Kick off National Public Health Week by having some fun playing the Library’s Public Health Week Virtual Escape Room, which is “set” in the old Parkland Memorial Hospital building. Can you escape before the hospital is demolished?
Begun in 1995 and organized by the American Public Health Association, National Public Health Week – which is always held during the first full week in April – provides an opportunity to spread awareness of the field by acknowledging the many ways lives are touched by public health. This year’s theme is “Protecting, Connecting, and Thriving: We Are All Public Health” and highlights the impact that each person – whether a health professional or not – can have on public health. For information about the daily themes, check out the National Public Health Week website.
This section of the library is dedicated to the 118-year history of St. Paul Hospital. Originally named St. Paul Sanitarium, the institution started out on Bryan Street in east Dallas. First operating out of a small cottage in 1896, and opening its new hospital doors in 1898, the sanitarium was established by the Daughters of Charity with the intent to help maintain a base level of care for Dallas’ growing population. In 1900, St. Paul’s School of Nursing was opened on the hospital grounds. Early on, sisters would visit patients in their own homes and bring items like food and clothing, in addition to medicine, to improve their overall quality of life. Free clinics were later opened as extensions of the hospital in other neighborhoods in Dallas. These clinics continued the work started by the sisters, providing food and clothing to those in need in addition to routine medical care.
St. Paul Hospital was at the center of several historic events. The institution was a key defense during the 1918 influenza pandemic. Forty-five tents were erected on site to facilitate a larger reach of patient care, primarily of the sick soldiers from nearby Camp Dick. Later, the hospital was the first facility in Dallas to integrate their facility, admitting an African-American intern in 1953, and giving black doctors courtesy privileges as early as 1954. This was followed by the admission of black students to the School of Nursing in 1955, staffing of black physicians in 1956, and full de-segregation in 1959.
In 1963, a new facility was opened on Harry Hines Boulevard and all 112 patients were moved in only five hours. A feat that mirrored the great fire of 1951, when all 250 patients and employees present were evacuated from the old hospital successfully. The move to the new facility was in part due to the growing partnerships in the Medical District along Harry Hines, and at UT Southwestern Medical Center. After decades of growth and collaboration UTSW bought St. Paul Hospital in 2005, fully cementing St. Paul’s place as part of UTSW’s Medical Center. After all of their innovations and historic firsts, St. Paul Hospital ended it’s time in Dallas in 2014. That year patients and staff were transferred to the new William P. Clements Jr. University Hospital and in 2015, St. Paul University Hospital was demolished.
St. Paul ExhibitSt. Paul Hospital Alcove in South Campus Library
Next time you’re on South Campus, stop by the Library (E2.200) and view the Special Collection and Archives’ additions to the Library’s permanent exhibits. Depicted in the image below are:
(A) Disease Case Studies Ledger from Bellevue Hospital by Edward H. Cary, M.D. 1898-1899. MSS0032. History of Medicine Collection.
(B) Draft sketch for the David Novros fresco in Gooch Auditorium. MSS0067. Medical Artifacts Collection. – Note: This is one of Library’s newest additions, which came from the Dallas Museum of Art.
(C) Ernest Poulos, M.D., bust, portrait, and a group picture and letter from the dedication of the bust. MSS0068. Department of Surgery Collection. – Note: The bust was made in 1996, and the photo features the chief residents who were under Dr. Poulos in 1989.
(D) Edward H. Cary, M.D., bust. MSS0067. Medical Artifacts Collection. – Note: The bust was made in 1929 and presented to Dr. Cary by the Baylor University College of Medicine.
(E) Painted and glazed fireplace tiles. 1890. MSS0030. St. Paul Hospital Collection. – Note: When the hospital was built in the late 1890s, heat was provided by both radiators and fireplaces.
(F) Assorted ceramic apothecary jars. 1930-1959. MSS0077. Leon A. Harris Apothecary Jars Collection.
You can access the UT Southwestern Library’s Website from the Services Tab on MyUTSW site, Education & Training Tab on the UT Southwestern website, UT Southwestern Clinical Portal, and Google Search by name.
The Library has 555,806 books in all formats in FY23(e.g., print, electronic, audiovisual, etc.).
The most popular Library class is Writing a Literature Review.
As an author, I can create profiles to manage my publications and scholarly activities in My Bibliography, ORCID, Scopus, and Web of Science.
The Library’s most popular point-of-care tool is UpToDate.
The Library subscribes to the following USMLE and Board Preparation resources: BoardVitals, StatPearls, and USMLE First Aid.
The Library’s most popular subject guide is About the Library.
Nine librarians staff the UT Southwestern Library.
Interlibrary loan, exam proctoring, and classroom reservations services are offered by the Library.
The Interlibrary Loan Unit filled 2285 article requests in 2022.
The Interlibrary Loan Unit borrowed 684 items from other institutions for our patrons in 2022.
There were 899 document delivery requests filled for patrons in 2022.
Our library ILL services invoices can be paid by check, interdepartmental request, and credit card.
The UT Southwestern Library was founded in 1943.
The oldest book in the Archives was published in the 16th century.
The temperature setting of the Archives in 63 degrees.
Violet Baird began the Archives for the University.
Dr. Edward H. Cary started Southwestern Medical College
Congratulations to our winner Katarina Yaros who received the top score!
The Library’s Special Collection & Archives team has recently put together several exhibits that are now on display in the main library space. These displays may be viewed at any time by anyone interested in learning more about medical history and the University. Some of the items are the Goulding and the Hernstein families’ surgery kits pictured here.
To properly date these items, our University Archivist used the names stamped on the boxes and on the surgery tools. This technique allowed her to narrow down the make to only a few years, rather than decades, when different partnerships and business ventures were active.
While researching these items, the University Archivist also discovered a scandal in the Hernstein’s history over the origins of their materials. Because of this, the company was transferred into Esther Hernstein’s name until several years passed and Albert could again be the face of the company. To learn more about this event and the other items in the exhibit, you can visit the Archives and request the old catalogs and histories of surgical kits.
The Smithsonian Institution, which is committed to leading and encouraging civil dialogue on important issues facing our nation and the world, is leading a community engagement project called The Bias Inside Us. Their goal is to help people understand and counter implicit biases and build capacity in communities to convene dialogue that will increase empathy and create more inclusive schools, communities, and workplaces. The 10-piece poster exhibit is now on display at the South Campus Library until January 2024.
Join us on Tuesday, October 11, 2022, for National Coming Out Day. On this day, we celebrate members of the LGBTQ+ community as they share their coming out stories, those of triumph and happiness, as well as those filled with grief and trauma.
A discussion with Leslie McMurray, a local activist, will focus on transgender healthcare and share insights and suggested approaches to LGBTQ+ affirming patient-provider relationships and care. Theonline discussion will be held at 12 noon. Registration is required.
In honor of American Archives Month, we are interviewing UT Southwestern’s University Archivist, Chianta Dorsey.
What are your principal duties as Archivist, and in which of these duties do you invest the majority of your energy?
My main mission is to collect, preserve, and provide access to the institutional history of UT Southwestern Medical Center. Most of my duties are devoted to physically preserving these materials but also to making them available to the UTSW community and external researchers. Accessibility is so important because, for all the work we put in to preserve materials, we want people to use them for education, instruction, and research.
What do you enjoy most about being an Archivist?
I enjoy the many people that I get to meet and the stories that they tell. There is this misconception that archivists only spend time with the materials, but I spend a lot of time engaging with people across UTSW’s campus and outside of it.
What are some unique or interesting items that you have in the UTSW Archives?
There are many, but I’ve found Edward Cary’s patient book, from his residency at Bellevue Hospital in New York during the 1890s, to be pretty interesting. Cary meticulously described his patient’s habits and symptoms and even drew charts and data that must have taken a lot of time to write. We have a book related to biomedical research performed during the Voskhod space flight that was led by the Soviet Union from 1964-1965. We have the only known copy since the others were ordered to be destroyed. Lastly, we have essays written by Donald Seldin during his time studying at New York University. It’s very interesting to see his interpretation on some classic works of literature.
What are some projects that the Archives is working on now?
We’re working to roll out our first archives management system. This will be an online portal where people will be able to search, find, and request our materials more easily. I’m also working to organize the Dean of the Medical School records, which provides a nuanced look into the first 40 years of UTSW’s history. While the records detail our immense growth in the fields of medicine and science, it also provides insight into how broader social issues penetrated the campus.
Are there any new directions in which you would like the Archives to go?
I hope to work more with instructors who teach medical humanities electives on campus. I’ve partnered with two medical humanities classes to present materials from the Archives related to the history of medicine, so I would like our role to expand in that area.
We’ve also been working to build our digital preservation program. Much of the materials being generated is born-digital so we want to ensure that we are able to preserve records and documents being created in various digital formats. Our COVID-19 collection, which documents the institution’s response to the pandemic, is our first complete born-digital collection. As of today, none of it consists of physical documents or materials.
How can materials in the Archives be accessed?
If someone would like to view materials in the Archives, they can make an appointment to access them. You can contact us through our email at archives@utsouthwestern.edu to set up an appointment or inquire about any of our materials.
As we welcome our UT Southwestern community back to the Health Sciences Digital Library & Learning Center space in May 2021, we’d like to reflect on what we have done to make it safer for you to come back over the last year. The Library Staff of 16 spent a combined total of over 2,250 hours on COVID-19 related projects in the past year. Our list of contributions is as follows:
Planned and implemented the closing of the physical North and South Libraries and then the opening of South Campus Library, including publishing the UT Southwestern Library Re-Opening Guide.
Planned and made necessary changes to workflows and staff remote set-ups to allow full continuation of research and instructional services.
Had multiple discussions and made decisions for additional resources related to COVID-19 for inclusion the Library Guide.
Learned and networked about handling COVID-19 in medical libraries via professional organizations, webinars, and conferences.
Bitty Babu, the Library’s Database Analyst, complied our COVID-19 service hours and provided the following visualizations for our efforts.
