Duke Medical Center Archive Blog

We have several scrapbooks of programs and individuals associated with the Medical Center in our collections at the Archives, but a particular favorite and one we want to highlight in this post is those of Mildred Sherwood.

Sherwood (pictured right, in the center of the top photo) dedicated her professional life to Duke, having been recruited by the first School of Medicine Dean Wilburt C. Davison (like many of her colleagues, from a position at Johns Hopkins Hospital) to be pediatrics supervisor at Duke University Hospital when it opened in 1930. She also was an instructor in the Department of Pediatrics, teaching medical and nursing students about patient care. She… MORE

Category: Collection Highlights

We are happy to announce that the Department of Arts & Health at Duke Records are processed and open for research. This interesting collection documents the department’s history of providing cultural services programming for Duke Hospital. Fittingly, the collection displays material in a variety of formats, from published poetry compilations to scrapbooks highlighting sponsored performing arts programs, as exhibited in the image on the right.    

The Arts & Health Department at Duke was established in 1978 as the Cultural Services Program. Founded by James H. Semans, MD, and Wayne Rundles, MD, with initial support from the National Endowment for the Arts and Mary Duke Biddle Foundation, the program’s goal was… MORE

Category: News

We are happy to announce that a new collection, the William H. Briner Papers, is now available and open for research.

Captain William Harold Briner was a pharmacist who began his career in the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps in 1954 and later went on to establish one of the first nuclear pharmacies in the country. 

Early in his career, Briner worked at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland in several different capacities at the U.S. Pharmacy Service. Starting as a resident, Briner eventually became Acting Chief and then Chief of different services within the Clinical Center. While Chief of the newly-created Radiopharmaceutical Service Clinical Center, Briner… MORE

Category: News

The Medical Center Archives is happy to announce that we have added more historic photographs to MEDSpace. Over two dozen images from the 1960’s to the 1990’s have been uploaded to the digital repository. Included are portraits of key faculty and staff, photos of PA students, operating room images, and images of key events (such as the Duke North Hospital groundbreaking, pictured 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.

To view all of our digitized historic images, please visit the… MORE

Category: News

It Came from the Archives! Halloween Highlights from the Duke Medical Center Archives

Location: Medical Center Library & Archives, Level 2, Room 212E 

Date: Friday, October 30, 11am – 2pm

In honor of Archives Month in October, the Duke University Medical Center Archives is hosting our second annual Halloween event at the MCL&A featuring a selection of eerie, fascinating, and rarely seen materials from our collections. Brave souls are invited to gaze upon spine-chilling artwork, stare into the faces of frightening death masks, behold macabre medical artifacts and instruments, and much more! Halloween candy will be available…for those who haven’t lost their appetite.

The event is… MORE

Category: News

We are happy to announce that our new exhibit, Celebrating 50 Years of the Duke Physician Assistant Program: The Birth of a Profession, is now on display. Featuring artifacts, photographs, and documents from the Medical Center Archives collections, the exhibit charts the founding, growth, and accomplishments of Duke’s PA Program. Highlights include a 1964 letter written by Dr. Eugene A. Stead, Jr., expressing his desire to start the program at Duke, scrapbooks and publications made by PA students, and the 1966 issue of Look magazine that introduced the profession, and Duke’s program, to the general public.

When Dr. Stead, then Chairman of Duke’s Department of Medicine, established the PA Program in 1965, it was the first of its kind in the nation. A two-year… MORE

Category: News

Earlier this summer we unveiled the exhibit, Remembering the 65th: Duke’s General Hospital Unit, which documents the staff, activities, and accomplishments of the 65th General Hospital, Duke's World War II unit. We are happy to announce that digital version is now available online.

Like the physical exhibit, Remembering the 65th features artifacts, photographs, and documents from the Medical Center Archives collections. Items include medical instruments used by hospital staff, an aircrew flak helmet worn by a patient treated at the hospital, original artwork depicting the unit’s doctors and nurses, and a letter from President Ronald Reagan commending the unit.The digital exhibit… MORE

Category: News

The Archives recently began processing the Albert R. Behnke Collection. Captain Albert R. Behnke was a physician with the US Navy from 1929-1959. He is best known for developing the US Naval Medical Research Institute and for his research and work with compressed air to treat decompression sickness. He continued his work and research after retiring from the Navy as a professor of preventive medicine at the University of California and Director of the Institute of Applied Biology, Presbyterian Medical Center, San Francisco, California. Behnke is also one of the cofounders of the Undersea and Hyperbaric Medical Society (UHMS). This collection is closely related to the C.J. Lambertsen Papers as another source of… MORE

Category: Collection Spotlight

We are happy to announce that our new exhibit, Remembering the 65th: Duke’s General Hospital Unit, is now on display. Featuring artifacts, photographs, and documents from the Medical Center Archives collections, the exhibit tells the story of Duke Medicine’s World War II hospital unit. Items include medical instruments used by hospital staff, an aircrew flak helmet worn by a patient treated at the hospital, original artwork of the unit’s doctors and nurses, and a letter from President Ronald Reagan commending the unit.

The idea for a Duke hospital army unit was born in October 1940, the brainchild of Wilburt C. Davison, then dean of the Duke University School of Medicine. Activated in July 1942, the Army reserve unit's original crew consisted of… MORE

Category: News

The Archives is happy to announce that we have added an oral history with Dr. John Falletta to our collections. Dr. Falletta is Professor Emeritus of Pediatrics and Emeritus Senior Chair of the Institutional Review Board (IRB) of the School of Medicine. In this recently conducted interview, he recounts his life and career, from his childhood in Kansas to his advisory role at the IRB.

After receiving his degree from the University of Kansas School of Medicine, Dr. Falletta joined the staff of Texas Children’s Hospital in Houston, where his work on a local cluster of childhood leukemia cases solidified his interest in pediatric hematology-oncology. In 1976 he came to Duke to serve as the Chief of the Division of Pediatric Hematology-Oncology.… MORE

Category: News

The Archives recently acquired new additions to the Robert L. Blake Papers. Blake was a medical artist in the Division of Medical Illustration (later named Division of Audiovisual Education) at Duke from 1943-1983. His long career is surpassed only by the lasting impact of his artistic contributions to the University and Medical Center. This recent accession expands upon our already extensive collection of Blake’s artwork.

This accession (pictured on the right) contains two scrapbooks, slides, prints, publications and other papers documenting Blake’s professional career at Duke. One scrapbook features photos of division staff between 1943 and 1983. The image of Bob Blake below is from this scrapbook. The other scrapbook features copies of… MORE

Category: Collection Spotlight

Surviving & Thriving: AIDS, Politics, and Culture

Location: Medical Center Library & Archives, Level 2R

Date: May 11-June 20, 2015

The Medical Center Library & Archives is currently hosting "Surviving & Thriving: Aids, Politics, and… MORE

Category: News

The Medical Center Archives Spring/Summer 2015 newsletter is now available. To read it, visit: /dumc-newsletter or click on the image below.

Category: News

This Friday the School of Nursing hosts its annual Reunion Weekend for alumni. Each year the Archives has a display during this event with items showcasing the history of nursing at Duke. We invite you to get a close-up look at some of our artifacts, such as a vintage nursing uniform and publications, and a timeline complete with historic images. Since we have more material than we can display, here is a look at some of what we have available for research.

One of the best parts about the School of Nursing Records collection is that it contains a wide variety of media. We have everything from artifacts and photographs to paper and textiles. Among the most interesting of these items are the scrapbooks compiled by nursing students. These… MORE

Category: Collection Spotlight

Please join us on Thursday, May 14, 2015 at noon for a lecture by Dr. John D. Hamilton, "The History of Infectious Diseases at Duke in the 20th Century.” The talk will be held in Room 102 of the Medical Center Library & Archives. This event is free and open to the public. Light refreshments will be available.

Dr. Hamilton joined the faculty in the Department of Medicine at Duke in 1971, serving first as the Chief of the Durham VA Infectious Diseases Section from 1971 to 1994, and then as Chief of the adult Duke Infectious Diseases and International Health Division from 1994 to 2010. His book, The History of Infectious Diseases at Duke University in the 20th Century, was published… MORE

Category: News