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TML News and Notes: Exhibits

Upcoming Events @ TML

TEDMED 2013 Conference

Tuesday, April 16, 2013 8:00 pm - 9:00 pm through

Friday, April 19, 2013 8:15 am - 12:30 pm, Tompkins-McCaw Library

Tompkins-McCaw Library for the Health Sciences will host a live simulcast of TEDMED 2013, April 16-19, during regular library hours. The University community is invited to join colleagues to listen to this provocative series of short, inspiring talks, curated by the well-known TED (technology, entertainment, design) conference series, which began in the mid-1980s. TEDMED focuses on health and medicine. According to organizers, "TEDMED believes that the future of health and medicine will be shaped by vital input from leading medical colleges, teaching hospitals, government agencies and non-profit institutions around the world." In this spirit of collaboration and information sharing, the TEDMED event is broadcast free to these institutions. 

The TEDMED Schedule
The Speakers' Lineup
 

Film Screening: "Tapped"                                             

Wednesday, April 17

12:00 - 1:00 PM, TML Learning Center at Hunton, Room 209

Is access to clean drinking water a basic human right or a commodity that should be bought and sold like any other article of commerce? Stephanie Soechtig's debut feature is an unflinching examination of the big business of bottled water. This timely documentary is a behind-the-scenes look into the unregulated and unseen world of an industry that aims to privatize and sell back the one resource that ought never to become a commodity: our water. From the plastic production to the ocean in which so many of these bottles end up, this inspiring documentary trails the path of the bottled water industry and the communities which were the unwitting chips on the table. Attendees may bring their lunch. Registration is encouraged. Walk-ins are welcome. Register at Film Screening

 

RAMS Reaching Out Reception 

Thursday, April 18, 2013
5:00 pm - 7:00 pm, Tompkins-McCaw Library

The fourth exhibit to be featured on the newly renovated gallery walls of Tompkins-McCaw Library, the Rams Reaching Out photographic exhibit celebrates the outreach activities of VCU Health Sciences students from urban Richmond to rural Southwest Virginia to the faraway shores of West Africa. They work in free clinics, do rotations in community settings or go on group service trips. Showcased will be the breadth of those experiences. The exhibit is open during Tompkins-McCaw Library normal operating hours. Friday through Sunday, hours are limited. For a complete listing of hours, please see: http://www.library.vcu.edu/hours/tml/tml_yearly.html. The public is invited to the opening reception. To RSVP for the opening reception please contact Thelma Mack, mackta@vcu.edu or 804-828-0017. 

 

Community Health Education Center: Donate Life Blue and Green Day

Friday, April 19, 2013
10:00 am - 2:00 pm, VCU Medical Center Gateway Building - Ground Floor, MCV Campus

April is National Donate Life Month and April 19 is Donate Life Blue and Green Day! Celebrate and become better educated with us on Friday, April 19 from 10:00 am to 2:00 pm at the Community Health Education Center. Stop by during this time for the opportunity to learn more about organ, eye, and tissue donation. Wear your blue and green on this day to raise awareness and honor organ, eye, and tissue donation! For more information, please contact Sarah or Dana at 828-2432 or email seamick@vcu.edu. The Community Health Education Center is located on the Ground Floor of the VCU Medical Center Gateway Building. 

For more information please visit:
Donate Life

Community Health Education Center
  

New Exhibit: "Sketchy Medicine: Comics & Graphic Novels as Medical Narrative"

WhiteMagicPenicillin

Sketchy Medicine is now on display in the TML Special Collections Reading Room. This small exhibit was inspired by the website Graphic Medicine, which explores the use of graphic novels and comics as a resource for patients, medical professionals, and caregivers. This exhibit provides a brief overview of the subject and displays a sampling of VCU Libraries' collection of medically themed graphic novels as well as some examples of web comics with a medical focus.

Rams Reaching Out photo contest open through Sept. 15

Tompkins-McCaw Library for the Health Sciences invites current MCV Campus students rsz_1photographer.jpgto share photographs from their 2011-12 health services projects anywhere in the world to the Rams Reaching Out Photography Contest. Selected photographs will be displayed in the Tompkins-McCaw Library Gallery and win cash prizes. Some will be shared on Facebook.

Here's how it works: 

  • Serve. Do what VCU does best. Go out into your community and the world, and help improve lives wherever you go. It's what health professions are all about.
  • Snap.Take photos of what moves you. You with an injured wheat farmer in Manitoba you're helped learn to walk again. Your clinic in San Salvador.
  • Send. Submissions are accepted August 15-September 15 from all Fall 2012 MCV Campus students. Use VCU FileDrop and send a full-resolution copy the photograph(s) along with a brief description of what's going on in the photo to us at libtmlsca@vcu.edu. 

Note: All photos of identifiable individuals require signed releases. No cell phone photos accepted.  

Questions: email at libtmlsca@vcu.edu with the subject line "Photos." 

Rams Reaching Out - Health Care Service Project Photo Contest

Reaching Out.gif

INTERSECTIONS: ART AND SCIENCE showcases work that combines the insights of artists with the acuity of scientists

Expressions of the science of art made to inform and the art of scientific illustration are on view March 8 through September 28 at Tompkins-McCaw Library for the Health Sciences at Virginia Commonwealth University.

INTERSECTIONS: ART AND SCIENCE. is curated by James Miller, chair of VCU's Department of Communication Arts, and organized by VCU Libraries' health sciences library on the MVC campus. Event Web site

The exhibition includes human anatomy: structural, muscular and anatomical drawings of the figure. Images in various media and digital technologies include plants, animals, insects, microorganisms, surgical procedures and animations.

"These artists' objective is to observe, draw, describe and reveal the majesty and wonder of our subject matter with the insight and vision of an artist and the acuity of a scientist," says curator Miller.

Works are by students, alumni and faculty of the Scientific and Preparatory Medical emphasis area. In 2006, the Department of Communication Arts created this academic focus area to prepare students for careers as scientific illustrators and for advanced study in the field of medical illustration.

Fitting for a university with both world class arts and medical schools, the VCU program is among a few in the nation. Students gain the skills and knowledge to produce images that present complex scientific and/or medical information for the purpose of explaining and understanding scientific, technical ideas, concepts, principles and facts.

"Students develop the ability to accurately interpret and portray the real and the abstract, fact and conjecture with either extreme precision or interpretive expression as required by the content," says Miller. "Observation and critical thinking are key to being a scientific or medical illustrator."

Participating artists are:

Students:

  • Austin Anderson: "Insect Study," watercolor on paper
  • Grace Huddleston: "Arm Study," graphite on paper
  • Emily Bradfield: "Bone Study 1," and "Bone Study 2," graphite on paper
  • Caitlin Johnston: "Artichoke," digital print
  • Mary Carter: "Insect Study," watercolor on paper, "Phalaenopsis Orchid," digital print, "Feather Study," watercolor on paper, "Observatory," acrylic on panel, and "Chicken Heart Study," acrylic on panel
  • Lucy Koo: "Figure Study," graphite on paper
  • Jessica Foley: "Squid Dissection," watercolor on paper
  • Lori Panico: "Cicada Study," watercolor on paper
  • Juliana Phung: "Female Figure," graphite on paper.
Alumni:

  • Anastasia Demson: "Portrait of a Hand II," graphite on paper, and "Performing an Emergency Cricothyrotomy," digital print
  • Lauren Conroy: Animations entitled "Revolving Skulls and Endocasts," and "Bacteria World"
  • Don Di Fiore: "Fish Head Study," watercolor on paper, and "Mouse," ink and watercolor Vinh Chau: "Open Clam," watercolor on paper, "Pompano Dissection," ink and watercolor on paper, "Hawk," ink and watercolor on paper, "Vulture," ink and watercolor on paper, and "Cricket," Prisma markers and graphite on paper
  • Suzanne Ghuzzi: "Pedicle Graft," digital print, "Fontanelles: A Guide to an Infant's Soft Spot," digital print, "A Closer Look at Foliculogenesis," digital print, "Acute Otitis Media," digital print, "Chelydra serpentina: The Common Snapping Turtle," digital print, "Culex pipiens: The West Nile Virus Vector," digital print.

Adjunct faculty member:
  •  Sarah Faris: "Laparoscopically Assisted Right Hemicolectomy," graphite and digital media, "Hands," graphite on paper, "LBWC," digital print, "Hip Bone," carbon dust on paper, "Muscles of the Pharynix," digital print, "Malaria," digital print, "Lumbar Surgery," digital print.

"Their illustrations suggest the beauty in the complexity of science and medicine," says Tompkins-McCaw Director Teresa L. Knott. "My aspiration for the attendees is that they come away with an appreciation of the amazing talent of those affiliated with this unique arts program and a broader vision of medical and scientific illustration and how it might be used. I believe that the exhibit will stimulate conversations and cooperation between the Monroe Park and MCV campuses."

Medical illustration is far more than art just for art's sake. Graduates are in demand for scientific, medical and biomedical visualization artwork in teaching, in digital and textbook illustration, as well as in patient and consumer health education. Artists with this specialty are hired for medical legal illustration, pharmaceutical advertising, web design, medical iPhone/iPad applications, to name a few. New digital imaging technologies and 3D interactive applications enable the scientific and medical and biomedical visualization illustrator to animate and employ movement and sequential imaging. These advanced technologies make possible imagery and special visual effects that are changing, expanding, and enriching the possibilities of the discipline and the way we learn and teach medical and scientific concepts.

The public is invited to attend an opening reception on Thursday, March 8, from 4:30 to 6 p.m. RSVP for the reception at www.support.vdu.edu/event/intersections. If special accommodations are needed, please contact Thelma Mack at (804) 828-0017 or mackta@vcu.edu. The exhibition will continue through September 28, 2012. The Tompkins-McCaw Library Gallery is at 509 North 12th St. on the MCV Campus. It is open to the public during regular library hours. 

Auction of art to benefit pharmacy scholarships

The Virginia Commonwealth University School of Pharmacy will host an Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Yanchick Watercolors Exhibit.jpgauction 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

A Voyage to Health Exhibition on display through Dec. 17

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.

For more information

This Week @ TML

Monday, November 7 - Friday, December 16
Special Collections and Archives Reading Room

Monday, November 7
12:00 - 1:00 pm
TML Learning Center @ Hunton

Wednesday, November 9
12:00 - 1:00 pm
Library Instruction Classroom, 2-012

Thursday, November 10
12:00 - 1:00 pm
Library Instruction Classroom, 2-012

'A Family's Life in Letters' on display through Oct. 15

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.

For more information

The digital collection on the National Library of Medicine site

Traveling Exhibit: Harry Potter's World: Renaissance Science, Magic, and Medicine

Tompkins-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/

New Digital Collection: The First 125 Years of the Medical College of Virginia

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

Traveling Exhibit: The Literature of Prescription: Charlotte Perkins Gilman and "The Yellow Wall-Paper"

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/

Neurasthenia, Rest Cure, and Charlotte Perkins Gilman

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.

Print the handout!

Compiled by Paxton Schunter
Special Collections & Archives
Tompkins-McCaw Library for the Health Sciences

Exhibit- Against the Odds: Making a Difference in Global Health

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.

"Opening Doors" Exhibit on display at TML

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.

Print the Flier

Print the Children's Guide

Print the Brochure

Exhibit Celebrates History of Tompkins-McCaw Library in 75th Anniversary Year

75years.gifIn 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.

Uncommon Grace: The Story of Dr. Sarah G. Jones

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).

Opening Reception: Changing the Face of Medicine

josephine.jpg
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

Now on Display: Exhibit features US Army Nurse's Experience

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

Changing the Face of Medicine Traveling Exhibit is coming

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.