Duke Medical Center Archives Blog

If you were to stack every box contained in the Duke Medical Center Archives, it would equal the height of approximately 54 Duke Chapels! While we work hard to arrange and describe the over 11,000 linear feet of materials in our collection, it is both impossible and inadvisable for us to read or catalog every individual piece of paper. As foolish as it is to think that an archivist could possibly know all of the stories held within these collections, it is often tempting to believe that the institutional knowledge accumulated through time in the archives creates an omniscient historian or at least something pretty close. Recently I was reminded that I certainly do not know everything and more importantly that archival research can be a thrilling treasure hunt.  

Category: DUMC History

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This is the fourth blog post in a four part series about the Department of Neurosurgery Records and issues archivists confront when accessioning collections. See the following links for Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3.

Researchers use archives to discover information when they...

Category: Collection Spotlight

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The Medical Center Archives is happy to announce that the Eugenia and Samuel Lambeth Papers are processed and open for research. The collection documents the professional careers of wife and husband Eugenia and Samuel Lambeth, as well as also housing personal materials. Types of materials include correspondence, clippings, programs, certificates, diplomas, army records, reprints, travel souvenirs, x-rays, photographic materials, a scrapbook, artwork, memorabilia, and artifacts. Materials range in date from 1925 to 2000....

Category: Collection Spotlight

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The Medical Center Archives is happy to announce that the Highland Hospital Records are now open to researchers through a reprocessing project. Highland Hospital, a small, for profit, inpatient mental hospital located in Asheville, North Carolina, was owned and operated by Duke ...

Category: Collection Spotlight

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Calling all researchers: the Duke University Medical Archives is pleased to announce that the Stuart M. Sessoms Records are processed and open to researchers. This collection is rich with the history of Duke Medical Center during the Civil Rights Era. It illustrates how a large institution in the South adapted to extreme, rapid social changes with grace and dignity. I don’t think you will be disappointed. There are juicy bits. 

The materials...

Category: Collection Spotlight

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This is the third blog post in a four part series about the Department of Neurosurgery Records and issues archivists confront when accessioning collections. See the following links for Part 1, ...

Category: Collection Spotlight

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This is the second blog post in a four part series about the Department of Neurosurgery Records and issues archivists confront when accessioning collections. Select the following links to see Part 1, Part 3, and...

Category: Collection Spotlight

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Location: Medical Center Library & Archives, Level 2, Room 212E

Date: Tuesday, October 31, 11am – 2pm

In honor of Archives Month in October, the Duke University Medical Center Archives is hosting its fourth 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 much more! Halloween candy will be available…for those who haven’t lost their appetite...

Category: News

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This is the first blog post in a four part series about Duke’s Department of Neurosurgery and issues archivists confront when accessioning collections. Select the following links to see Part 2, Part 3, and Part 4.

Category: Collection Spotlight

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The Medical Center Archives is happy to announce that the Justine Strand de Oliveira Papers are processed and available for research. Interested researchers should contact the Medical Center Archivist before use. The collection is organized into the following series: Correspondence, 1973-2010; Clippings, 1988-2014; Physician Assistant Profession, 1986-2006; Professional Papers, 1979-1981, 1996-2014. The papers contain an academic stole, certificates,...

Category: Collection Spotlight

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The Medical Center Archives is happy to announce that the Ralph Snyderman (Personal) Papers are processed and open for research. The materials in this collection document Snyderman’s professional career at both Duke and Genentech and include manuscript materials, research notes and articles, committee and working group files, presentations and related correspondence, and items from Snyderman’s professional organizations just to name a few. Materials range in date from 1899 to 2006.

Researchers will find the materials organized into the following series: Writings and...

Category: Collection Spotlight

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The first Harry Potter book was published 20 years ago today and sparked an international phenomenon. As we remember this beloved literary and film series, we’d like to draw your attention to a slightly smaller production from 15 years ago: Larry Potter and the Golden Gallstone. This one-night-only event took place on March 15, 2002 and starred physicians and medical students.

The Student-Faculty Show has been a Duke tradition since 1940 when, during the school’s tenth anniversary, the senior class expressed the wish to commemorate the event by putting on a play. This play, called From OPC to CPC, was a farcical spoof about medical skills and medical school. The cast of characters included notable Duke instructors portrayed by their students....

Category: Collection Highlights

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Archives contain many stories. Departmental records, photographs, scrapbooks, and old brochures all trace the historical record in different and occasionally surprising ways. Former faculty papers can show the process of scientific discovery. Oral histories can reveal past institutional knowledge. Old memos provide a glimpse into working conditions. Sometimes the stories are painful. The original sketches of the hospital floor plans show segregated wings. Sometimes the stories are incomplete. We certainly have not saved every document from the history of Duke Health. Sometimes the stories are just simple and fun. That’s the type of story that we’d like to share on the blog today.

When browsing through old...

Category: DUMC History

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Medical Laboratory Professionals Week is a yearly celebration of the valuable work done every day by clinical laboratory personnel around the country. During the last full week of April every year, the medical laboratory professional community aims to educate and promote awareness about the profession. To commemorate this week and the work done by laboratory professionals here at Duke the Archives would like to share some documents from the earliest days in the Pathology Department. 

The Department of Pathology has been at Duke since the very beginning of Duke Hospital and the School of Medicine with Dr. Wiley D. Forbus serving as the founding chair of the department. His...

Category: DUMC History

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This past weekend Duke welcomed back alumni from a variety of academic disciplines and classes and the Archives were honored to participate in the celebrations on Friday at the School of Nursing. We set up a table display (shown below) with a historical timeline, photographs, old brochures and handbooks, and even a nursing uniform and cap. 

We heard many fun stories about campus life, nursing classes, and changes in nursing over the years.  Many alumni recognized the nursing uniform on display from their student days, but several commented that ours did not have nearly enough starch! 

Alumni and current nursing...

Category: News, DUMC History

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