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On view June 22through September 17 in the Medical Library Foyer.     Avoid Fatigue: Eat a Lunch that Packs a Punch! 1943 Published by the War Food Administration United States Department of Agriculture Gift of George M. Smith 1943 During World War II, responsible food habits were promoted as a contribution to the war effort by the U.S. government. The Eat to Beat the Devil series published in 1942 by Servel, Inc., makers of the gas refrigerator, fostered the idea of “eating for victory” and promoted good nutrition as an expression of patriotism. Eat to Beat the Devil 1942   Published by Servel, Inc. Purchased through the John F. Fulton Fund 2007

Maternity Care in Pictures:   A Portfolio of 31 Teaching Charts Showing Safe Maternity Care, 1939 Published by the Maternity Center Association on view June 22 through September 17 in the Cushing Rotunda.   This set of small posters, shown in its entirety, was designed for parenting classes, waiting rooms, and formal exhibits.  Many of the posters employed “photomontage” which combined a photographic image with a drawn background—a “modern” graphic technique which served to reinforce the “modern” message.  The Maternity Center Association in New York developed the first classes for expectant parents as part of comprehensive maternity services.   In 1938, it offered the first classes for fathers.  The well- worn set was transferred in 2009 to the Historical Library from the open stacks where it was spotted by a member of the Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology, and Reproductive Services.  The set is now quite rare--one of four in World Cat, the largest public access online library catalog. This set is available online in the Cushing\Whitney Medical Digital Library.

New Exhibit on display in the Library foyer April 23 – June 18 2012 The Office of International Medical Student Education(OIMSE) OIMSE, established in 2006 by Deans Richard Belitsky and Robert Alpern, facilitates opportunities for medical students to experience medicine as it is practiced throughout the world and to enrich the learning environment at Yale School of Medicine by providing opportunities for students from international schools to participate in clinical electives. Yale Medical Students Medical students in their final year have the opportunity to participate in clinical clerkships abroad. Also, Yale School of Medicine and other professional schools offer courses and electives in global health. Visiting Medical Student Elective Program OIMSE supports a robust Visiting International Student Elective Program for international students coming to Yale to do clinical electives. The program receives between 450 and 500 applications a year, and accepts about 80 students. Why does one journey into the mountains of Peru? By Hale Season, YSM 2012 Three weeks ago I didn’t even know that I’d be anywhere other than New Haven this July, and yet here I am 50 miles west of Central America headed for Lima.  I had known that I had wanted to go to South America for an international experience sometime this year – after 15+ years of Spanish classes, I really wanted to immerse myself in the language – but I didn’t think when I interviewed in June that anything would happen before the Spring at the very earliest.  As luck would have it, however, there was a mission trip going to the impoverished mountains of Peru for the second week of July, and I was invited.  It was truly quite exciting - 3 weeks ago I was told that if I could wing the arrangements and clear my schedule, I would be in the middle of nowhere just that quickly. Read more… For more information, visit the Office of International Medical Student Education.

The Medical Historical Library recently acquired a collection of over 600 items dating from the late 18th and 19th centuries, including legal documents, correspondence, manuscripts, printed matter and photographs pertaining to the Coleman family of New Jersey. Of particular medical historical interest in this new collection are materials by two Coleman brothers, the Yale-educated physicians Dr. Isaac Pearson Coleman (1804-1869) and Dr. James Beakes Coleman (1805-1887).James and Isaac exchanged over fifty letters in which they share some of their experiences at the newly founded Medical Institution of Yale College. One such letter sent to Isaac after his 1829 graduation from James, then still in New Haven, comments on Yale faculty: “We have in one of the new Professors one of the most theoretical criticising fellows to be met with. No writer from the flood to the present time escapes his lash and the worst of it is, he is an able and learned man and does it handsomely”.In addition to attending the Medical Institution of Yale College, as was customary at the time for young aspiring physicians, the brothers had also obtained medical training under experienced preceptors. Their apprenticeships under Dr. Ewing and Dr. de Belleville of Trenton, respectively, are documented in the collection, as well as James’s acquaintance with Thomas Story Kirkbride.During the decades as practicing physicians in New Jersey, the brothers continued to write on personal and family matters; they mention patients, including one case of “natural smallpox of the distinct variety, about 1,000 pustules,” as well as matters of contention in the profession such as “the modern notion of treating all acute diseases by the antiphlogisticating starvation method.” The collection also features manuscript lecture notes by James Coleman, recording a series of public lectures he prepared on the subject of phrenology.The Coleman brothers collection, 1748-1910, Ms Coll 36, is now open for research!  A finding aid will be posted shortly.Blog post by Judit Balassa, intern at the Medical Historical Library

The Medical Historical Library recently acquired a collection of letters by John J. Cushing, one of the first homeopathic physicians in California. Cushing wrote in the 1850s to his family in Providence, Rhode Island from San Francisco, where he set up practice. The collection contains colorful anecdotes about Gold Rush era San Francisco, including some on his experiences as a doctor there.In his letters, Cushing tells how he got barred as a homeopath from the newly formed local Medical Society on account that “the board could not regard my diploma as evidence of my medical education.” The correspondence also chronicles his efforts to maintain a practice against the fierce competition that he describes on January 31, 1855 as there were “four doctors to one patient.” Cushing eventually prospers despite difficulties in collecting his fees during money shortages, recounting gifts of gratitude and payments in kind from his patients. He reports on cases such as a 4-month convalescence from typhoid fever in 1857, and a difficult delivery of an 11lb. baby, in a letter dated January 15, 1855. His correspondence also illustrates customs and social norms of his time: for instance, he comments that people frowned upon bachelor doctors attending ladies of class. by Judit Balassa