In May 2013, the Robert L. Brown History of Medicine Collection added a 19th century portable  pedal driven dental drill to the Edgar R. McGuire Historical Medical Instrument Collection. Part of the Elli Buk Collection that was auctioned in Dedham, MA, the drill came with its original case containing the handpiece, drill bits and the cords used to operate the mechanism.  Elli Buk was a self-made, prolific collector and curator whose collection contained over 2,000 pieces in 30 collecting categories including medicine and science

.

The New York Heritage Digital Collections highlighting our Dr. Austin Flint Collection

This month, the R.L. Brown History of Medicine Collection is proud to have our Dr. Austin Flint Collection designated as a “Featured Collection” on the New York Heritage Digital Collections website! If you haven’t had the chance to visit the NY Heritage Digital Collections, overall a fantastic historical resource, please take a moment to do so at http://www.newyorkheritage.org/. Dedicated to the people, places and institutions of New York State, the site provides free access to more than 170 distinct digital collections, representing a wide range of historical materials.

Our particular Dr. Austin Flint Collection features an assortment of print materials, photographs, ephemera, & medical artifacts all representative of Flint’s professional activities as a local, yet nationally prominent physician and as founding member of the University at Buffalo’s Medical School. Flint was particularly well known for his work regarding the 1843 typhoid fever epidemic in Boston, NY, and for his skills as a diagnostician. Indeed, due to his skill at diagnosis, he was the first to isolate a heart condition resulting from aortic insufficiency, now known as “Flint’s murmur”.

The digitization of this collection was spearheaded by graduate students of UB’s Digital Libraries class (LIS 563) of Spring 2012, led by Timothy Binga, Instructor in UB’s Library and Information Sciences department and the Director of the Center for Inquiry Libraries. If not for their hard work, and the guidance of Professor Binga, this fascinating Collection would have remained much less visible. We would also like to wholeheartedly thank Karlen Chase, WNYLRC Digital Services/Circuit Librarian, for all of her hard work in getting the Flint Collection uploaded to the New York Heritage’s site. We are certainly proud to be a part of it!

Digital Display Tools PechaKucha & Panel

Omeka, Pinterest, Instagram, Historypin, Tumblr, Tagxedo, WordPress, and more!

July 16, 1-4pm @ WNYLRC Training Center, 4455 Genesee Street, Cheektowaga, NY 14225: 716-633-0705

Register at link below:

http://bit.ly/14J07kD

Have a question about what digital display or Web 2.0 tool to use to highlight or access your institution’s items? Or do you need to move beyond images on a static Web page but don’t have in-house tech expertise or know where to begin? The Preservation Committee is bringing together local library and cultural institution practitioners to give a PechaKucha presentation (20 slides X 20 seconds) on various digital display tools: how they use them, implementation, cost, successes, and failures.

Some proprietary tools, such as CONTENTdm, will be included in the PechaKucha, but the focus is free or open source platforms any institution can use for digital display of their items. After the PechaKucha, the presenters will convene in a panel to answer questions from attendees. If time allows, participants will break into groups focused around specific digital display tools.

Moderator: Tom Orrange, Adult & Graduate Library Services Coordinator, Medaille College

Topics:
Omeka-configuration (Ted Sherman, Systems Librarian, D’Youville College)
Omeka-implementation (Jody Sidlauskas, Associate Archivist, Rochester Institute of Technology)
Pinterest (Sue Cutrona, Reference Librarian, Grosvenor Room, Buffalo & Erie County Public Library)
Instagram, Historypin, Tumblr (Kelly Carpenter, Digital Media Manager, Albright-Knox Art Gallery)
Tagxedo (Lindsay Schwab, Library Media Specialist, Casey Middle School, Williamsville Central School District)
WordPress (Dennis Frank, Archivist, St. Bonaventure University)
CONTENTdm (Karlen Chase, Digital Services Librarian, Western New York Library Resources Council)
Bepress, Digital Commons, Issuu (Marc Bayer, Scholarly Communication Librarian, Buffalo State College)

Did you know? We are in the midst of a fundraising activity to support the growth of the Edgar R. McGuire Historical Medical Instrument Collection. The collection was established in 1985 by Mrs. Annette Cravens in memory of her father, Dr. Edgar R. McGuire, Professor and Chair of surgery at UB from 1915 to 1931. There are currently over 200 medical and health sciences instruments and artifacts dating from the Roman Period to the 20th century. Inquires about donations or the collection in general may be directed to:

Linda Lohr, Manager
Robert L. Brown History of Medicine Collection,
Health Sciences Library, University at Buffalo,
B5 Abbott Hall, Buffalo, NY 14214.

Tel: 716-829-5737
email: lalohr@buffalo.edu

Welcome to the The Curiosity Cabinet, episode 3!

This is the third in our regular video series showcasing an interesting item from our McGuire Historical Instrument Collection.

The video may also be viewed on Youtube at http://youtu.be/-2hXfnFGuhU

What is the name of this instrument and what was it used for?

Hints given in the video:

• It was designed by Dr. Carter Moffet in the 19^th century
• It was designed in London England by the Medical Battery Company
• It was used to produce artificial Italian air by pressing the switches on either end, and twisting a rod in the center

Please submit your answers to Linda Lohr by April 30, 2013.

Prizes will be drawn from all correct answers received by April 30th.  First prize is a copy of “Stolen Glory: the McKinley Assassination”, 2nd prize is “Medical History in Buffalo, 1846-1996″,  third prize is a set of our beautiful Botanical Notecards — Happy Guessing!

The magic in J. K. Rowling’s series of Harry Potter novels is partially based on Renaissance traditions that played an important role in the development of Western science, including alchemy, astrology, and natural philosophy. Harry Potter’s World: Renaissance, Science, Magic, and Medicine explores the intersection of these worlds, featuring highlights from the collections of the History of Medicine Division at the National Library of Medicine.

The links at the NLM exhibits pages offer a rare opp0rtunity for delving into the history of the occult sciences (see especially educational unit 2 and unit 3).  However, the UB Libraries and the History of Medicine collection have great resources to study as well.

Check out these sources:

• The occult sciences: sketches of the traditions and superstitions of past times, and the marvels of the present day, HSL History WZ 309 S637o 1855
• Alchemy :the Medieval alchemists and their royal art /by Johannes Fabricius, HSL History QD 26 F126f 1989
• The story of alchemy and early chemistry, HSL History QD11 S84 1960

The UB Libraries also have many of the books referred to in the exhibit, available through our electronic subscription to Early English Books Online (UB Only).

Harry Potter’s World: Renaissance, Science, Magic, and Medicine is on display through March 26th in the lobby of HSL.   However, the magic and marvel of Harry Potter’s world, and its connection to the history of medicine and science, remain for the reader to discover in the many resources available in the UB Libraries.

New York and Boston have both declared public health emergencies due to what is now a flu epidemic as of January 2013.

But it’s not the first, or likely the last.

During the influenza epidemic almost a century ago, an estimated 650,000 Americans and approximately 50 million worldwide lost their lives.

Today, vaccination, preventative measures and supportive medical care have reduced morbidity and mortality, while patients can readily get information on the current spread, symptoms, treatments, and other information via the web.  New York State Department of Health Seasonal Flu page and http://flu.gov as well as other state web sites are easily accessed.   But in 1918, such information was disseminated by newspapers, public gatherings and word of mouth.

The fascinating history of this epidemic is well documented.   Stop by HSL’s History of Medicine to read Deborah Bruch Bucki’s essay:  “A History of Buffalo’s Medical Response to the Great Influenza Pandemic of 1918-1919″ in: Medical History in Buffalo 1846-1996: Collected Essays, compiled and edited by Lilli Sentz.    Photos from the epidemic can be seen in Another Era: A Pictorial History of the School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, State University of New York at Buffalo, 1846-1996, including one showing Buffalo physicians and members of the junior and sophomore classes of the Medical School garbed in heavy, long white robes with hoods to reduce risk of contagion.  Another photo shows ordinary citizens wearing gauze masks.

A worldwide account is detailed in Rajendra Kumar Sen’s A Treatise on Influenza,with Special Reference to the Pandemic of 1918, published in 1923.

Elsewhere on the web, check out the American Influenza Epidemic of 1918-1919: a digital encyclypedia created by the University of Michigan Center for the History of Medicine.  The archive contains over 16,000 historical documents and photographs, as well as the stories of 50 U.S. cities, including Buffalo.  At one point theaters and schools suggested staying open so they could disseminate public health information, however on October 10th, 1918, all were ordered closed as well as all social gatherings and meetings, thus keeping Buffalo’s infection rate to just 6% compared to 10% nationwide.

The federal site,  http://flu.gov, also includes a historical section, The Great Pandemic, The United States, 1918-1919, which includes a snapshot of life during that time, the state of medical care, events in every state of the union, documents including ads, posters, cartoons, charts, newspapers, and photos, biographies of key public health figures, and a bibliography.

Influenza – caused by a virus.  At just 100 or so nanometers (.0000001 meter), it continues to cause misery.

Last Wednesday, October 24th, over 35 attendees had the pleasure of exploring the “Hidden Treasures of South Campus” by taking a Walk into History. More details were reported in news items published prior to the event on the Honors College “Honorable Mention” events page, the UB News Center, and The Reporter, enticing folks to sign up!

The event showcased collections located in different buildings across the South Campus: George W. Ferry Dental Museum in Squire Hall, School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences Apothecary and Historical Exhibits in Kapoor Hall, Museum of Neuroanatomy (Brain Museum) in the Biomedical Education Building, and the Robert L. Brown History of the Health Sciences Collection in the Health Sciences Library and the Museum of Radiology & Medical Physics, both in Abbott Hall.

A wonderful article in The Spectrum entitled “South Campus’ hidden treasures: A rich medical history is within its walls” gave a post-event perspective from a student who used the opportunity to introduce her parents to the campus.

Approximately 25 participants were also treated to refreshments and a panel discussion by Dr. Jim Bono, Dr. Michael Rembis and  Dr. David  Herzberg, all from the UB Department of History.

All of the South Campus “hidden treasures” collections staff have been delighted with the positive feedback from attendees at this first event.   Watch for future Walks into History!

Meanwhile, you can read all about the collections in our brochure that was handed out at the event on October 24th.

A hearty “thank you” to everyone who contributed to the day!

Space for the panel discussion is limited!    RSVP’s  will be greatly appreciated.  Contact Linda Lohr  (829-5737; lalohr@buffalo.edu) or Keith Mages (829-5737; kcmages buffalo.edu)  to RSVP, or for additional information.

Welcome to the The Curiosity Cabinet, episode 2!

This is the second in our regular video series showcasing an interesting item from our McGuire Historical Instrument Collection.

View the video on Youtube at http://youtu.be/OhhqfKEOjPg

What is the name of this instrument and what was it used for?

Hints given in the video:

• It is a surgical instrument.
• Itwas manufactured in France around 1700.
• It was used in the world’s oldest recorded surgery.

Please submit your answers to Linda Lohr by June 30, 2012.

The prize for the first correct answer received is a set of our beautiful Botanical Notecards — Happy Guessing!