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“Ever-evolving: introducing the Medical Heritage Library, Inc.”

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We’re delighted to announce that our vice-president, Emily Gustainis, has published a new article in the Journal of the Medical Library Association about the MHL:

The Medical Heritage Library, Inc. (MHL), is a collaborative digitization and discovery organization committed to providing open access to history of medicine and health resources. Since its founding in 2010, it has aspired to be a visible, research-driven history of medicine and health community that serves a broad, interdisciplinary constituency. The MHL’s goal is to make important historical medical content, derived from leading medical libraries, available online free of charge and to simplify and centralize the discovery of these resources. To do so, it has evolved from a digitization collaborative of like-minded history of medicine libraries, special collections, and archives to an incorporated entity seeking not just to provide online access to digital surrogates, but also to embrace the challenges of open access, the retention and use of records containing health information about individuals, and service to the digital humanities. This organizational expansion was further spurred by the MHL’s recently completed National Endowment for the Humanities grant, “Medicine at Ground Level: State Medical Societies, State Medical Journals, and the Development of American Medicine” (PW-228226-15), which received additional financial support from Harvard University Medical School and the Arcadia Fund through the Harvard University Library.

Click through to read the full article here.

Call for Proposals: Memory Lives On: Documenting the HIV/AIDS Epidemic

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~This post courtesy Polina Ilieva, Head of Archives and Special Collections, University of California, San Francisco.

Memory Lives On: Documenting the HIV/AIDS Epidemic is an interdisciplinary symposium exploring and reflecting on topics related to archives and the practice of documenting the stories of HIV/AIDS. 

The task of documenting the history of HIV/AIDS and thinking about the present and future of the epidemic is daunting. The enormity and complexity of the stories and perspectives on the disease, which has affected so many millions of patients and families around the world, present significant challenges that demand continual reexamination. Questions of “what do we collect and from where” and “whose stories do we know best.”  The ways in which we handle documentary evidence and produce knowledge from that evidence has profound effects on a huge range of social, economic and health outcomes. In examining and reflecting on our knowledge of the history of the HIV/AIDS Epidemic and its future, we hope to improve our understanding of the true effects of the disease, and what it can teach us about future epidemics.

The program committee invites  submissions for presentations addressing the HIV/AIDS epidemic from the wide-ranging perspectives of historians, archivists and librarians, artists, journalists, activists and community groups, scientific researchers, health care providers, and people living with HIV. We invite proposals from individuals with diverse experience and expertise on the HIV/AIDS epidemic in scholarship, research and advocacy. Proposals will be considered in a variety of forms including paper presentations, panel discussions and posters. 

The Symposium will take place in Byers Auditorium in Genentech Hall at the UCSF Mission Bay Campus in San Francisco, October 4th and 5th 2019.  The program will be an afternoon session and evening reception the first day, followed by a full day of presentations the second. 

The Program Committee has identified the following themes to consider when developing your proposal, though we encourage creativity and experimentation in exploring themes, partnerships, and narrative ideas. 

  • Documenting the epidemic: Gaps, silences and unheard voices
  • Creating an interdisciplinary narrative of an epidemic
  • Silent no more: Community, caretaker and patient stories 
  • The San Francisco Bay Area’s Response to the AIDS Epidemic 
  • Biomedical story: From mystery disease to cure 
  • From local to global: Learning from AIDS to address future epidemics

The Program Committee welcomes proposals for individual papers, panel discussion and posters. Individual papers with a similar focus will be assembled into a single session by the program committee. Usually 3-4 papers are included in a session.

To allow adequate time for questions and discussion,  panels should be limited to four participants in addition to a chair/facilitator.

Please include the following in your complete proposal

  • Session title if submitting a full panel proposal (of no more than 20 words)
  • Session abstract if submitting a full panel proposal (up to 500 words)
  • Short session abstract for the program if submitting a full panel proposal (up to 50 words)
  • Paper or poster or presentation titles (if any), and names of corresponding presenters
  •  Biographical paragraph for each presenter
  •  E-mail address for each participant
  •  Affiliation, city, state, and country for each participant
  •  Social media handles or web addresses for each participant (optional)
  •  Audiovisual needs
  • Special accommodation needs

The deadline for submissions is June 3. We will notify presenters if their proposal has been accepted by July 22. 

Memory Lives On Program Committee

Monica Green, Ph.D.,  Professor of History, Arizona State University

Victoria Harden, Ph.D., Director (retired) of the Office of NIH History

Richard  McKay, DPhil,  Director of Studies for HPS at Magdalene College

Barbara A. Koenig, Professor of Medical Anthropology & Bioethics in the Department of Social & Behavioral Sciences, Institute for Health & Aging and Head of UCSF Bioethics Program

Jay Levy, MD, Professor UCSF School of Medicine

Eric Jost, Digital Marketing Manager, SF AIDS Foundation

Jon Cohen, Staff writer for Science Magazine

Mark Harrington, Executive Director, Treatment Action Group

William Schupbach, Wellcome Library 

Jason Baumann, Susan and Douglas Dillon Assistant Director for Collection Development and Coordinator of Humanities and LGBT Collections

Polina Ilieva, Head of Archives & Special Collections, UCSF Library

Submit a proposal: http://tiny.ucsf.edu/A2nohy

For any inquiries contact David Krah david.krah@ucsf.edu 

More information about the UCSF AIDS History Project: https://www.library.ucsf.edu/archives/aids/

Call for Applications: Education and Outreach Fellow

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Medical Heritage Library, Inc.
Summer 2019

ABOUT US:

The Medical Heritage Library, Inc. (MHL) is a collaborative digitization and discovery organization committed to providing open access to history of medicine and health resources. We aspire to be a visible, research-driven history of medicine and health community that serves a broad, interdisciplinary constituency. Our goal is to make high-quality content available online free of charge and to simplify and centralize the discovery of these resources.

DESCRIPTION:

The Medical Heritage Library (MHL) seeks a motivated fellow to assist in the continuing development of our education and outreach programs.  Hosted by one of our member institutions in New York, Boston, New Haven, Philadelphia, or San Francisco, the fellow will develop curated topical collections or sets for MHL website drawn from the over 280,000 items in our Internet Archive library. These curated collections provide a means for our visitors to discover the richness MHL materials on a variety of topics relevant to the history of health and the health sciences.  As part of this work, the fellow will have an opportunity to enrich metadata in MHL records in Internet Archive to support certain types of scholarship/inquiry, such as women and gender studies, disability studies, or issues of race and equity in healthcare. The fellow will also begin developing educational materials tied to K-12 and/or university level curriculum.

The fellowship is paid and may be taken for course credit.

DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES:

  • Based on the input of MHL members and others, work on the creation of curated sets of materials drawn from MHL collections.
  • Develop educational materials tied to K-12 and/or university level curriculum
  • Enrich MHL metadata to highlight underrepresented topics in our Internet Archive collections.
  • Regularly create blog posts and other type of social media for posting to MHL accounts.
  • Other duties as assigned.

QUALIFICATIONS AND EXPERIENCE:

This position is open to all qualified graduate students with a strong interest in medical or health history, with additional interests in library/information science or education. Strong communication and collaboration skills a must. Fellows are expected to learn quickly and work independently. 

FELLOWSHIP DURATION:

The fellowship will take place anytime between the end of May 2019-mid-August 2019

HOURS:

20 hours per week, over 12 weeks.

SALARY:

$20/hour

To apply, please provide the following:

    Cover letter documenting interest in position

    Curriculum Vitae

    2 References

Please submit your application materials by April 1st, 2019 to:

Attn: Fellowship committee

 medicalheritage@gmail.com

From Our Partners: Upcoming Bullitt History of Medicine Club Lecture

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~Courtesy Dawne Lucas, Special Collections Librarian, Wilson Special Collections Library at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Join us on Tuesday, April 16 at 12:00 p.m. for our last Bullitt History of Medicine Club lecture of the Spring 2019 semester. The lecture will take place in the Health Sciences Library, Room 527. Sandwiches will be provided.

Dr. Kurt Gilliland will present “Skeletons in our Closet: Anatomical Eponyms.”

While many eponyms are no longer taught or used in medicine, certain structures in anatomy, embryology, histology, and neuroscience will always be better known by their eponyms than by their descriptive names. The scientists and physicians after whom structures are named remind us of the fascinating history of medicine.

Kurt Gilliland is Associate Dean of Curriculum and Associate Professor, Department of Cell Biology and Physiology for UNC School of Medicine, and the co-author of the 2010 bookAnatomists and Eponyms: The Spirit of Anatomy Past.He teaches anatomy and directs cell biology and histology in several courses for 1st-year and 2nd-year medical students. His educational scholarship evaluates curriculum interventions, and his basic research focuses on the development of the lens of the eye and cataract development. Recent awards include the Academy of Educators Educational Scholarship Award (2018) and the Academy of Educators Foundation Phase Teaching Award (2017).

From Our Partners: Rawley Springs and Massanetta Mineral Springs Company

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This is one of a great series of posts from the College of Physicians of Philadelphia Historical Medical Library blog called #TravelTuesday. This post by Caitlin Angelone.

Rawley Springs is an unincorporated community in Rockingham County, 9 miles west of Harrisonburg, Virginia, and was once known for its lavish medical resort. European men began to settle the land in the early 19th century. One of the earliest settlers was Benjamin Smith, who sent his wife Elizabeth to the springs for her health in 1810. Doctors were perplexed on what was causing her illness, but within six weeks of staying at the springs and drinking the water she was cured. Shortly after, people began to set up summer camps by the springs. Joseph Hicks is credited for purchasing land and officially advertising the small village as a resort community in 1824.

The chalybeate waters of the spring are high in iron and salts, acting as a natural tonic which has been bottled and marketed as a cure all for disease, including maladies peculiar to females, liver disease, and diseases by poverty of the blood and nervous system. The springs usually remain around “earth temperature” which is 54 degrees, making it a popular destination for a summer dip or a place to escape the diseases of summer in larger cities. The B & O and A & M Railroads reached nearby Harrisonburg, or people also had the option of taking the Rawley Springs Turnpike, which was $3.00 for a one-way trip.

Rooms cost $2.50 a day, $15 for a week, or $50 for a four week stay. The resort also housed a post office, toll house, pottery shed, and distillery.  The grand dining hall could host dinners for up to 389 people and was a local attraction for a night out.

In 1886, 2 days before the grand season re-opening on June 10, a fire destroyed the dining room along with two of the three hotels. The resort struggled, but rebuilt its dining hall with the insurance money collected. The resort continued to struggle, and was sold to Massanetta & Rawley Springs Company in 1914, and the same year another fire destroyed the rest of the remaining buildings. The company did not rebuild and instead divided the land in 1918, which was sold for smaller cottage homes.

Today, Rawley Springs remains a popular attraction. The large and risky rock formations make it popular for hikers, while places like the “Blue Hole” in the Dry River still attract people for fishing and swimming.  Commercialization of the area is not allowed, meaning there are no longer hotels and resorts on the land. All buildings of the former resort have been destroyed, and only stone land markers remain outlining the hotels. Private homes still remain and are actively used for summer homes by nearby Harrisonburg residents.

Sources:

Rafuse, Diana. “A Brief History of Rawley Springs.” 2007.

Rafuse, Diana. “Mixing Pleasure and Profit at the Springs: The Harrisonburg-Rawley Connection.” The Harrisonburg-Rockingham Historical Society Newsletter. Vol. 31, No. 2, 2009.

Rawley Springs. (Medical Trade Ephemera Collection) Historical Medical Library of The College of Physicians of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA.

“Rawley Springs, Virginia.” Harrisonburg, 1995. Website. 11/29/18.  http://www.harrisonburg.org/rawley/

Fellowships @ the MHL!

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We’re looking for one or more fellows to join us working on projects during the summer of 2019. Please share this post widely!

MHLonArchiveSpark Development for the Digital Humanities

DESCRIPTION:

Hosted by one of our member institutions in New York, Boston, New Haven, Philadelphia, or San Francisco, the fellow will develop a user-friendly web interface and author supporting workflows to make MHLonArchiveSpark functionality more broadly accessible to researchers and better facilitate: 1) using the MHL’s Advanced Search Tool to identify a set of texts meeting user criteria and retrieving all of them from the Internet Archive and 2) using ArchiveSpark to extract the full text of a results set (including metadata) for the purpose of performing additional queries against that set. ArchiveSpark is an open source Apache Spark framework for data processing, extraction, and derivation for Web archives and archival collections developed by the Internet Archive and L3S Research Center.

Additional products of this project could include creating a number of canned recipes for searching content using MHLonArchiveSpark and considering new approaches to making extraction and analysis easier.

For more information about ArchiveSpark, visit the following:

The fellowship is paid and may be taken for course credit.

DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES:

  • Based on the input of MHL members and others, assess user needs and propose possible solutions to enhance MHLonArchiveSpark functionality; implement new approach.
  • Create a number of canned recipes for searching content with ArchiveSpark.
  • Create user-friendly documentation for the purposes of increasing the use and reach of MHLonArchiveSpark.

QUALIFICATIONS AND EXPERIENCE:

This position is open to all qualified graduate students with a strong interest in the digital humanities and computer science, including API development, with additional interests in library/information science or education. Strong communication and collaboration skills a must. Fellows are expected to learn quickly and work independently. 

Education and Outreach FellowMedical Heritage Library, Inc.

  • Based on the input of MHL members and others, work on the creation of curated sets of materials drawn from MHL collections.
  • Develop educational materials tied to K-12 and/or university level curriculum
  • Enrich MHL metadata to highlight underrepresented topics in our Internet Archive collections.
  • Regularly create blog posts and other type of social media for posting to MHL accounts.
  • Other duties as assigned.

QUALIFICATIONS AND EXPERIENCE:

This position is open to all qualified graduate students with a strong interest in medical or health history, with additional interests in library/information science or education. Strong communication and collaboration skills a must. Fellows are expected to learn quickly and work independently. 

THE DETAILS

FELLOWSHIP DURATION:

The fellowship will take place anytime between the end of May 2019-mid-August 2019

HOURS:

20 hours per week, over 12 weeks.

SALARY:

$20/hour

To apply, please provide the following:

    Cover letter documenting interest in position

    Curriculum Vitae

    2 References

Please submit your application materials by April 1st, 2019 to:

Attn: Fellowship committee

medicalheritage@gmail.com