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March 19, 2010

New AHA Executive Director: Jim Grossman to Succeed Arnita Jones

The American Historical Association is pleased to announce that Dr. James Grossman, currently Vice President for Research and Education at Chicago’s Newberry Library, will succeed Dr. Arnita Jones as the Association’s Executive Director. Dr. Jones will retire at the end of August.

AHA President Barbara Metcalf expressed the enthusiasm of the AHA Council over Dr. Grossman’s appointment: “He is an accomplished scholar, a passionate advocate for history, and a leader in both public humanities and history.” At the Newberry Library he has overseen programs for the general public as well as for scholars and teachers, and has built a strong reputation for bridge-building across fields and disciplines.

Grossman is the author of Land of Hope: Chicago, Black Southerners, and the Great Migration (1989) and A Chance to Make Good: African Americans, 1900-1929 (1997). He was also project director and coeditor of The Encyclopedia of Chicago (2004), labeled by one prominent urban historian “one of the very finest and likely one of the most durable works of North American historical scholarship in our era.” A collaborative project of the Newberry Library, the Chicago History Museum, and Northwestern University, it involved over 700 contributors, and is now available in both print and digital formats.

Current Executive Director Arnita Jones considers Grossman “an ideal person to lead the Association at a time when scholarly societies, higher education and research institutions are confronting many new challenges, including the digital revolution.” Dr. Grossman has been an active member of the AHA for many years and a leader of its National History Center, a new initiative which helps historians reach out to broader audiences. His goals for the AHA include enhancing the role of historians in public culture, collaborating with counterparts in other scholarly associations to explore new opportunities opened by innovations in digital communication, and maintaining the AHA’s strong advocacy voice on open access and other issues of importance to historians.

The American Historical Association is a non-profit membership organization founded in 1884 and incorporated by the Congress in 1889 for the promotion of historical studies and the dissemination of historical research. It is the oldest and largest professional historical organization in the United States, bringing together nearly 5,000 institutions, 118 affiliated societies, and 15,000 individuals, including college and university faculty, public historians, independent scholars, archivists, librarians, and secondary school teachers.

Background on James Grossman

James Grossman is Vice President for Research and Education at the Newberry Library, and Senior Research Associate in the Department of History at the University of Chicago.   He received his Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley, and has also taught at the University of California, San Diego.  He is the author of Land of Hope: Chicago, Black Southerners, and the Great Migration (1989) and A Chance to Make Good: African-Americans, 1900-1929 (1997).  He was project director and coeditor of The Encyclopedia of Chicago (with Janice L. Reiff and Ann Durkin Keating, 2004), and coeditor (with Janice L. Reiff and Ann Durkin Keating) of The Encyclopedia of Chicago Online (www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/).  He also is the editor of The Frontier in American Culture (1994) and coeditor of the Univ. of Chicago Press series "Historical Studies of Urban America" (32 vols. 1992- ). His articles and short essays have focused on various aspects of American urban history, African American history, American ethnicity, and higher education.  His book reviews have appeared in the Chicago Tribune and New York Newsday in addition to various academic journals.  A frequent participant in the Chicago Humanities Festival, he has also spoken at the Printers Row Book Fair, and a wide variety of universities and cultural institutions locally and nationwide.

Land of Hope received prizes from the Gustavus Myers Center for Human Rights and the Illinois State Historical Society.   A Chance to Make Good won awards from the New York Public Library and the National Council for the Social Studies.  The Encyclopedia of Chicago was honored by the Scholarly Publishers Division of the Association of American Publishers and the Illinois State Historical Society.  Chicago Magazine chose Grossman as one of seven “Chicagoans of the Year” in 2005.

Grossman is responsible for the Newberry’s research centers, fellowship programs, educational initiatives, and public programs.   His consulting experience includes a broad variety of history-related projects (mostly films and exhibits) generated by the BBC, Smithsonian, Goodman Theater, Field Museum, New-York Historical Society, Chicago History Museum, Chicago Public Library, American Social History Project, Blackside, and a variety of independent film producers.

Professional service has included elected offices in the American Historical Association and Organization of American Historians, ethics committees for the AHA and the OAH, and Advisory Boards for the AHA, Center for New Deal Studies at Roosevelt University, Illinois Historical Society, City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs, and Chicago Public Library.   He has served as Chair of the Board of the Chicago Metro History Education Center and President of the Hyde Park Soccer Club, and currently serves on the Board of Trustees of the National History Center.

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March 18, 2010

What We’re Reading: March 18, 2010 Edition

Natalie Zemon Davis 2010 Holberg International Memorial Prize winnerCongratulations to former AHA president Natalie Zemon Davis for winning the $785,000 Holberg International Memorial Prize for 2010. This prize recognizes “outstanding scholarly work in the academic fields of the arts and humanities, social sciences, law and theology.” Meanwhile, we also note the sad news of the loss of Richard Stites, historian of Russian culture. We bring you two articles on politics and history: a new version of American history and the Texas Board of Education’s questionable textbook revisions.  On the topic of advice for the history profession read some thoughts on different approaches to tenure and how to write an article this summer. We also have two articles on American history and slavery, looking at a forgotten attempted slave escape and a collection of donated Harriet Tubman objects.  Check out a number of roundups and archives online, covering federal videos, C-Span, collections of private letters, and a patent medicine trade card collection. Finally, catch up on thoughts on Cuba-U.S. relations, a profile of an FBI historian, Virginia’s Heritage Music Trail, links on the history of food (that may or may not make you hungry), and more.

News

Rewriting History

History Profession Advice

American History and Slavery

Roundups and Collections

Assorted Articles and Sites

Fun

Contributors: Kelly Elmore, Noralee Frankel, Elisabeth Grant, Vernon Horn, Arnita Jones, and Jessica Pritchard

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March 17, 2010

Support National History Day

By Lee White, executive director of the National Coalition for History

The following text is an alert from the National Coalition for History. It is crossposted on the NCH web site.

National History Day (NHD) is asking for your help to gain support from members of Congress for a $1 million National History Day appropriation that will help state programs grow and improve. NHD NEEDS YOUR HELP TODAY! We have two more days left and it is critical that you pick up the phone to contact your members of Congress and ask them to sign the NHD “Dear Colleague” letter (available at the bottom of this page on the NCH site).

National History DayRepresentative Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) is circulating what is called a “Dear Colleague” letter (see the full Dear Colleague letter at the end of this post on the NCH site). The letter is similar to a petition that members of Congress sign in support of funding a program. Our goal is get as many members of Congress to sign this letter, which will demonstrate wide-spread support for funding for the NHD program.

The Dear Colleague letter asks all members of the House to sign their name to the letter supporting NHD. This letter is addressed to the Chairman and Ranking Member of the House Labor, Health and Human Services and Education Appropriations Subcommittee asking them to support funding NHD in the FY 2011 budget. This is a very common practice, which is implemented during the appropriations process. It is important that we get as many signatures as we can – as soon as we can by COB Friday, March 19. The appropriations committee will literally count every signature and the more signatures we have the better chance we will have of getting $1 million in support.

Thanks to your past efforts, NHD was included in the omnibus spending bill for FY 2009 & FY 2010 with an appropriation of $500,000! It’s important to note that to be included in a congressional budget for the first time is a major accomplishment. National History Day clearly has the attention of members of Congress, so let’s try and build on our success. Keep in mind that we have programs across the country that could use the extra help of an increased congressional appropriation.

What to do?
Never called your Member of Congress before? Don’t worry, it’s easy! All congressional offices can be reached through the U.S. Capitol switchboard at (202) 224-3121. When you reach your Representative’s office, your call will be answered by a receptionist. Tell him or her that you want to leave a message for the Representative. The receptionist will take down your message.

When calling a Representative’s office, tell them:

See the National Coalition for History site for more information and for the Dear Colleague letters text.

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March 17, 2010

The HerStory Scrapbook

By Jessica Pritchard

HerStory ScrapbookThis year marks the 23rd anniversary of National Women’s History Month and the 90th anniversary of the 19th amendment, granting women the right to vote. The New York Times has thousands of articles, editorials, and letters documenting both advocates of and opponents to the women’s suffrage movement.

The HerStory Scrapbook makes accessible pieces from the New York Times during “the final four years of the women’s suffrage campaign,” many centering on both the National American Woman Suffrage Association, founded in 1890 by Lucy Stone and Susan B. Anthony and headed by Carrie Chapman Catt, and the National Woman’s Party, founded in 1916 by Lucy Burns and Alice Paul, the latter of whom also headed the Party. The site explains, “After a struggle that spanned more than 50 years, it takes the extraordinary organizational skills of Carrie Chapman Catt and the indefatigable courage of Alice Paul to win suffrage for women across America in time for the 1920 presidential election.”

Because the site mimics a scrapbook, users can navigate through the timeline associated with the women’s suffrage movement, framed with primary resources from the New York Times. Before delving into newspaper clippings from the heart of the movement, the site supplies background information starting with the Seneca Falls Woman’s Rights Convention in 1848 and continuing to through the 1917 political battlefront. Similarly, the prolog covers common goals, different tactics, the 1916 election campaign, election results, and starting again, which shows how Alice Paul and Carrie Chapman Catt upped their efforts. From here, users can explore newspaper clippings by year: 1917, 1918, 1919, 1920, as well as the epilog, spanning clippings from 1921-77.

One final feature of the site is the HerStory 360° Challenge, celebrating 90 women in 90 days for the 90th anniversary of the 19th amendment. On January 1, 2010, this challenge began sharing stories from the women who sacrificed and fought for their right to vote with daily questions. The best part of this challenge is that it not only supplies the correct answer one day following the original question, but it also offers primary sources to accompany each answer, linking to Google books, the Library of Congress, newspaper clippings, and other web sites, to name but a few. You can also follow HerStory 360° on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube.

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March 16, 2010

HistoriansTV

At the 124th Annual Meeting this past January, the AHA once again partnered with WebsEdge of London, U.K. to produce HistoriansTV.

This daily television program was broadcast on meeting hotel channels and featured interviews with AHA Council members, staff, and attendees of the meeting. HistoriansTV also produced sponsored videos on history programs at a number of universities.

All of this content from the 2010 Annual Meeting is now available online along with all the interviews and sponsored videos from the 2009 meeting in New York.

HistoriansTV will once again be a part of the AHA’s Annual Meeting next January 2011 in Boston.

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March 16, 2010

Name That Decade – Results

Late last year we asked AHA members and the public to name the decade, “offer[ing] their suggestions…for a catchy phrase that can wittily sum up the decade.” Ideas were submitted through the comment section on the blog. Then, at the beginning of this month, we asked you to cast your vote on the submissions. Well, the votes have been tallied, and the winner is: “The Lost Decade.” Congrats to Robert McCusker for submitting the winning phrase.

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March 15, 2010

Council Approves Establishment of Interest Groups within the AHA

By Robert B. Townsend

Members of the American Historical Association will now be able to create interest groups (organized bodies of history specialists), under a policy approved by Council in January. The new interest groups are intended to supplement the existing affiliated societies—creating opportunities for new or underserved areas of topical and professional interest to develop within the AHA.

Drawing on the experience of the other disciplinary societies, we believe interest groups will provide individual members with a more comfortable home within the AHA. Interest Groups will be able to offer more targeted programs, such as sessions and other gatherings at the annual meeting, as well as other communications in the form of sponsored listservs, blogs, and newsletters. Ideally this can satisfy members’ particular interests, while at the same time providing an incentive to remain connected to the Association’s more general disciplinary offerings.

Members interested in organizing will be asked to submit an application, a petition from at least 50 members; and a brief memo describing the proposed interest group’s location and significance within the discipline, the types of activities envisioned for the new interest group, and how these activities would contribute and relate to the larger intellectual and professional goals of the Association. Once organized and approved by Council, the interest groups will be able to set dues that they can use to support and sponsor activities in their area of interest.

Anyone interested in learning more about interest groups or the application process should contact Assistant Director Robert B. Townsend, staff to the AHA’s Committee on Affiliated Societies and Interest Groups.

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March 12, 2010

Grant of the Week: Rear Admiral John D. Hayes Pre-Doctoral Fellowship

The Naval History and Heritage Command, Department of the Navy, is offering the Rear Admiral John D. Hayes Pre-Doctoral Fellowship in U.S. naval history for the academic year 2010-11, in the amount of $10,000. The fellowship is named in honor of Rear Admiral John D. Hayes, USN, for his enthusiastic encouragement of naval scholars and his own significant contributions to the field. The Naval History and Heritage Command will provide financial and scholarly aid for dissertation research and writing. The subject matter of dissertations supported should significantly enhance knowledge of U.S. naval history. For information, qualifications, and application form see the Rear Admiral John D. Hayes Pre-Doctoral Fellowship page. Application deadline is March 31, 2010.

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March 11, 2010

What We’re Reading: March 11, 2010 Edition

Women With Wings in WWIIIn the news this week, former AHA president Jonathan Spence will give this year’s Jefferson Lecture in the Humanities. Also newsworthy, a closer look at the new College and University Professional Association for Human Resources (CUPA-HR) report, which we noted on the AHA blog Tuesday. We bring you four articles on publishing, discussing form, blogs, and publishers as gatekeepers. To continue to celebrate Women’s History Month we present four women’s history articles. Learn about women’s history blogs, events this month, and see fascinating photos of women in history. Two links to history audio and walking tours also make it into WWR this week,  one on U Street in Washington, D.C. and the other on North Carolina State University. Finally, we finish off with the history of the Census, Popular Science archives, the Toronto Museum Project, an origin of a simile, and a look at jobs of “yesteryear.”

News

Publishing

Women’s History

Tours

More

Contributors: David Darlington, Elisabeth Grant, Vernon Horn, Jessica Pritchard, and Robert B. Townsend

Comment

March 10, 2010

Perspectives on History – March 2010

By Elisabeth Grant

Perspectives on History - March 2010In the March issue of Perspectives on History hear from AHA President Barbara D. Metcalf as she considers views of Lincoln in India in “Anniversary Anecdotes and Contesting Clichés “ and Executive Director Arnita A. Jones as she presents “The Education of Historians for the Twenty-First Century Revisited.” This issue also addresses topics on writing history, using film and alternative methods in the classroom, the 124th annual meeting, and assorted news. Read on for more.

Writing History
Continuing with our “Art of History” series, Dipesh Chakrabarty follows Lynn Hunt’s well received article “How Writing Leads to Thinking (and not the other way around)” with “Crafting Histories: For Whom Does One Write?” in which he considers how one writes for a wider audience. Russell Olwell addresses the same topic, but focuses in on specifically targeting one’s writing for young adults in “Reaching a Broader Audience: History Writing for the Young Adult Market.”

In the Classroom
Another series, “Masters at the Movies,” marches on with Philippa Levine’s article on “The Trouble with Film.” But first read Robert Brent Toplin’s introduction, “Take 13: Philippa Levine on the Trouble with Film,” where he sets the stage. Levine, he says, “challenges us to confront fundamental questions about the value of dramatic cinema for thinking about history.”

While incorporating film is one approach to teaching, Ralph Young offers another in “Teaching History Sixties Style at Temple University.” In his article Young presents his experiences of incorporating “teach-ins” to the “Dissent in America” class that he taught. His teach-ins were not only valuable to his students but also “highlighted how important historical literacy is for all citizens.” Once you’ve read his article be sure to check out his Dissent in America Teach-In Facebook page.

124th Annual Meeting
Revisit some topics from the 124th Annual Meeting this past January with “Some Retrospective Snapshots,” “ Festival of Films at the 124th Annual Meeting” by Chris Hale, and Sharon K. Tune’s compilation of “Awards and Honors “ from the meeting.

AHA News
A number of timely articles make up this issue, including Robert B. Townsend’s analysis, “Putting Academic History in Context: A Survey of Humanities Departments.” Read also the news that “AHA Joins Call for Fair and Equitable Treatment of All Faculty.” In other AHA news, a list of new Council and committee officers, Council decisions from this past January, and a nod to last year’s donors to the AHA. We also recognize the passing of J. Carroll Moody.

Other News
From Lee White and the National Coalition for history comes the article, “Cuts Proposed for History-Related Programs in Federal Budget for Fiscal 2011.” The National History Center also contributes with a note about their “Participants Selected for Summer 2010 Seminar on Decolonization.” And finally, read Rick Kennedy’s write-up on the Conference on Faith and History, an affiliate of the AHA.

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March 09, 2010

New Salary Report Shows Little Growth in History

By Robert B. Townsend

Average salaries 2009-2010Average faculty salaries in history were essentially unchanged from the previous year, as average salaries for regular full-time faculty at most ranks grew by less than one percent. This represents the smallest average increase in salaries for historians in 15 years.

The findings are included in the results of the 2009–10 salary survey from the College and University Personnel Association—HR (CUPA—HR). The report shows an increase of 0.5 percent in the average salary for full professors in history (to $82,354), a 0.8 percent increase for associate professors (to $62,630), and a 0.6 percent increase for assistant professors (to $51,733).

Contrary to what one might expect, given the problems on the current job market for new history PhDs, the one area to show appreciable growth was in the average salary for newly hired assistant professors. The survey found an increase of 2.3 percent (to $50,649) in the average salary paid to new junior faculty in the discipline.

The staff at CUPA—HR note that any upward growth can be seen as positive at a time when the Consumer Price Index for the past year was negative (indicating the costs of goods and services fell by 0.4 percent). But many historians are undoubtedly wondering where these gains are occurring in the midst of widespread salary freezes and furloughs. Their survey confirms that almost one-third of all faculty members in continuing positions saw a decline in their salaries, though they do not provide a specific estimate for historians.

The results of the survey, including the differences between public and private institutions and the evidence of underlying hiring trends, will be discussed in greater detail in the next issue of Perspectives on History.

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March 08, 2010

Online Oral History Projects, Part IV

By Jessica Pritchard

Studs Terkel - Conversations with AmericaWe have recently been rounding up online oral history projects on AHA Today, rediscovering projects we’ve posted about before as well as unearthing new resources. Catch up with part one, part two, and part three. The site we feature below was so rich with content that it merited its to set it up as its own post.

Studs Terkel: Conversations with America
The late Studs Terkel was a jack-of-all-trades, once serving as “a playwright, a radio news commentator, a sportscaster, a film narrator, a jazz columnist, a disc jockey, and a musical festival host,” but he is most notably known for his role as a radio network personality with impeccable skill to get people to open up and share their raw stories, which eventually earned him a Pulitzer Prize. The site organizes hundreds of Terkel’s recordings around the book in which they were published (descriptions taken from site with minor adjustments):


The Studs Terkel Program: Terkel’s WFMT radio program in Chicago enabled him to explore civic interests and the arts, and to make important connections between the past, the present, and the future.

Division Street: America (23 records): Division Street: America is Studs Terkel’s look at twentieth century urban life in and around Chicago.

Hard Times (71 records): Terkel interviewed hundreds of people across the United States for his book on the Great Depression of the 1930s. In 1973, he selected several interviews that were included in his book to be broadcast in eleven parts on the Studs Terkel Program on WFMT radio. This gallery includes the interviews in those programs.

The Good War (33 records): In The Good War Terkel presents the good, the bad, and the ugly memories of World War II from a perspective of 40 years of after the events.

Race (112 records): For this book Terkel interviewed a cross-section of Americans about their views on race. Though many interviews center in Chicago, people discuss experiences growing up in various locations, their migration experiences from the southern United States, and how they understood racial changes at different points in their lives.

Talking to Myself (10 records): In Talking to Myself, Studs Terkel recounts some of the formative and entertaining incidents from his own life. He was a University of Chicago Law School graduate (1934), a civil service employee, a stage, radio, and movie actor, playwright, jazz columnist, disc jockey, panel moderator, lecturer, film narrator, music festival host, radio news commentator and sportscaster, network personality ("Studs’ Place," "The Great American Dream Machine"), and Pulitzer Prize-winning author. For more than 40 years he was heard on Chicago’s fine arts radio station WFMT; where each morning he hosted "The Studs Terkel Show."

Greatest Hits (5 records): A collection of Studs Terkel’s most memorable recordings selected by the author.

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March 05, 2010

Grant of the Week: Scholarly Research Fellowships from the Kentucky Historical Society

The Kentucky Historical Society (KHS) annually awards approximately ten scholarly research fellowships, which usually range from $250 to $1,000. Scholarly research fellowships support visits to the KHS history campus throughout the year they are awarded and are designed to assist researchers with travel and living expenses while using the KHS research collections. Applications are judged on the merits of the proposed research and the extent to which the judges believe that research can be advanced through use of collections at KHS. The deadline for applications is April 1, 2010. For more information and instructions on how to apply see the research fellowships page on the Kentucky Historical Society’s web site.

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March 04, 2010

What We’re Reading: March 4, 2010 Edition

Women's History Month - Edsitement ResourcesIn the news this week, congratulations to Gordon S. Wood on winning the New-York Historical Society’s American History Book Prize. Also, read about a new Pew Internet and American Life Project on media use. Under the theme of history online, hear about the challenges of a history archive, the risk of losing digital materials, and two articles on Google Books (a German take and French one). We also bring you two articles on history months as well as the discovery of a long lost Descartes letter.  And finally, just for fun, a new look at Abraham Lincoln…and vampires.

News

History Online

Google Books

History Months

More

For Fun

Contributors: David Darlington, Elisabeth Grant, and Robert B. Townsend

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March 03, 2010

New Survey of Humanities Departments Puts History in Context

By Robert B. Townsend

Demographics of historyBefore the present economic crisis, history departments were hiring more tenure-track faculty than they were losing by attrition, and they were conferring tenure on their faculty at a much higher rate than counterparts in other humanities fields.

These are some of the key findings of interest to historians in a just-released 2007-08 survey of departments in eight humanities disciplines by the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (AAAS). The survey was conducted by staff at the American Institute of Physics as part of the AAAS Humanities Indicators Project, and includes comparative data collected from English, foreign languages, history, history of science, art history, linguistics, and religion departments at approximately 1,400 colleges and universities.

The study provides the first comparative evidence on these programs in four years; offering a snapshot of the relative numbers of departments, faculty, and students in the different disciplines as well as some useful indicators of the ebb and flow of hiring and awarding of tenure in these departments.

The new study will be the subject of a more comprehensive article in the March issue of Perspectives on History and in an article (PDF) on the survey web site.

But some of the findings for historians include:

The larger Humanities Indicators project, of which this is just a small part, provides the most comprehensive overview available of students, faculty, and activity in those disciplines. Modeled after the National Science Board’s Science and Engineering Indicators, the Humanities Indicators serve as a resource to help scholars, policymakers, and the public assess the current state of the humanities.

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March 02, 2010

Name that Decade – Voting

On November 29th of last year we asked AHA members and the public to name the decade, “offer[ing] their suggestions…for a catchy phrase that can wittily sum up the decade.” Ideas were submitted through the comment section on the blog post, and we are now presenting them to you to vote on.  See the November 29th blog post for longer explanations of these names and vote now for your favorite (in order of submission).

Update: The results are in!

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March 01, 2010

Member News Wanted

The Members column, which is published in Perspectives on History as space permits, is designed to recognize and honor the accomplishments of AHA members. News of recent hires, promotions, publications, fellowships or awards received, and other news of a professional nature are welcomed. Entries will be published in alphabetical order by name. To submit an entry, please send your name (and affiliation, if applicable) and news to David Darlington, Associate Editor, AHA, 400 A Street, SE, Washington, DC 20003-3889.

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February 26, 2010

Grant of the Week: John Phillip Reid Book Award for Anglo-American Legal History

The American Society for Legal History offers the John Phillip Reid Book Award, an annual award for the best monograph that is not the author’s first book, published in English in any of the fields defined broadly as Anglo-American legal history. The award is given on the recommendation of the society’s John Philip Reid Award Committee. For the 2010 award, the committee will accept nominations from authors, presses, or anyone else, of any book that bears a copyright date in 2009. Nominations for the prize should include a curriculum vitae of the author and be submitted by May 28, 2010. For more information on this award and instructions on how to apply see the John Phillip Reid Book Award page.

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February 25, 2010

What We’re Reading: February 25, 2010 Edition

C-SPAN footage Reflections on Proposition 8Though the 124th Annual Meeting concluded over a month ago, C-SPAN has only just aired footage of the “Reflections on Proposition 8” session, now available for viewing online. In other news, the LA Times has released the names of finalists for their book prize. This list includes three AHA members. Also check out links to a new task force report on graduate and professional education, the obituary of Jack Pole, the ICA statement on Haiti, and controversy around a new JFK series from the History Channel. For teachers we mention two articles: one on the positives of teaching at a community college and another on a lesson plan on the Olympics. Finally, peruse photo tampering through history, check out a newly discovered ancient temple in Turkey, visit the Black History Trail in Tuskegee, Alabama (without leaving your house), and see a history of International Women’s Day.

News

Teaching

More

Contributors: David Darlington, Elisabeth Grant, Vernon Horn, Arnita Jones, Jessica Pritchard, and Robert B. Townsend.

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February 24, 2010

History of Medicine

By Elisabeth Grant

History of Medicine Division at the National Library of MedicineThe National Library of Medicine’s History of Medicine Division “collects, preserves, interprets, and presents materials documenting the history of medicine, biomedical science, health and disease in all time periods and cultures.” On their web site you’ll find links to historical collections (and how to use them), exhibitions (traveling exhibitions, online exhibitions, and digital projects), and pages especially for first time visitors, scholars and historians, image and film researchers, and teachers and students.

Much of the National Library of Medicine’s historical collections must be accessed through the History of Medicine Reading Room (often after submitting a request through the LocatorPlus library catalog), including tens of thousands of books, hundreds of manuscripts, and thousands of films.

But before you make the trip, check out the immense digital collections, online syllabi, and digitized images available on the NLM History of Medicine site.

Digital Collections
The Digital Collections of the History of Medicine Division pull selected materials from the complete NLM collection to explore a topic. Here are just a few of the collections available online.

Greek Medicine – Learn about Greek medicine “from the Gods to Galen” and how it laid the foundation for modern medicine. The text in this section of the site is complemented by digitized images of paintings, sculptures, and documents.

Greek Medicine

Islamic Medical Manuscripts – Explore “Islamic medicine and science during the Middle Ages and the important role it played in the history of Europe.” Within this section view the Catalogue for to explore various topics and their related images. For example, Natural History, Prophetic Medicine, Veterinary Medicine.

Islamic Manuscripts

Historical Anatomies on the Web – This digital project incorporates a selection of many images from the NLM’s collections chosen for “their historical and artistic significance, with priority placed upon the earliest and/or the best edition of a work in NLM’s possession.” Browse all the titles offered.

Historical Anatomies on the Web

Online Syllabus Archive
Teachers may be especially interested in the History of Medicine: Online Syllabus Archive. This archive contains “college and university syllabi in the history of medicine, public health, the biomedical sciences, nursing, and related areas.” Search by professors, titles, institutions, and subjects. Topics covered include (the following links are to PDFs) “The History of Objectivity in Medicine,” “Asian Medical History,” “Epidemics and Economic and Social History: From the Black Death to the Present,” to name a few.

History of Medicine Online Syllabus Archive

Images from the History of Medicine
The Images from the History of Medicine (IHM) database is so extensive it really deserves its own blog post (and we may revisit it more thoroughly in the future). Browse 70,000 images, including “portraits, photographs, caricatures, genre scenes, posters, and graphic art illustrating the social and historical aspects of medicine dated from the 15th to 21st century.”

Images from the History of Medicine database

This post has only scratched the surface of what’s available on the National Library of Medicine’s History of Medicine Division web site. Visit and find out for yourself all the site has to offer.

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