TML News and Notes: Exhibits
auction of selected paintings from Dean Victor A. Yanchick's "Watercolors" exhibit at Tompkins-McCaw Library for the Health
Sciences. The exhibition's run has been extended through January. Proceeds from the auction will go toward pharmacy student scholarships.
The auction will take place 6 to 8 p.m. Feb. 3 at the library, 509 N. 12th St. Hors d'oeuvres and cocktails will be served.
For event details, contact Ellen Leverich at (804) 828-3016.
More about the exhibit
Tompkins-McCaw Library is pleased to host the National Library of Medicine's "A Voyage To Health," traveling exhibition at Tompkins-McCaw Library for the Health Sciences through December 17th.
A Voyage To Health explores the recent revival of the ancient arts of navigation and voyaging that first brought the people of Hawai'i to their island homes. Much of the valuable knowledge of voyaging was lost as a consequence of the suppression of traditional ways. As part of a wider movement to reintroduce traditional ways, Native Hawaiians are mastering the knowledge and skills of their elders. By restoring their heritage, this new generation seeks to heal the people. A Voyage to Health explores this resurgence and its significance for health, well-being, and self-determination.
VCU Libraries presents "The Henkel Physicians: A Family's Life in
Letters," on view until Oct. 15 at Tompkins-McCaw Library for the Health
Sciences.
This National Library of Medicine exhibit offers a
glimpse into the lives of 19th century practitioners in the Shenandoah
Valley.
The Henkel Family Correspondence collection (MS C
291; 1.5 linear
feet) consists of 828 letters and is largely the product of Caspar C.
Henkel's (1835-1908) life. This digital edition is divided into
five-year blocks for ease of navigation and contextual narrative. The
family was based in New Market.
Items dating before 1850 were written by ancestors of both Caspar and his wife, Margaretta. The bulk of the correspondence, however, is directly related to Caspar and Margaretta. Caspar retained letters written to him while he was away at medical school and in the field during the Civil War. Upon returning home from these extended absences, he also collected several letters he himself had written to New Market. He also kept letters written to him from his two brothers during their medical training and afterward when they lived and practiced away from New Market. Letters written to Margaretta from her sisters during the late 1860s and early 1870s are also included.
Unfortunately at some point before the Library's acquisition the segment of correspondence coinciding with the battle of New Market in 1864 was removed, leaving no accounts of the battle in this collection.
The digital collection on the National Library of Medicine siteTompkins-McCaw Library is proud to host the traveling exhibit "Harry Potter's World: Renaissance Science, Magic, and Medicine" through June 26 in the Special Collections & Archives Reading Room.
This exhibition, using materials from the National Library of Medicine, explores Harry Potter's world and its roots in Renaissance magic, science, and medicine. In 1997, British author J. K. Rowling introduced the world to Harry Potter and a literary phenomenon was born. Millions of readers have followed Harry to the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry where he discovers his heritage, encounters new plants and animals, and perfects his magical abilities. Although a fantasy story, the magic in the Harry Potter books is partially based on Renaissance traditions that played an important role in the development of Western science, including alchemy, astrology, and natural philosophy. Incorporating the work of several 15th- and 16th-century thinkers, the seven-part series examines important ethical topics such as the desire for knowledge, the effects of prejudice, and the responsibility that comes with power. For more information, visit the official exhibit website: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/exhibition/harrypottersworld/
The VCU Libraries is pleased to announce the release of a new addition its digital collections: The First 125 Years of the Medical College of Virginia. MCV celebrated its 125th anniversary in 1963, culminating in the publication of this volume. Issued as hard- and soft-back publications in the college's bulletin series, the 96-page photo history, largely the work of Thelma Vaine Hoke, was the college's first full-length history. Hoke pulled photographs, letters, documents, reports, and publications for the book from a rich collection of historical materials gathered and preserved by James Ralph McCauley, who served as secretary-treasurer for the college and secretary for the Board of Visitors from 1902 until his death in 1950.
Visit the VCU Libraries Digital Collections
Tompkins-McCaw Library is proud to host the traveling exhibit "The Literature of Prescription: Charlotte Perkins Gilman and 'The Yellow Wall-Paper'" through May 2 in the Special Collections & Archives Reading Room, room 1-032. The exhibit, sponsored by the History of Medicine Division of the National Library of Medicine, examines a nineteenth-century writer's challenge to the medical profession and the relationship between science and society. Artist and writer Charlotte Perkins Gilman, who was discouraged from pursuing a career to preserve her health, rejected the ideas in a terrifying short story titled "The Yellow Wall-Paper." The famous tale served as an indictment of the medical profession and the social conventions restricting women's professional and creative opportunities. For more information, visit the official exhibit website: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/theliteratureofprescription/
The entrance of neurasthenia into medical knowledge, coined by Dr. George Miller Beard in the late 19th century, spawned a pandemic throughout Europe and North America affecting the middle class, especially women. Dr. S. Weir Mitchell, a physician deeply interested in psychological ailments after working with Civil War soldiers experiencing "phantom limb syndrome," became the leading expert in treating neurasthenia with his rest cure. Denying the patient any movement, thought, or extraneous effort for a long period of time was thought to relieve their symptoms and cure them of their ailments. Dr. Mitchell received a letter from Charlotte Perkins Gilman imploring his help. He diagnosed her with neurasthenia and prescribed his rest cure method. In a few weeks Ms. Gilman became thoroughly depressed and alarmed that her mind was deteriorating. She abandoned the treatment. She wrote "The Yellow Wallpaper" as a reactionary tale towards Dr. Mitchell and others like him who advocated that women shun intellectual advancement for fear of it being a detriment to their health. The short story was disturbing to many at the time and later brought back into the public eye by feminists in the mid-20th century. Ms. Gilman's work revealed the deep division between the sexes during the early 20th century and how detrimental prevailing thought on "modern" medicine was to women. Neurasthenia was eventually removed as a legitimate disease from medical journals, however, the disease and its cure are fascinating topics still today.
For more information on Neurasthenia and the Rest Cure:
Beard, George Miller. American Nervousness: Its Causes and Consequences, a supplement to nervous exhaustion (neurasthenia). 1881, Putnam: New York. [Tompkins-McCaw Library: RC552.N5 B368A 1881]
Mitchell, S. Weir. Fat and Blood: and how to make them. 1877, J.P. Lippincott & Co.: Philadelphia. [Tompkins-McCaw Library: RC343.M6 1878]
Mitchell, S. Weir. Lectures on the Diseases of the Nerves, Especially in Women. 1885, Lea Brothers & Co.: Philadelphia. [Tompkins-McCaw Library: RC340.M682 1885]
For more information on Charlotte Perkins Gilman and Feminist Theory:
Golden, Catherine; Gilman, Charlotte Perkins. The Captive Imagination: A casebook on The Yellow Wallpaper. 1992, Feminist Press at the City University of New York: New York. [Cabell Library: PS1744.G57 Y453 1992]
Bassuk, Ellen L. The Rest Cure: Repetition or Resolution of Victorian Women's Conflicts? Poetics Today, 1985, 245-257
Gilman, Charlotte Perkins. Herland, The Yellow Wallpaper and selected writings. 1999, Penguin Books: New York. [Cabell Library: PS1744.G57 A6 1999a]
For more information online, go to:
Reflections on Health in Society and Culture. University of Virginia, Historical Collections at the Claude Moore Health Sciences Library, Charlottesville, Va.
Compiled by Paxton Schunter
Special Collections & Archives
Tompkins-McCaw Library for the Health Sciences
Tompkins-McCaw Library is proud to sponsor the traveling exhibit "Against the Odds: Making a Difference in Global Health" from June 8 to July 17 in the Special Collections & Archives Reading Room. The exhibit, sponsored by the National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health, highlights the role of communities in improving health at home and all around the world. The exhibition explores the shared basic needs required for a good quality of life, including nutritious food and clean water, a safe place to live, and affordable health care. For more information, visit the exhibit's official website or contact Thelma Mack at mackta@vcu.edu or 828-0017.
The Tompkins-McCaw Library for the Health Sciences will sponsor the "Opening Doors: Contemporary African-American Academic Surgeons" traveling exhibit from November 1, 2008 to January 28, 2009.
The exhibit, developed and produced by the National Library of Medicine and the Reginald F. Lewis Museum of Maryland African American History and Culture, celebrates the achievements of African American pioneers in academic surgery and those that continue the tradition today.
In the fall of 1932, the Medical College of Virginia dedicated its first library building to great fanfare. As one contemporary described it, the new College Library was "a gem architecturally, faithfully carried out in the Georgian manner." 75 years later, that same structure continues to serve the needs of students, faculty, and clinicians on VCU's Medical College of Virginia Campus with the latest technology and most up-to-date resources.
As part of the celebration of the 75th anniversary of the Tompkins-McCaw Library building and the 110th anniversary of library service on the MCV Campus, an exhibit has opened on the first floor chronicling the history of this campus fixture. The exhibit includes historical images of the library, information about major milestones, and an illustration of the massive growth of library collections constructed with imprints from the Classics of Medicine Library.
The exhibit is located next to Current Periodicals on the first floor of Tompkins-McCaw Library, and may be seen during normal library hours. A companion Web page is also available.
For more information about this exhibit or the history of Tompkins-McCaw Library for the Health Sciences, contact Andrew Bain, TML Special Collections and Archives, at 828-9898.
Elvatrice Parker Belsches, VCU/MCV Alumna School of Pharmacy Thursday, July 12, 2007, Noon - 1:30 p.m., Directions and Map
Ms. Elvatrice Parker Belsches, MA, RPh, is an archival researcher, author and pharmacist living in the Richmond area. Ms. Belsches is an emerging authority on the life of Dr. Sarah G. Jones MD, the first known woman of any race to be granted a medical license by the the Virginia State Board of Medicine. Belsches will discuss her new and corrective scholarship on this pioneering physician as the author of her biographical entry for Harvard University's upcoming publication, the African American National Biography, (Oxford University Press, Spring 2008) and the author of Richmond, Virginia, a Black America Series publication (now in its sixth printing).
June 29, 2007, 5:00 p.m – 7:00 p.m.
Tompkins-McCaw Library for the Health Sciences
509 N. 12th Street, Richmond, VA 23298
Directions and Map
Join the VCU Libraries in honoring women in all fields of medical sciences. The opening reception celebrates the contributions of VCU's own Dr. Marcella Fierro, Dr. Eleanor Sue Cantrell, and Dr. Yvonnecris Smith Veal, who are featured in this exhibit. The reception is free and open to the public, but a reservation is required to reserve your space.
To RSVP, contact Shannon Jones at (804) 828-0626.
Photo credit: S. Josephine Baker
A new exhibit has been added to Tompkins-McCaw Library Special Collections Reading Room. This exhibit highlights pieces from Evelyn Crary Bacon's time in the United States Army Nurse Corps.
Evelyn Crary Bacon was a trailblazer in nursing and nursing education in Virginia . As the Virginia Pioneer Nurses Centennial Program states, "she taught distance education before it was the popular 'buzzword' it is today. She founded and taught in ADN programs when the concept was very new. The curriculum model she designed at J. Sargeant Reynolds Community College is still a successful one. Evelyn was also responsible for the RN to BSN program at the Academic Division of Virginia Commonwealth University -- one of the earliest programs of its kind."
Upon her passing, Mrs. Bacon left VCU Libraries her personal files, running in time from her days as a student at the University of Iowa in the 1930's all the way up to her work in processing the voluminous Virginia Nurses' Association Archives in the 1990's. Many of these items are included in the new exhibit.
Learn more about the exhibits at Tompkins-McCaw Library at http://www.library.vcu.edu/tml/speccoll/.
For more information about this exhibit, contact Andrew Bain, Special Collections Assistant, at albain@vcu.edu or (804) 828-9898
The Tompkins-McCaw Library for the Health Science will sponsor the Changing the Face of Medicine Traveling Exhibit from June 20-August 3, 2007. The exhibit, sponsored by the US National Library of Medicine, celebrates the lives and achievements of America's women physicians.
