Duke Medical Center Archives Blog Category: News

The Duke University Medical Center Archives (DUMCA) actively collects the official records of the DUMC and DUHS departments and divisions, including a variety of materials that provide evidence of business, interests, and activities through the years. In doing so, the DUMCA serves as the institutional memory of the DUMC and DUHS by collecting, preserving, and making accessible materials that provide evidence of day to operations. Guided by our collection development policy, we strive to document the intellectual, administrative, social, cultural, and visual history of the DUMC and DUHS in order to provide evidence of past actions and contribute to an understanding of the structure and history of the DUMC and DUHS.

See below for a listing of materials added to the DUMCA. The… MORE

Category: News

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

Duke Midwifery Service staff

Duke Midwifery Exhibit Now On Display!
Posted On: February 7, 2024 by Rebecca Williams

Joining a Community of Care: Duke Midwifery Service
Medical Center Library & Archives - Level 1
On Display February- May 2024

We are excited to announce the installation of a new physical exhibit on Level 1 of the Medical Center Library & Archives as well as a companion digital exhibit.  

The foundation of the exhibit are five oral history interviews with nurse midwives and other birth workers in Durham. These interviews were conducted by Josephine McRobbie and were made possible with a grant from… MORE

Category: News

Archives Intern, Kayla Cavenaugh, at work processing the North Carolina Licensed Practical Nurses Association Records.

Welcome to Our New Intern: Kayla Cavenaugh
Posted On: November 9, 2023 by Rebecca Williams

Kayla Cavenaugh joined the Archives staff as an Intern in August 2023. During her internship at the Medical Center Archives, Kayla will process archival collections, write archival description, create finding aids, assist with acquisitions, as well as assist with the selection of images and writing metadata for MEDSpace and MediaBeacon. Her first project is to help complete the processing of the North Carolina Licensed Practical Nurses Association Records.

Kayla earned dual bachelor’s degrees in Art History and German with a minor in English, from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. After graduating, she served as a Fulbright English-Language Teaching Assistant in the rural community of Murau, Austria. In 2017, she learned to read Old German Script through a course… MORE

Category: News

Archives Intern, Emma Eubank, at work processing the Duke Center for Hyperbaric Medicine and Environmental Physiology Records.

Welcome to Our New Intern: Emma Eubank
Posted On: November 9, 2023 by Rebecca Williams

Emma Eubank joined the Archives staff as an Intern in August 2023. During her internship at the Medical Center Archives, Emma will process archival collections, write archival descriptions, create finding aids, and assist with acquisitions. Her first project is to process the Duke Center for Hyperbaric Medicine and Environmental Physiology Records to make the collection available to researchers. 

Emma earned a BA in Anthropology and Medieval & Renaissance Studies from William & Mary in 2022. She is now in the dual degree program between the North Carolina State University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill working towards a MA in Public History from NCSU and a MSLS with a… MORE

Category: News

October is Archives Month

October is Archives Month
Posted On: October 6, 2023 by Rebecca Williams

Archives Month is an annual, month-long observance of the agencies and people responsible for maintaining and making available the archival and historical records of our nation, state, communities, and people. Archives serve as the memory of our nation, and by celebrating, we recognize and give legitimacy to the enduring value of American records and America’s archives.

We encourage you to check out our Instagram account where we'll be highlighting treasures from the Medical Center Archives collection all month long.

This year the Society of North Carolina Archivists theme is for Archives Month is “Scandals, Nuisance, Calamity, and Anguish in the Archives… MORE

Category: News

Location: Medical Center Library & Archives, Level 1

Date: Tuesday, October 31, 11am – 2pm

Please join us for the Duke University Medical Center Archives’ annual Halloween event! This casual open house event will feature a selection of odd, intriguing, and rarely seen materials from our collections. 

All are invited to drop in to view detailed medical illustrations, touch old medical instruments, explore forgotten stories from the history of Duke Health, and much more. 

Come by for a fun break to learn some history and enjoy free Halloween candy!


 

 

Category: News

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

“The senseless murder of George Floyd gave birth to a movement — around the globe and right here at Duke Health.”

In the summer of 2020, Duke University and the School of Medicine took steps to acknowledge and address systematic racism, both within their institutions and across the nation. Emphasis was given to the effects racism has on Black communities and individuals. On June 16, 2020, Duke University held "Living While Black," an all-day symposium bringing together distinguished Black faculty, students, and staff. Speakers discussed the history of race and racism within Duke and the United States, their personal perspectives as Black individuals at… MORE

Category: News

3 exhibit cases

Highland Hospital Exhibit Now on Display!
Posted On: August 18, 2023 by Rebecca Williams

Highland Hospital
Medical Center Library & Archives - Level 1
Now on Display through October 2023

Highland Hospital, a small, inpatient mental hospital located in Asheville, NC was owned and operated by Duke University from 1944 to 1980. This exhibit showcases materials from the Highland Hospital Records and provides an interesting case study of 20th century mental health care.

Category: News

Finding Aid Portal

New Finding Aid Search Portal
Posted On: August 1, 2023 by Rebecca Williams

This summer we rolled out some new updates to the Duke Medical Center Archives website. You might notice some slight changes to the front page, but the biggest update is a brand new portal for our finding aids.

Findings aids, also called collection guides, are detailed online descriptions of our materials. We publish a guide for every open collection in the Duke University Medical Center Archives. The guides outline the contents of the collection, explain how a specific collection is organized, and give a history of the person or organization that produced the collection.

Previously our website simply had a list of the published finding aids on one page. This new portal allows for more advanced searching with several new… MORE

Category: News

Exhibit on Display

Care and Custody Display Currently On View
Posted On: July 10, 2023 by Rebecca Williams

Care and Custody: Past Responses to Mental Health
Medical Center Library & Archives - Level 3
On Display: July 3 - August 12, 2023

The Medical Center Library & Archives is hosting "Care and Custody: Past Responses to Mental Health," a six-banner traveling exhibition. Developed and produced by the National Library of Medicine, it displays the history of societal attitudes towards people with mental health conditions in the United States.

In conjunction with the NLM display, a companion exhibit will be produced featuring Highland Hospital, a small, for profit, inpatient mental hospital located in Asheville, NC that was owned and operated by Duke University… MORE

Category: News

Your Story Matters!

Your Story Matters! Documenting COVID-19 at Duke
Posted On: May 8, 2023 by Rebecca Williams

In March 2020, COVID-19 changed and disrupted all of our lives, at Duke and around the world. Essential workers remained on site at their jobs, and those who could work remotely did; classes for students from pre-K to professional schools went online; and all planned events were canceled or postponed. All the while we lived with the fear of how this virus would affect ourselves, our loved ones, and the world around us. Nearly 3 years later, we are still collectively living through this historic time and processing the changes that ensued.

As part of our mission to preserve, maintain, document, and make available for research the permanent records of the functions of the Duke University Medical Center and Duke University Health System, the Duke University Medical Center… MORE

Category: News