Home News Exhibits

Exhibits

New exhibition: "Refugees, Immigrants, and Library Books for Soldiers: A Selection of World War l Posters from the Collections"

January 18, 2017 - 2:40pm by Andy Hickner

Curated by Susan Wheeler, this small exhibit reminds us of the impact of the war on non-combatants and the importance of attending to the emotional needs of soldiers.  The selections advertise relief organizations and services soliciting funds and materials.  World War l posters are well known for their beauty and effectiveness. These posters helped to raise over a hundred million dollars in relief funds and ten million library books.  This exhibition is on view in the hallway from January 25 to April 25.

New exhibition: "Yale Medicine Goes to War, 1917"

January 18, 2017 - 2:39pm by Andy Hickner

When America entered the First World War in April 1917, Yale University, including the Medical School, leapt into action.  From mobilizing a "first of its kind" Mobile Hospital Unit, No. 39, to research on the effects of chemical warfare, this exhibition explores the many ways that Yale Medical School faculty, researchers, and students contributed to the war effort at home and abroad.  The war diaries of Harvey Cushing, a pioneering neurosurgeon and Sterling Professor of Neurology at the Yale School of Medicine (1932–1939), will also be on view, documenting the trials and trauma of war, particularly brain damage arising from shell fragments, shrapnel, and gunshot wounds.  This exhibition is curated by Yale doctoral student Maria Rios.  It will be on view January 25 - May 12 in the rotunda.

Fall exhibit: "Historical Illustrations of Skin Disease: Selections from the New Sydenham Society Atlas 1860-1884," opening September 17

September 10, 2015 - 12:04pm by Susan Wheeler

Historical Illustrations of Skin Disease:  Selections from the New Sydenham Society Atlas 1860-1884 The Atlas of Skin Diseases was among the first publications undertaken, in 1859, by the New Sydenham Society.  Time-consuming and costly to produce, it was issued in seventeen parts over a period of twenty-four years.  In this exhibit, Yale dermatologists Jean Bolognia and Irwin Braverman present the celebrated nineteenth century illustrations to a current clinical audience, making a relevant teaching point with each plate.  Twenty-five of the Atlas’ forty-nine plates are selected for display.  They depict cutaneous diseases ranging from the common, e.g. psoriasis and eczema, to the rare, e.g. iododerma and systematized epidermal nevi.  Examples of skin signs of systemic disease, including Addison’s disease, neurofibromatosis, and lupus erythematosus, are also shown.  The emotional toll which these chronic diseases inflicted upon patients is a striking feature of the many portraits on view.  The exhibit is curated by Drs. Jean Bolognia and Irwin Braverman, Professors of Dermatology at the School of Medicine, and Susan Wheeler, Curator of Prints and Drawings at the Library. On view:  September 17, 2015-January 10, 2016

Spring 2015 exhibits opening this month

January 8, 2015 - 3:20pm by Andy Hickner

An image from the Teratology exhibit There are 3 upcoming exhibits opening this month in the Rotunda, Hallway, and Foyer, in addition to Harry Potter!  Please join us for an exhibit tour for the Teratology and Prodigies exhibits on Wednesday, January 28th, at noon.   "Teratology: The Science and History of Human Monstrosity," in the Rotunda of the Medical Library Opening Jan. 22 at the Cushing/Whitney Medical Library Dates: January 22nd-May 15th, 2015 Curated by Courtney Thompson, doctoral candidate in the History of Science and Medicine, and Melissa Grafe, Ph.D, John R. Bumstead Librarian for Medical History From early modern marvels to sideshow performers, the abnormal body has provoked wonder and fascination, even as it has inspired the scientific study of monsters. This exhibit explores the history of the science of human monstrosity, from early modern accounts of human-animal hybrids and prodigies through to present-day explorations of birth defects. The exhibit traces the different approaches to human abnormalities/monstrosity since the fifteenth century, demonstrating the various ways in which monsters have been described, explained, classified, and displayed to an interested public. An image from the "Prodigies and Marvels" exhibit "Prodigies and Marvels" on view in the main Hallway of the Medical Library, curated by Susan Wheeler Many of the individuals who evoked wonder were well known to contemporary audiences through the dissemination of inexpensive broadsides and prints. A selection from the Library’s extensive, and seldom seen, collection on this subject introduces a few of these individuals from the 16th through the early 19th centuries. The exhibit was prepared by Medical Library curator Susan Wheeler. Please join us for an exhibit tour for the Teratology and Prodigies exhibits on Wednesday, January 28th, at noon. This exhibit will run through May 15, 2015. "100 Years of Public Health at Yale" in the Foyer of the Medical Library, January 29th-May 15th, 2015 Curated by Toby Appel, Ph.D, and Melissa Grafe, Ph.D, John R. Bumstead Librarian for Medical History The Yale School of Public Health celebrates its centennial throughout 2015. One of the oldest accredited schools of public health in this country, it today advances public health through research, education and practice in its home city of New Haven, across the United States and throughout the world.  This exhibit examines the rise of public health at Yale beginning with the appointment of C.E.A. Winslow in 1915 through the work of the School in the present day.

"The Perfect Man" on view in the Library

February 7, 2014 - 2:05pm by Susan Wheeler

The Perfect Man recently acquired by the Historical Library  on view in the Cushing Rotunda Join us for an exhibit tour of selected acquisitions with curator Susan Wheeler Wednesday, February 19, at 12 noon In 1895, the original bodybuilder Eugen Sandow was proclaimed “the perfect man” by Dudley Sargent (YMS 1878).  In 1827, former slave Belfast Burton was paid tribute by his patients and mentor in a rare broadside testimonial circulated in Philadelphia.  In 1871, J.J. Woodward shared the first micrographs taken in sunlight with the Surgeon General.  In 1891, Victor Emile Prouvé employed the most delicate coloring to render opium’s intoxicating sleep state in an art print distributed through subscription portfolio.   In 1902, James Haran, British medical officer in newly founded Nairobi, attended all the victims of plague (the first of many outbreaks) leaving complete case records.   In 1922, artist Käthe Kollwitz created pro bono a poster announcing public events during Anti-Alcohol Week in Schöneberg, a locality of Berlin. In 1978, Rachel Romero and the San Francisco Poster Brigade plastered the city with activist art “To Hell with their Profits:  Stop Forced Drugging of Psychiatric Inmates” produced for the Mental Patients Liberation Movement. These and other acquisitions are on view through May 2, 2014.  They are a small sampling of the substantial number of acquisitions through endowment made by the Historical Library, Cushing\Whitney Medical Library.

Unveiling Medicine’s Past: Medical Historical Collections Online

April 19, 2013 - 3:22pm by Melissa Grafe

The Medical Historical Library’s digital collection includes School of Medicine photographs, portraits of 16th Century anatomist Andreas Vesalius, Harvey Cushing, and others, medical and surgical instruments, prints, posters, and drawings, and much more!  Recently, thousands of medical works from the 19th and early 20th centuries have been added to the Medical Heritage Library, an online resource of free and open historical resources in medicine.  This exhibit, on view in the Medical Library Rotunda, Hallway, and Foyer, showcases a selection from the thousands of items currently available online, and describes the process of digitization, bringing medical history to users throughout the world with a few simple clicks.  On view April 11 to July 5, 2013

We've Still Got A Job To Do!

March 14, 2013 - 11:17am by Susan Wheeler

Howard Scott U.S.A. 1902-1983 We Still Have a Big Job to Do! 1943 U.S. Government Printing Office for the U.S. Navy, Industrial Incentive Division Purchased through the John F. Fulton Fund 2012 During World War II, the Industrial Incentive Division of the U.S. Navy sought to improve morale among workers in U.S. industrial plants by emphasizing the importance of the plant’s products in the overall war effort. The morale initiative, begun in May of 1943, employed audio interviews and other messages piped in through speaker systems in the workplace;  exhibited combat action photographs, specially commissioned posters and combat motion pictures in the workplace; and arranged for returned combat personnel to visit the plants engaged in war production. This recently acquired poster, created to boost the morale of defense industry workers during World War II, is on view through April 12, 2013  

Exhibit: War

January 28, 2013 - 3:04pm by Susan Wheeler

On view in the Library CorridorWarSelections from the Collection of Prints and Drawings and the Historical Medical Poster CollectionEyewitness renderings of medicine in the field during World War I and World War II, together with posters from various wartime agencies, show part of the war experience and its effect on individuals. 

"Nearly Well"- the story of Civil War soldier Robert Butcher

January 27, 2013 - 10:04pm by Melissa Grafe

Robert A. Butcher, Co. H, 82nd Infantry, Pennsylvania Robert A. Butcher was 21 when he enlisted in H Company 82nd Infantry Pennsylvania. Before the war, he was living with his mother, father, brother and sister in Philadelphia. His head was struck by a sabre on April 6th 1865 at Burkes’ Station, Virginia and he suffered two major cuts across the top of his head. He was admitted to Harewood Hospital on April 16th and, although the wounds healed rapidly, he began complaining of severe headache and intolerance to light. His anterior head wound re-opened a month later and began discharging unhealthy pus. After the wound opened, his headache gradually subsided and the wounds healed again. Physicians discharged him on June 9th and listed him as “nearly well.” Robert moved through three different homes for disabled veterans over the course of the next sixty years until he died in 1933. The first was in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, the second was in Grant, Indiana, and the third was in Chesapeake, Virginia. He varied from being listed as an inmate to being listed as a mental patient. He is buried in Hampton National Cemetery. On view now, the Medical Historical Library explores Civil War medicine through the haunting photographs of wounded soldiers in an exhibit, "Portraits of Wounded Bodies: Photographs of Civil War Soldiers from Harewood Hospital, Washington, D.C., 1863-1866." Selections from a set of 93 photographic portraits, including Robert Butcher's, from Harewood Hospital, Washington D.C. are on display in the Rotunda of the Medical Library. In the foyer of Sterling Hall, the exhibit expands to include a larger discussion of Civil War medicine and surgery, including hospitals and nurses, using images and materials from the Medical Historical Library. On view until April 1st, 2013.  An online version of the Harewood Hospital photographs is available in the Digital Library.

Portraits of Wounded Bodies

January 7, 2013 - 2:28pm by Melissa Grafe

Portraits of Wounded Bodies:  Photographs of Civil War Soldiers from Harewood Hospital, Washington, D.C., 1863-1866 January 16th-April 1st, 2013 Tours open to all on Wed. Jan. 23rd, 4 p.m., and Friday Jan. 25th at noon! One hundred and fifty years ago, the Civil War raged throughout the United States, creating thousands of casualties.  On view now, the Medical Historical Library explores Civil War medicine through the haunting photographs of wounded soldiers.  Curated by Heidi Knoblauch, a doctoral student in Yale’s Section of the History of Medicine, and Melissa Grafe, John R. Bumstead Librarian for Medical History, selections from a set of 93 photographic portraits from Harewood Hospital, Washington D.C. are on display in the Rotunda of the Medical Library.  These images, some quite graphic, depict soldiers recovering from a variety of wounds, including gunshot wounds.  The soldiers’ case histories and stories, analyzed by Heidi Knoblauch, are part of a larger examination of medical photography and Civil War memory as America commemorates the 150th anniversary of the war.  In the foyer of Sterling Hall, the exhibit expands to include a larger discussion of Civil War medicine and surgery, including hospitals and nurses, using images and materials from the Medical Historical Library.  An online version of the Harewood Hospital photographs is available in the Digital Library of the Medical Historical Library. This exhibit is on display at the Cushing/Whitney Medical Library, 333 Cedar Street. For more information, contact Melissa Grafe, Ph.D, John R. Bumstead Librarian for Medical History, at melissa.grafe@yale.edu.
Subscribe to RSS - Exhibits