– by Charlie Dawson, Visitor Services/Gallery Associate
From the waning days of the golden age of patent medicine comes this advertisement for pharmaceutical cocaine. The ad was produced by CF Boehringer and Soehne, founded in 1885 Mannheim, Germany, but which soon expanded into New York. By the time of this ad’s publication in 1897, cocaine was available in New York only by prescription.
– by Josh Bicker, Visitor Services Floor Supervisor
A curious image from our Digital Image Library portrays two men, one of them lying on his back, with a ribbed, balloon like structure over his nose and mouth, as another man looks on, holding the balloon like structure on to his face. From the text around the image, we can tell this is Ormsby’s Inhaler, a variant of a number of different inhalers used at the time for administering Ether as an anesthesia for a patient undergoing surgery. This image is from a general anesthesia guide created by Henry Davis from 1892.
– by Josh Bicker, Visitor Services Floor Supervisor
The hobby of collecting trading cards has always been a popular pastime for many people. From trading cards of sports stars and pop stars, to collecting cards of characters from movies and popular TV shows, young and old have shown an interest in this hobby. The reason for collecting cards can vary. For some, it could just be an attractive piece of paper to look at, while for others it is a more serious form of collecting involving scrap books and getting appraisals for each card. Regardless of the reasons, collecting cards has been a pastime for many for a long time. Read more
For some, Fall is a time for cozy sweaters, stepping on crunchy leaves, and enjoying all things pumpkin spice. For others, the autumnal season also marks a thinning of the veil between the mortal and spiritual planes. Holidays like All Souls Day allow the living to remember and commune with the spirits of the departed. This presents a unique opportunity to examine a few of Historical Medical Library’s materials on the topic of Spiritualism, the 19th century movement that asserted spirits could communicate directly with the living through special tools or mediums. This small smattering of resources on Spiritualism provides an interesting opportunity to examine matters of the soul and Spiritualism through the lens of science and medicine. Read more
– by Kristen Pinkerton, Library Assistant
For the month of October, the theme the Historical Medical Library has chosen to highlight is skeletons. Skeletons are commonly viewed as creepy or associated with death and horror, particularly around Halloween. As a trained osteologist, however, I view them as a beautiful structure that supports the human form. This selected theme was an exciting chance for me to explore the fascinating materials we house regarding the human skeleton. While searching through our catalog I came across multiple monographs that piqued my interest. Read more
– by Marie Hathaway, Library Assistant
Prior to the closing of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia for COVID-19, my co-worker Kristen Pinkerton and I were working in the stacks at the Historical Medical Library processing journal volumes for deaccessioning and updating metadata for journals that will remain. Going through the collection volume by volume to update metadata allowed us to get to know the collection in ways we might not have based on researcher requests alone. We were continually surprised. Just in the week prior to closing I found a colorful pamphlet about WWII-era chemical warfare and Kristen found a year book featuring a medical student’s romantic poem about spermatozoa.
As we’ve transitioned from working in the stacks to working from home, Kristen and I have been helping to comb through another part of the library’s collection—its digital resources. Like the physical stacks, the online collection has proven to be full of surprising and fascinating information.
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Are you missing our collections as much we are? You can always view some items in our digital image library and on the Internet Archive.
Now we’re inviting you to interact with our digital images in a brand new way! Inspired by the annual GIF IT UP! contest, we’re asking you to create original animated GIFs using select digital content from our image library.
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