Duke Medical Center Archives Blog Category: News

The MCL&A’s new exhibit, “Under Pressure: Hyperbaric Medicine at Duke” is now on display. Featuring the Duke Center for Hyperbaric Medicine and Environmental Physiology, the exhibit charts the Center’s development, activities, and achievements since its beginnings in the early 1960s. Items on display include documents, photographs, and promotional materials spanning the Center’s history.

The Duke Center for Hyperbaric Medicine and Environmental Physiology is the major facility in the Southeast and provides patient care treatment for medical conditions – such as carbon monoxide poisoning and decompression sickness – using 100% pure oxygen. The facility also has been a hub for innovative research, such as the record-breaking Atlantis dives… MORE

Category: News

The DUMC Archives is happy to announce that we have added more historic photographs to MEDSpace. Over two dozen images from the 1940’s to the 1980’s have been uploaded to the digital repository. Included are portraits of key faculty and staff (such as the photo of Dr. Brenda Armstrong, to the right), images of the 65th General Hospital, photos of nursing students, and operating room images. The new additions can be viewed by scrolling down to the bottom of MEDSpace’s homepage and clicking the “Recent Additions” tab on the far right. While some of the people in these images have been identified, others have not. You can help us identify individuals by visiting our … MORE

Category: News

We are excited to report that today's post on the This Day in North Carolina History blog features DUMC history. Maintained by the North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources, This Day in North Carolina History highlights people and places of the Tar Heel state, day by day. Today's entry looks back at the beginnings of Duke University Hospital, which opened for patients on July 21, 1930, 84 years ago today. Please visit the Duke University Hospital blog entry to read about the institution's auspicious first day and learn more. Thanks to the folks at… MORE

Category: News

We are happy to announce that our new exhibit, “Civil War Medicine,” is now on display at the Medical Center Library. Featuring rare books, medical instruments and artifacts, and historic images and documents from the Rubenstein Library, the exhibit explores health care during the Civil War. It will be on display from June to September.

In addition to this exhibit, the Library & Archives is hosting a six-banner traveling exhibition, “Binding Wounds, Pushing Boundaries: African Americans in Civil War Medicine.” Produced by the National Library of Medicine, this display highlights the contributions of African Americans as nurses, surgeons, and hospital staff during the war. It will be on Level 2 of… MORE

Category: News

As it’s graduation season, we thought it would be fitting to celebrate in style with two recent accessions. The first item, pictured on the left, is a blazer that was donated to us by alumna Gladys Lewis at the Nursing Alumni Weekend in April. The blazer was available for purchase by Duke undergraduates and could be had with or without the Duke seal on the breast pocket. Mrs. Lewis earned both her Bachelors in Nursing (’60) and Masters in Nursing (’62) at Duke and taught nursing students on Osler Ward from 1961-1963. Afterwards she went on to work in hospice care and raise a family before returning to nursing later in her career. Mrs. Lewis was proud of her achievements at Duke and the blazer symbolized that sentiment. Though the blazer is not specific to the School… MORE

Category: News

The DUMC Archives Spring 2014 newsletter is now available! To read it, visit our newsletters page. 

In this issue:

• From the Director’s Chair: THE DUMC Archives Acquires a Küntscher Nail with a Unique History
• DUMC Archives at Work
• Digitized School of Medicine Yearbooks Now Online
• News Book Highlights the History of the Duke Division of Infectious Diseases
• Beyond Boxes: The Archival Process
• News & Notes
• Upcoming Events

If you’d like to subscribe to our newsletter, email us at: dumc.archives@mc.duke.edu.

Category: News

Duke University Graduate School has released The Education of Ida Owens: Science, Civil Rights, and the Integration of Duke University, a documentary about the life and work of Ida Stephens Owens, the first African American woman to receive a doctorate from Duke University. Owens was recruited to the graduate school in 1962 by Dr. Daniel C. Tosteson, then chair of the Department of Physiology, and under the mentorship of Dr. Jacob J. Blum, James B. Duke Professor Emeritus of Cell Biology, received her PhD in physiology in 1967. Owens went on to establish a well respected research lab at the National Institutes of Health.

The DUMC Archives contributed… MORE

Category: News

The DUMC Archives is happy to announce that we have added more historic photographs to MEDSpace. Over two dozen images from the 1930’s to the 1990’s have been uploaded to the digital repository. Included are portraits key faculty and staff, views of campus buildings, and photos of medical and nursing students (such as the 1950's image of nursing students to the right).

The new additions can be viewed by scrolling down to the bottom of MEDSpace’s homepage and clicking the “Recent Additions” tab on the far right. While some of the people in these images have been identified, others have not. You can help us identify individuals by visiting our Demystify… MORE

Category: News

We are happy to announce that our new exhibit, “The Medical Garden,” is now on display at the Medical Center Library. Highlighting herbs and flowers from the Library’s medical garden, the exhibit features plant specimens, botanical illustrations, and archival materials. Items from the DUMC Archives on display include Wilburt Davison's botany notebook from his undergraduate days at Princeton and materials on poisonous plants from the Jay Arena Papers.

The idea for a medical garden was first suggested by Susan Carlton Smith Cavanagh, the Assistant Curator of the Trent Collection, who also worked as a botanical illustrator. In 1976, she and the Curator of the Trent Collection, G.S.T.… MORE

Category: News

In honor of the Medical Center Library’s Trent Room being renamed the Richmond House Room this month, the Archives is highlighting materials from our collections about its history in the display case on Level 2 of the Library.

The Richmond House Room is a 1730 period room containing pine paneling, bookcase doors, and fireplace surround removed from the Richmond House in Plaistow, England, which was once the seat of the Duke of Richmond. The room was donated to Duke in 1956 by Mary Duke Biddle Trent Semans and architect Karl Block. (To the right is an image of the room's first visitors during the 1956 dedication ceremony.)

The room’s first location on campus was at the Duke University Hospital library in the Davison… MORE

Category: News

The DUMC Archives is happy to announce that we have added more historic photographs to MEDSpace. Over 30 images spanning the 1930's to the 1990's have been added to the digital repository. Included are mock clinic and student-faculty show performances (such as the 1950 image to the right), views of the medical campus, 1940's photos of the Medical Art and Illustration staff, 1980's pictures of Duke North, 1960-70's photos of the hospital pharmacy, and early images of nursing students.

The new images can be viewed by scrolling down to the bottom of MEDSpace’s homepage and clicking the “Recent Additions” tab on the far right. While some of the people in these images have been identified… MORE

Category: News

We are excited to announce that our new exhibit, “An Eye for the Eye: Medical Illustration at Duke, 1932-2005” is now on display at the Medical Center Library. Documenting over 70 years of medical illustration at Duke, the exhibit includes original artwork (such as the drawing to the right by Robert Blake), photographs, brochures, medical textbooks, and even a prosthetic nose and pair of ears.

Duke was one of the first educational institutions to provide medical illustration services. Established in 1935, the Division of Medical Art and Illustration produced charts, graphics, and photographs for Duke University and Duke University Medical Center publications. In addition to creating artwork, the unit also was instrumental in the Medical Center's efforts to advance plastic… MORE

Category: News

Because food probably isn't the first topic that comes to mind when thinking of medical archives, you might be surprised to find out that the Duke University Medical Center Archives has many materials related to food and nutrition. In honor of the 2013 North Carolina Archives Week’s (October 21-27) theme, “Home Grown! A Celebration of N.C. Food Culture & History,” we're highlighting a few of these items below.

To the right is an image of Duke medical students at Turnage’s… MORE

Category: News

The DUMC Archives is happy to announce that we recently added more historic images to MEDSpace. Over two dozen images spanning the 1940s to the 1980s have been added to the digital repository. Included are photos of important innovations in DUMC’s history, such as the PRT and Life Flight, group portraits of department faculty and students, and medical artwork. They can be viewed by scrolling down on the homepage and clicking the “Recent Additions” tab on the far right.

While some of the people in these images have been identified, others have not. You can help us identify individuals by visiting our … MORE

Category: News

The October 2013 DUMC Archives newsletter is now available! To read it, visit: /dumc-newsletter. 

In this issue:

• From the Director’s Chair: MEDSpace, Past & Present
• 65th General Hospital & Department of Surgery Documented in New Collection
• DUMC Archives at Work
• Meet the DUMC Archives Intern
• Lights, Camera, Access: Processing the EMS Motion Film Collection
• News & Notes
• Upcoming Events  

If you’d like to provide suggestions, feedback, or be added to our mailing list, please contact us at dumc.archives@mc.duke.edu. 

Category: News