Duke Medical Center Archives Blog Category: DUMC History

On November 8, 1973, the Duke Eye Center (now called the Wadsworth Eye Center) was opened and dedicated. The $3.7 million project was the result of more than eight years of planning. Prior to its construction, patients with serious or unusual eye diseases often had to be referred to eye centers in distant places like New York, Baltimore, or Miami.

The three-story structure built in 1973 contained a 43-bed inpatient unit, operating rooms, a 22,000-square-foot outpatient clinic and one complete floor of research laboratories. It was built from funds received from individuals, foundations, and other private sources. The fact that no government funds or tax money was used on the project was a big source of pride for Duke.

Approximately ten years later… MORE

Category: DUMC History

This week the Archives honors the life and work of medical artist Robert Blake, who recently passed away at the age of 98. Blake came to Duke in 1941 as part of Civilian Public Service Unit #61. The picture on the right shows Blake during his service with Unit #61. He contributed illustrations to the unit newsletter and his artistic ability was noticed by medical artist, Elon Clark, who hired him on as part of the Division of Medical Illustration after the war.

Blake remained at Duke through his retirement in 1983. During his long career, he contributed artwork for medical exhibits, such as one on Accidental Poisoning for Dr. Jay Arena; calligraphy for Duke medical diplomas; and countless illustrations for Duke physicians. Blake, alongside Elon… MORE

Category: DUMC History

Last month the School of Medicine welcomed alumni back to campus for the annual Medical Alumni Weekend. This week, we look at the origins of this tradition in honor of the first medical reunion which was held on November 29th, 1940.

The Duke Medical Alumni Association was established in 1940 and organized the first reunion later that year. The second meeting, held April 24-26, 1947, was attended by 281 alumni and featured presentations on various medical topics and a business meeting. The program for this meeting is pictured on the right. Reunions were held every three years (with a hiatus for World War II) until 1959 when an alumni weekend in its current form was proposed.

The first Medical… MORE

Category: DUMC History

Did you know that Duke’s School of Medicine was one of the first in the nation to offer hospital administration courses? When Duke Hospital and the School of Medicine opened in 1930, hospital administration was a new, relatively small field. Yet for the first School of Medicine Dean, Wilburt Davison, it was an issue of special importance, as the process of organizing and establishing the hospital had made him well aware of the need for good hospital administrators. He also believed it was crucial to have more well-trained administrators throughout the South in order to help raise the standards of health care in the region. Inspired in part by Michael M. Davis’ 1929 publication, Hospital Administration: A Career, which stressed the importance of training for hospital… MORE

Category: DUMC History

84 years ago this month, July 1930, construction of the Davison Building was completed. Then simply known as the School of Medicine Building, the structure was built to resemble the collegiate gothic architecture found throughout Duke’s main campus, and included common features of the style such as arches, buttresses, and parapets.

Buildings on the main campus also frequently displayed shields connected to the department or discipline they housed, and the Davison Building was no different: 15 prominent medical and educational institutions are represented above the entrance. Included are some of the most influential medical schools throughout the world, such as the University of Virginia, McGill University, Royal College of Surgeons, University of Padua, and Trinity College (… MORE

Category: DUMC History

While Duke Gardens is one of the most recognized destinations on campus, it’s less well known that the attraction’s origins can be traced back to the medical campus.

The gardens were the idea of Dr. Frederic Hanes (pictured right), a physician who joined Duke in 1930 and became chair of the Department of Medicine in 1933. His daily walks on campus often led him past a debris-filled ravine, the result of a stalled project to create a lake. An avid horticulturist, Hanes had thought that this would be a perfect site for a garden featuring his favorite flower, the iris.

In 1934 Hanes persuaded Sarah Pearson Angier Duke, widow of Benjamin Duke, one of the university’s founders, to donate $20,000 for the garden. Construction… MORE

Category: DUMC History

The architecture of Duke’s campus has been long admired for its gothic features and manicured gardens. Even modern structures, like the Mary Duke Biddle Trent Semans Center for Health Education, are gorgeous from every angle. Yet it is beneath their exteriors that these walls become truly interesting. The Davison and Seely G. Mudd buildings, for example, share a design feature not found elsewhere in the medical center: each has a columbarium.

The idea for a columbarium began in 1949 when the Executive Committee of the Medical School formed a subcommittee, chaired by Dr. Wiley Forbus, to draft a proposal on how to commemorate the founding of the medical school. The initial proposal recommended murals be painted to honor significant events and… MORE

Category: DUMC History

This article first appeared in the February 2014 issue of the Medical Center Library's newsletter.

In honor of Black History Month, this look back at DUMC history features Duke’s licensed practical nursing (LPN) program. When it began in 1948, there were already several others in the state. Duke’s was unique, however, as it was the only one in North Carolina established exclusively for training African American nurses. (To the right is a photo of some of the program's first students.)

The program, known as the Practical Nurse School at Hillside High School, was a collaborative effort between Duke University Hospital, the Durham City Schools, and the North Carolina Department of… MORE

Category: DUMC History

Love is in the air! This week, in honor of Valentine’s Day, we highlight two notable couples from Duke Medicine’s past. These men and women were not just couples, but also colleagues, committed to the work and mission of Duke Medicine. 

First are Dr. Joseph Beard and Dorothy Beard (pictured right). The Beards came to Duke in 1937 after meeting at Vanderbilt University in the late 1920s. Dorothy trained as a surgical nurse and became an important part of Joseph Beard’s research team. Joseph Beard was one of the few Duke doctors at the time to focus entirely on research and teaching. Just one year after arriving at Duke, the Beards developed the first usable vaccine for equine encephalomyelitis, a disease… MORE

Category: DUMC History

In honor of Thanksgiving, we wanted to highlight this 1967 holiday issue of the Intercom, Duke Medicine’s primary news publication from 1953 to 1986. The cover story, “All This to Cook the Turkey,” gives a behind-the-scenes look at the dietetics staff’s work to prepare a special “home cooked” Thanksgiving meal for patients. The amount of planning, preparation, and food involved may surprise you. Check out a few highlights below, or click on the image to enlarge and read the full article.

1967 Thanksgiving dinner at Duke University Hospital:

• All 246 dietetics staff pitched in to help prepare meals for 1,000 individuals
• Preparation began several days before Thanksgiving, with a… MORE

  Category: DUMC History

The 65th General Hospital Unit of Duke University provided crucial support to allied troops in the Eastern Theater of Operations during World War II. This medical unit supplied care to troops and treated over 17,000 patients. Less well-known is that Duke also had a presence and impact on the home front through Civilian Public Service Unit #61.

The Civilian Public Service (CPS) was established on October 16, 1940, as an alternative to military conscription for Conscientious Objectors (CO) during World War II. CO’s were men who declined military service based on their religious beliefs. Rather than serve as soldiers, these men were given the opportunity to support the home front in various capacities. These jobs consisted of work in soil… MORE

Category: DUMC History

Chances are that you’ve never heard of the Surgical Instrument Shop, although it played an important part in Duke's research and innovation.

In the early days of Duke Hospital, research equipment was not as readily available on the market as it is today, and individuals involved in special research often had to create their own devices. Recognizing the need for a unit that could fabricate surgical and medical instruments on campus, Dr. J. Deryl Hart, the then Chair of the Department of Surgery, pioneered the Surgical Instrument Shop, which opened in 1949.

The Shop worked closely with doctors to create devices based on their ideas and needs. A 1955 article in the Intercom (shown left) estimated that since opening only a six years before, the Shop had… MORE

Category: DUMC History