Blogs

Letters From a 19th Century Homeopath

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

U.S. Food Administration Posters from World War I

On View in the Library Corridor through January 6Selections from the Historical CollectionsL.C. Clinker and M.J. DwyerDon’t Waste Food While Others Starve! c.1918Lithograph printed by Heywood Strasser and Voight Lithograph Company, New York, for the U.S. Food AdministrationPurchased through the Lucia P. Fulton Fund 2010Harvey T. Dunn U.S.A. 1884-1952Victory is a Question of Stamina, 1917Lithograph printed by Latham Lithograph and Printing Company, Brooklyn, New York for the U. S. Food AdministrationPurchased through the Lucia P. Fulton Fund 2010

Anti-Drug and AIDS Awareness Posters

Anti-Drug and AIDS Awareness Posters from the 1980’s and 1990’sOn View in the Library Foyer through January 6Selections from the Historical CollectionsAndrej PagowskiPolish b. 1953 Narkotyki to gówno [Drugs are Shit] Published for Fundacja Wspierania Tworzcosci, Kultury i Sztuke ARS [Foundation for Supportof Culture, Art, and Creativity] Purchased through the Madeline E. Stanton Fund 2008 GANG (a New York art collective)after Leo Burnett (creator of the Marlboro Man, 1954)AIDS CrisisWarning: While Bush spends billions playing cowboy, 37 million North Americans don’t have health insurance. A North American dies of AIDS every eight minutes.Published by ACT UP 1990Purchased through the John F. Fulton Fund 2005

Two Hundred Years of Medical Education at Yale

]On October 28, 1810, the Connecticut Legislature approved a charter to create a medical school at Yale. The Medical Institution of Yale College, now Yale University School of Medicine, was the sixth medical school in the United States. From a single rented building with five faculty members and no hospital in the state of Connecticut, the Yale School of Medicine, in association with Yale-New Haven Hospital, has grown to become a world-famous center for teaching, research, and clinical practice. It was only in the twentieth century, after affiliation with the New Haven Hospital, the forming of departments, and the full-time system, that Yale became a leader in biomedical research and clinical care. However, the mission to educate medical students goes back to the beginning of the school’s history. This final Bicentennial exhibit focuses on the Medical School’s teaching mission over the past 200 years. The roughly chronological exhibit has two parts. Part I in the Medical Library rotunda traces the fundamental changes in medical education from an eight-month supplement to apprenticeship in 1813 to the establishment of the Yale System of Medical Education in 1925-1931. Part II, from the 1930s to the present, is located in the lobby outside the Library. The exhibit is supplemented by original historical photographs and engravings in the hallway of the Library. All materials on display, unless otherwise noted, are from the Historical Library. “200 Years of Medical Education” is curated by Toby A. Appel, former John R. Bumstead Librarian for Medical History. The exhibit goes to September 11. It is in the Medical Library rotunda, hallway, and lobby.