Duke Medical Center Archive Blog

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

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

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

Beebalm and Butterfly-Weed: Native Plants from the Medical Garden 
Medical Center Library & Archives - Level 1
On Display March 2023 – June 2023

We are excited to announce the installation of a new exhibit on Level 1 of the Medical Center Library & Archives. This exhibit will focus on the Library's Medical Garden, highlighting two of its native plants, Beebalm and Butterfly-Weed.

Category: News

In November 2021, Dr. Kevin Lindsey Thomas, MD, an electrophysiologist and Associate Professor of Medicine in Duke’s Division of Cardiology, was named the Duke University School of Medicine’s Vice Dean for Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion by Dean Mary E. Klotman. The role is a first for the school, and was among the key action items outlined in the anti-racism and advancing equity strategic plan launched by the School of Medicine in June 2021.  Dr. Thomas received his undergraduate degree from Emory University and his medical… MORE

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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 types of… MORE

Category: News

The Medical Center Archives is happy to announce the donation of the North Carolina Licensed Practical Nurses Association (NCLPNA) Records by Mrs. Jessie Parker Smith, a member of the 1946 inaugural graduation class of the Durham School of Practical Nursing, as well as one of the cohorts of the “Trailblazers”, the first African American nurses hired by Duke. Mrs. Smith, an LPN, remained at nurse at Duke for over 40 years.

… MORE

Category: News

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 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 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 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

Adonna Thompson joined the Archives staff in August 2022 as the Rice Diet Program Collection Processing Librarian, a 2 year grant funded position. Adonna, a familiar face to some of the Library, has over 15 years of experience working in Archives with a strong background in archival management. In her previous roles at the Duke Medical Center Archives she served as Director and Archivist of the Physician Assistant History Center; Librarian for Research, Outreach and Education; and Archives Assistant Director. After leaving Duke she worked for six years as the founding archivist for the Martha Smith Archives and Research Center at Avila University in Kansas City, Missouri. During her time there she was responsible for managing all aspects of the archives including policy creation and… MORE

Category: News

The Medical Center Archives, in partnership with Rachel Ingold, Curator of the History of Medicine Collections at the Rubenstein Library and Josephine McRobbie and Joseph O’Connell, local oral historians, received a grant from the Josiah Charles Trent Memorial Foundation Endowment Fund in the amount of $5,400 to document the history of maternal health in Durham through oral history interviews with members of the Duke Midwifery Service and Durham County Health Department. The title of this project is “Documenting the Duke Midwifery Service and Durham Maternal Health Through First Hand Narratives”. The idea for this project was spurred by the 2021 donation of the Duke Midwifery Service… MORE

Category: News

Dr. Samuel L. Katz died last week at the age of 95. He was a world-renowned pediatrician and virologist. He joined the Duke University School of Medicine faculty as chair of pediatrics in 1968 and led the department until 1990.  

Category: News

It Came from the Archives
Medical Center Library & Archives - Level 1
On Display October 17, 2022 through January 31, 2023

We are excited to announce the installation of a new exhibit on Level 1 of the Medical Center Library & Archives. “It Came From the Archives” celebrates the Duke Medical Center Archives by spotlighting two remarkable stories found in the Archives’ collections — one that goes underground and one that takes flight!

Category: News