositories are “the technical infrastructure, services, and resources for the storage and management of digital information” (Society of American Archivist’s Dictionary of Archives Terminology)… MORE

Category: News, Collection Spotlight

MEDSpace Digital Repository

Duke Nursing Magazine Available on MEDSpace
Posted On: December 15, 2022 by Rebecca Williams

Duke Nursing Magazine is now available to users on MEDSpace. Users can view past issues here. Issues available on MEDSpace go back to 2006, and the Archives will continue to add new issues as they become available. MEDSpace is the Duke University Medical Center Archives’ Digital Repository. Digital repositories are “the technical infrastructure, services, and resources for the storage and management of digital information” (Society of American Archivist’s Dictionary of Archives Terminology)… MORE

Category: News, Collection Spotlight

Duke Midwifery Service

Duke Midwifery Service Records
Posted On: May 16, 2022 by Rebecca Williams

The Duke University Medical Center Archives is happy to announce that the Duke Midwifery Service Records are processed and open for research. The collection includes but is not limited to the administrative records, birth logs, bilingual (English and Spanish) curriculum materials for classes on pregnancy and parenting, and ephemera related to the patient-centered care of Certified Nurse Midwives. Major subjects include nurse midwives, high-risk pregnancies, and community health outreach in Durham County, North Carolina, documenting the work of the Duke Midwifery Service and professional activities of former director Amy MacDonald. … MORE

Category: Collection Spotlight

May is Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, so this month we are highlighting a relatively new collection added to the Medical Center Archives in 2021: the Duke Chapter of the Asian Pacific American Medical Student Association Records.

The Duke chapter of the national Asian Pacific American Medical Students Association (APAMSA) is a student-run organization dedicated to learning about, promoting awareness of, and improving Asian-American health issues. Since 2005, the Duke APAMSA chapter has been engaged in community outreach including holding service activities such as bone marrow registry drives, health screenings, and foreign-language health… MORE

Category: Collection Spotlight

Alejandro Barbagelata

Oral Histories from the Archives: Alejandro Barbagelata
Posted On: September 21, 2021 by Rebecca Williams

In honor of Hispanic Heritage Month, we are featuring an oral history from our collections with Dr. Alejandro Barbagelata.

Dr. Barbagelata is an Adjunct Assistant Professor of Medicine and Cardiology at Duke University and a member of the Duke University Cooperative Cardiovascular Society (DUCCS) Board of Directors. He was interviewed by Jessica Roseberry on March 26, 2007. In the oral history interview, Barbagelata discusses the Duke Cardiovascular Databank and subsequent variations at Favaloro Clinic in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

 

When describing the challenges of establishing the Latino version of the Duke Databank, he… MORE

Category: Collection Spotlight

Dr. Wiley Forbus

Wiley D. Forbus Records
Posted On: September 7, 2021 by Rebecca Williams

The Duke University Medical Center Archives is happy to announce that the Wiley D. Forbus Records are processed and open for research. The collection includes but is not limited to abstracts, accounts, annual reports, budgets, committee files, correspondence, course outlines, curriculum, curriculum vitae, lectures, manuscripts, memoranda, minutes, monographs, photographs, plans, proceedings, programs, protocols, publications, recommendations, reports, and schedules documenting the work of Dr. Wiley Davis Forbus (1894-1976), professor and chair of the Department of Pathology at Duke… MORE

Category: Collection Spotlight