We are open for on-site research for Duke affiliates by appointment only on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Please use our online request form or email to schedule an appointment or get remote reference help. You can learn more about our current services here: https://archives.mc.duke.edu/blog/archives-reading-room-now-open-appoint...
The Computerized Textbook of Medicine: The development of computer technology and medical databases at Duke Medicine
Medical Center Library & Archives – Level 1
On Display Now
Today it is hard to remember a world without computers, but their value in medicine was not always apparent. As with any new technology, widespread adoption takes time.
Duke University Medical Center has played a crucial role in the development of data science techniques and innovations in medicine and clinical research since the 1960s. This is most clearly evident in the development of the Duke Databank for Cardiovascular Disease, but early data science efforts also played a critical role in other departments...
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The Archives is happy to announce that the Duke Cancer Institute Records has been reprocessed and is open for research. The Duke Cancer Institute (DCI) was established in 1973 as one of the original eight comprehensive cancer centers designated by the National Cancer Institute (NCI). Since, Duke cancer researchers have made many notable accomplishments in the field, including the creation of the nation's first outpatient bone marrow transplantation program (1992) and assisting in the discovery of the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes that are responsible for many inherited forms of breast and ovarian cancer (1995). In 2010 the DCI was Duke’s first entity to consolidate cancer care, research, and education.
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The Medical Center Archives is happy to announce that new additions to the Division of Cardiology Records and the Joseph C. Greenfield Papers are open for research. The first collection documents the administrative functions of the Division of Cardiology, as well as the personal experiences of its faculty and residents, while the second collection contains the research and personal files of Dr. Joseph C. Greenfield, one of the division’s most accomplished physicians.
The Duke Division of Cardiology is one of the largest programs in the...
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The Duke University Medical Center Archives is happy to announce that the Duke Surgical Women’s Club Records are processed and open for research. The collection contains records pertaining to the club whose members were the spouses of interns, residents, and follows in the Department of Surgery at Duke.
This collection documents the philanthropic and social activities of the Duke Surgical Women’s Club, including the October 1977 vote in which the club voted to change their name from Duke Surgical Wives to Duke Surgical Women. Materials include the club’s newsletter, The Probe; publicity committee materials; scrapbooks created by club members; and clippings pertaining to the club and their activities.
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The Archives is pleased to spotlight our recently reprocessed Richard S. Lyman Papers. Dr. Richard S. Lyman was the founding chairman of Duke’s Department of Psychiatry in 1940, and his long career included widespread international research, projects with the United States Military, and service on the staff of North Carolina’s Highland Hospital. To learn more about Highland Hospital, visit the finding aid to the Highland Hospital Records. Materials in the collection date from 1927 to 1957.
Dr. Lyman began his medical career with an eye toward international research. Less than a decade after his 1921 graduation from Johns Hopkins...
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In honor of Black History Month, we are featuring Dr. Brenda Armstrong. From student activist to Senior Associate Dean for Student Diversity, Recruitment, and Retention, Dr. Armstrong left behind a legacy of almost half a century of service to Duke and the wider medical community.
Dr. Armstrong was born in Rocky Mount, NC on January 19, 1949. In high school she chose not to attend an exclusive New England private school and instead attended Rocky Mount’s segregated Booker T. Washington Senior High School. Despite the school board’s belief that none of their students would attend college, teachers at Booker T. Washington Senior High taught her and more than forty other students college readiness courses like calculus and trigonometry and ensured that they were prepared to take...
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This past spring, the Duke University Medical Center Archives (DUMCA) received a 2018 North Carolina Preservation Consortium (NCPC) Preservation Grant. This grant provided half the funds to purchase a Nilfisk Museum Vacuum Cleaner for collection care. The other half of the funds came from the DUMCA. The Nilfisk Museum Vacuum Cleaner is a HEPA vacuum. HEPA is an acronym for high-efficiency particulate air. A HEPA vacuum is a vacuum with a HEPA filter. This type of filter works by forcing air through a fine mesh that traps harmful particles caused by mold, dust, frass, and other fine debris.
All of the DUMCA’s collections were the focus of this grant. As an archival repository, the DUMCA regularly receives materials from the departments we serve, as well as individuals...
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The Medical Center Archives is happy to announce that the Shirley K. Osterhout Papers are processed and open for research. The collection contains educational materials related to Osterhout’s career at the Duke University Poison Control Center.
Osterhout received her MD from Duke University in 1957. Following graduation, she completed her residency in the Department of Pediatrics at Duke, working closely with Dr. Jay Arena on poison control issues. Arena founded the Duke Poison Control Center in 1953. It was the second such center in the United States. This collection complements the...
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This is the third blog post in a three part series about processing digital files. See the following links for Part 1 and Part 2.
Over the course of this past year, the Duke University Medical Center Archives (DUMCA) began addressing our digital files backlog by identifying and adding these digital files to the collections to which they belong. This process has uncovered materials current Archives staff were unaware of, introducing us to new stories about Duke and Duke Alumni.
When appraising digital files located in the backlog (for more...
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The Duke University Medical Center Archives is happy to announce that new additions to the Edward C. Halperin Papers are open for research. Halperin served on the Duke faculty for twenty-three years as a professor and chairperson of the Department of Radiation Oncology, vice dean of the School of Medicine, and associate vice chancellor. Types of materials in this collection include his correspondence, grant applications, a cassette tape, articles, and reports. The majority of these materials relate to Halperin’s extensive research and writings on ethics and the history of racial, religious, and gender discrimination in medicine and higher education. This collection includes research materials from 1961 and 1973, but...
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The Medical Center Archives is happy to announce an addition to the Department of Surgery Records. The collection documents the administrative functions of the Department of Surgery and includes records from the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery and the Division of Cardiothoracic Surgery. The new additions to the collection are group photographs of surgical staff from 1964 to 1994 and portraits of past students from 1930 to 2004. The majority of the portraits have handwritten inscriptions written by the students to department administrators and professors.
To learn more about these materials, visit the...
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This is the second blog post in a three part series about processing digital files. See the following link for Part 1 and Part 3.
The Duke University Medical Center Archives (DUMCA) recently began processing the files in our digital files backlog, which goes back to 2009. While the backlog was created in 2009, the files date from the mid-1990s to the present. These files are a mixture of born-digital (records created in a digital format) and digitized (records originally created on paper and converted into a digital format). The...
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The Medical Center Archives is happy to announce that the Charles and Peggy Hammond Papers are processed and open for research. Interested researchers should contact the Medical Center Archivist before use. The collection is organized into the following series: Conference Materials, 1976-2007; Correspondence, 1956-2006; Personal, 1985-2005; Photographic Materials, 1978-2005; Printed Materials, 1978-2008.
Charles Bessellieu Hammond was born on July 24, 1936 in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. He graduated from Duke with a BS in 1960 and a MD in 1961. Hammond joined the Duke faculty in 1968 and served as chairperson...
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As Archives Month comes to a close, we bring you the second part of our two part blog series answering questions asked by our two interns. Read part 1 here.
Caroline Waller: "I would like to know more about the history of the [Duke University Medical Center] archives, like when/why/where was it founded.”
The Archives was formally established in 1977 through the efforts of Elon H. Clark, Barnes Woodhall and G.S.T. Cavanagh, with support from the Mary Duke Biddle Foundation; however informal efforts to collect materials documenting the history of Duke Medicine existed well before this time. An October 1965 article published in the...
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Location: Medical Center Library & Archives, Level 2, Room 212E
Date: Wednesday, October 31, 11am – 2pm
In honor of Archives Month in October, the Duke University Medical Center Archives is hosting its fifth annual Halloween event at the Medical Center Library & Archives featuring a selection of eerie, fascinating, and rarely seen materials from their collections. Brave souls are invited to gaze upon spine-chilling artwork, stare into the faces of frightening death masks, behold macabre medical artifacts and instruments, and...
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