Historical Library News
Aug 17, 2023
Article by Blake Spencer – July 7, 2023 At Yale University’s Center for Preservation and Conservation, there is an air of care and fastidiousness when dealing with materials that hold irreplaceable value to multiple audiences. From arabesque covers bearing allegories relating to metaphysics to the material world of important information detailed within those covers, there is more to each item than the exterior presents at first glance. These collections carry the practical usage of research, knowledge, and spiritual life within each page. These materials deteriorate... Read More
Jun 16, 2023
We are pleased to announce awards for our first Ferenc Gyorgyey/Stanley Simbonis YSM’57 Research Travel Grants since 2019, to two recipients, Michael Ortiz (Harvard University) and Jiemin (Tina) Wei (Harvard University). Ortiz’s proposed project, “American Nature: Life and Political Community in Post-Reconstruction United States, 1877-1927,” shifts the debate on citizenship away from strictly legal and social conceptions, focusing on a new concept of biological citizenship, a consequence of developments in the life sciences, that was operationalized in everyday society. As part of his... Read More
Jun 6, 2023
Starting June 26th, the Morse and Historical Library Reading Rooms will undergo a series of small renovations. Enhancements in the Historical Library Reading Room will include new area rugs to help with sound attenuation, new tables with surface-accessible power, and improved and more efficient lighting. Updates in the Morse Reading Room will include refinished tables with new lighting and surface-mounted power outlets, new carpet, improved lighting throughout the space, and repair of windowsills and storm windows. Work is expected to be completed in August. During this time, visitors will... Read More
May 27, 2023
On view in the Medical Library's hallway exhibition space through August 18th In 2013, the Historical Library acquired a collection of 2,600 posters with international public health and safety messages, representing 57 countries and several global health organizations. The posters are selections from the collection dating between 1963-2008. Many represent collaborations between national governments and international health organizations. A major global health issue concerns pregnancy and childbirth, including family planning, emergency contraception, and maternal mortality and health.... Read More
Mar 20, 2023
As we launch the Medical Library's exhibition "Killer or Cure? Poison through the Centuries" on March 23rd, we'd like to remind you that while poison has often captured the public imagination through the ages, today it can cause real harm, and even death. Unfortunately, as of 2021, poison is the leading cause of injury death in the United States, and three-quarters of poison deaths are unintentional. Nearly half (41%) of cases occur in children under age 5. Nearly all (93%) poison cases these days occur at home, and most implicated poisons are regular household items – such as common drugs (... Read More
Mar 15, 2023
The Medical Historical Library of the Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Library at Yale University is pleased to announce its fourteenth annual Research Travel award for use of the Historical Library. The deadline is April 30th, 2023. The Ferenc Gyorgyey/Stanley Simbonis YSM’57 Research Travel Grant is available to historians, medical practitioners, and other researchers outside of Yale who wish to use the Historical collections of the Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Library. In any given year the award is up to $2,000 for one week of research. Funds may be used for... Read More
Mar 9, 2023
The Medical Historical Library in the Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Library at Yale University is pleased to announce its first fellowship for the study of medical photographic history. The Stanley B. Burns M.D. Fellowship for the Study of Medical Photographic History supports the study of the history of medical photography at Yale, maximizing the research potential of the Stanley B. Burns, MD, Historic Medical Photography Collection. We welcome applications from all interested researchers, regardless of their institutional association, race, cultural background, ability, sexual... Read More
Mar 1, 2023
On display in the Cushing Rotunda, March 22 - August 13, 2023 A touchstone of murder mysteries and historical intrigue, tactical warfare and political coups, poison looms large in our cultural imagination. An invisible agent of death, it might be hiding anywhere, stashed in a secret agent’s suitcase or mixed into a murderous martini. Less glamorously, but even more palpably, it lurks in our everyday lives as well, creeping in through garden plants and exotic pets, household cleaners and rainwater runoff, medicine cabinets and art supplies. Broadly defined as any substance which can cause... Read More