Category Archives: Archives

St. Paul Hospital and the Daughters of Charity Exhibit at South Campus Library

Posted on by

stpaulThe UT Southwestern Medical Center Health Sciences Digital Library and Learning Center is proud to present an exhibit highlighting the history of St. Paul Hospital and the Daughters of Charity. The selected images, which will be on display through January 2017 at the South Campus Library, were originally displayed in one of the conference rooms at St. Paul Hospital.

The Library has an extensive collection of archival materials documenting the history of St. Paul Hospital and the Daughters of Charity. The collection was transferred to the Library in 2008 and includes newsletters, pamphlets, departmental files, newspaper clippings, patient registers from the hospital’s founding, photographs, and more. Materials about the St. Paul Nursing School, which operated from 1900 to 1970, are also part of this archival collection.

Visit the online UT Southwestern Image Archives to view over 200 images that document the history of St. Paul Hospital and the Daughters of Charity. The collection is also available for research and educational purposes. Contact archives@utsouthwestern.edu to schedule an appointment.

Color, share, and celebrate Picture Book Month in November!

Posted on by
nlmcomic5

An 1835 illustration featured in the National Library of Medicine’s #ColorOurCollections Coloring Book.

Art Therapy, Adult Coloring Books and Your Mental Health

According to the American Art Therapy Association, art therapy is a mental health profession in which the process of making and creating artwork is used to “explore feelings, reconcile emotional conflicts, foster self-awareness, manage behavior and addictions, develop social skills, improve reality orientation, reduce anxiety and increase self-esteem.”

The Health Benefits of Adult Coloring Books

Despite the fact that coloring and art therapy aren’t quite the same thing, coloring does offer a slew of mental benefits. Coloring definitely has therapeutic potential to reduce anxiety, create focus, or bring [about] more mindfulness. Groundbreaking research in 2005 proved anxiety levels dropped when subjects colored mandalas, which are round frames with geometric patterns inside. Simply doodling, though, had no effect in reducing the other subjects’ stress levels.

Just like meditation, coloring also allows us to switch off our brains from other thoughts and focus only on the moment, helping to alleviate free-floating anxiety. It can be particularly effective for people who aren’t comfortable with more creatively expressive forms of art. Now get coloring!

The South and North Campus Branch Libraries will have coloring stations with crayons and pages of science and medical related material for you to enjoy this month.

Download these free science and medical-related coloring books featured at the Library coloring tables this month:

Follow the Library’s Facebook or Twitter page for a daily page to color from these collections.

Rare Book Room Open House: October Spotlight—History of the Nobel Prizes

Posted on by

capture
The Health Sciences Digital Library & Learning Center invites you to attend our next open house event entitled “October Spotlight—History of the Nobel Prizes”. This event, which is open to the UT Southwestern community*, will be held in the Library’s Rare Book Room (E3.314D) from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. on two different days to accommodate a wider variety of visitors:

  • Tuesday, October 25
  • Friday, October 28

Featured material from the Library’s special collections and archives will be on display, including photographs, documents, books, and other items highlighting discoveries in science and medicine with connections to the Nobel Prizes since they were founded.

For more information, email archives@utsouthwestern.edu.

*The South Campus (main) Library requires a UT Southwestern ID badge for entry.

What do archivists do? Find out October 5th with #AskAnArchivist Day on Twitter!

Posted on by

cathy-miller-75Post written by Digital Archivist, Cathy Miller, MAS, CA

What comes to mind when you hear the word “archives”? If your first thoughts were “dust, old stuff, attics, or basements”, then this is an exciting opportunity to introduce to you what archives are and what archivists do. Contrary to movie depictions, being an archivist is not about stealing the Declaration of Independence and going on a treasure hunt. Make no mistake: treasures can be found in an archive; however, the roadmap to said treasures is not written in invisible ink on the back of an important historical document!

The first question that may come to your mind is, “what is an archive?” Archives are records created by a person, family, or organization (either public or private) that document the conduct of their affairs and are preserved for both the enduring value of the information they contain and the evidence they provide of the functions and responsibilities of their creator. In laymen’s terms, archives are those records which have been deemed to be of historically valuable importance and are duly preserved.

So, now that we know archives maintain historically valuable records, the question is, “what about UT Southwestern’s archives?” The UT Southwestern archives collect, preserve, and make accessible historical materials documenting UT Southwestern and its predecessor institutions, the university hospitals, careers of notable campus individuals, and Parkland Memorial Hospital. Highlights from our archives include Dr. Alfred G. Gilman’s collection and the Parkland Hospital Collection.

The question remains: “what do I do as the digital archivist here on campus?” Well, it’s my job to appraise, select, describe, preserve, and provide access to historically valuable records about UT Southwestern. And as you may note from my job title, archives aren’t just for old paper records. Archivists have been working on the issues inherent in acquiring, preserving, and providing access to born-digital records for at least 30 years.

Curious to learn more about the UT Southwestern archives and about the work that archivists do? Get your questions ready for #AskAnArchivist day on October 5! I’ll be available at UT Southwestern Library’s Twitter handle (@utswlibrary) to answer your questions. Have you been wondering how to manage your digital files? Worried about digital obsolescence? Curious about digital preservation? Questioning how to preserve your grandmother’s scrapbook? Puzzling over creating appropriate file naming conventions? These are all topics I am excited to talk about with you, and I would love to hear questions from you!

Getting started with HathiTrust

Posted on by

HathiTrustlogoUT Southwestern is now the newest participant in the partnership between HathiTrust and The University of Texas System. HathiTrust is a large-scale collaborative repository of digital content from research libraries. In addition to millions of books, HathiTrust content includes many government publications, journal titles in a wide range of areas, theses and dissertations, conference materials, statistics, and more.

Members can create or edit public or private collections within HathiTrust. Collection permalinks make these useful additions to education or research. Members are also able to download a wide variety of items in “full view”, which allows a user to read content offline or take notes via printing or direct PDF annotation and markup.

Creating or editing collections and downloading complete items in “full view” requires a member login. To log into HathiTrust, select “University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center” from the list of partner institutions, and use your UT Southwestern username and password.

Be aware that items with “Limited (search only)” view are not available to UT Southwestern users through HathiTrust. They may be available through other library resources. Check the catalog for alternate availability and, if needed, order through Interlibrary Loan.

It is not required to log into HathiTrust to search or read “full view” content online; it is only required in order to create/edit a collection or download a complete “full view” item.

To locate items that are available as “full view” in HathiTrust:

  • Check the “full view only” box on the home page of HathiTrust before beginning a search.
  • In advanced catalog search, check the “full view only” box.
  • Within search results, there are two tabs; select the “Only full view tab as needed”.

HathiTrust provides many options for browsing and finding content quickly. A page view, thumbnail view, a page scrollbar, and a search box make it easy to go through content within an item. A mobile view is also available when using a mobile device—no app is required for HathiTrust.

Need help getting started with HathiTrust? Check the help area within HathiTrust, or contact the Library Archives with further questions.

June 24 “Places and Spaces” Rare Book Room Open House Event announced

Posted on by
Reply

RBRJuneStop by the Health Sciences Digital Library & Learning Center’s Rare Book Room (E3.314D) from 11 a.m.-3 p.m. Friday, June 24 for “Places and Spaces.” Books, architectural renderings, photographs, and other materials in the library’s special collections revealing places and spaces in medicine will be on display, and Library staff will be available to show relevant highlights in the digital collections. For more information, email archives@utsouthwestern.edu.

May 20 Rare Book Room Open House: Women in Medicine

Posted on by
Reply

PLEASE NOTE: The previous title had incorrectly stated the event as May 29.

From patient to practitioner, the compelling history of women in medicine includes Metrodora, Fanny Burney, Mary Eliza Mahoney, Ruth Sanders, and more. Stop by the Health Sciences Digital Library & Learning Center’s Rare Book Room (E3.314D) on Friday, May 20, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. for “Women in Medicine“. Books, letters, photographs, and other materials in the library’s special collections featuring women in medicine will be on display, and Library staff will be available to show relevant highlights in the digital collections. For more information, email archives@utsouthwestern.edu.

Slide4

April 29 Rare Book Room Open House: Spotlight on Tuberculosis

Posted on by
Reply

Slide1

On Friday, April 29, 2016, stop by the Health Sciences Digital Library & Learning Center’s Rare Book Room (E3.314D) from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. for “Spotlight on Tuberculosis”. Learn more about books, reports, journals, artifacts, stamps, and other materials in the library’s special collections that illuminate the history of tuberculosis in medicine. Additional resources will highlight connections to the disease in literature, music, and art.

The Library offers a monthly series of open house events to the UT Southwestern community that feature different topics of interest from the special and digital collections. If you want more information about this event or others in the monthly series, please contact archives@utsouthwestern.edu.

Images courtesy of Images from the History of Medicine (IHM), a collection of digitized images from the U.S. National Library of Medicine’s (NLM) Prints and Photographs collection.

Surgical Instruments are the focus of the March 29 Rare Book Room Open House

Posted on by
Reply

IMG_3073On Tuesday, March 29, 2016, stop by the Health Sciences Digital Library & Learning Center’s Rare Book Room (E3.314D) from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. for “Surgical Instruments–From Army Pattern Chisel to Xyster“. Learn more about books, journals, and other materials in the Library’s special collections that highlight surgical instruments from the 18th century to the present. Several medical artifacts will also be on display, including surgical kits in wooden velvet-lined boxes, pocket kits, and more.

The Library offers a monthly series of open house events to the UT Southwestern community that feature different topics of interest from the special and digital collections. If you want more information about this event or others in the monthly series, please contact archives@utsouthwestern.edu.

Discovering Darwin at the February 26 Rare Book Room Open House

Posted on by
Reply

RBRFebHow did a medical school dropout end up contributing so much to science? Find out at “Discovering Darwin”, an open house event sponsored by the Health Sciences Digital Library & Learning Center. The event will be held on Friday, February 26, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the Library’s Rare Book Room (E3.314D). Books, letters, and other materials in the library’s special collections that connect to Charles Darwin (1809-1882) will be on display from the special collections, and Library staff will be available to show relevant highlights in the digital collections. For more information, email archives@utsouthwestern.edu.