Archives and Rare Books

One building with two different names

McMillan, as it is frequently referred to by most campus employees, is a massive 14-story tower with distinctive orange bricks and a terracotta roof that has served as one of the most iconic and recognizable buildings at the WashU medical campus for nearly 100 years. Curiously, the building features two different main entryways, each with  [Read more]

Archives and Rare Books

Did you know there used to be a Barnes medical school in St. Louis?

When St. Louisans hear the name Barnes today, the century-old Barnes Hospital (now Barnes-Jewish Hospital) on Washington University’s medical campus might come to mind.  But, before Barnes Hospital came into existence in 1914, St. Louisans would have known Barnes to be the largest medical school in downtown St. Louis. 

Archives and Rare Books

Bob Hope’s Cookbook Fundraiser for St. Louis Children’s Hospital

The famous actor and comedian Bob Hope raised money for St. Louis Children’s Hospital throughout his career.  On numerous occasions throughout the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s, he visited with patients, served as the host at Children’s Hospital fundraisers, and organized several celebrity golf tournaments in St. Louis — with all benefits going to the hospital.   [Read more]

Archives and Rare Books

Comprehensive index to WU medical center publications now available to researchers

  An extensive index to Washington University Medical Center publications is now available via the Becker Archives. This new resource consists of nearly 7,000 index headings for faculty, staff, departments, programs and events related to the School of Medicine and its affiliated hospitals. Collectively, the headings point to over 35,000 unique citations in medical center  [Read more]

Archives and Rare Books

Becker Archives acquires Jerome Cox papers, documenting medical computing at WashU

The Becker Archives has acquired the collected papers of Dr. Jerry Cox (1925-2023), who founded the Biomedical Computer Laboratory at the Washington University School of Medicine in 1964. This impressive acquisition comprehensively documents his four-decade career at the university, which included pioneering research and developments in biomedical computing, PET scanning, and computer technology applications in healthcare.   [Read more]

Archives and Rare Books

Joseph Nash McDowell, the St. Louis legend

Dr. Joseph Nash McDowell, featured in the portrait below, was born in Lexington, Kentucky in 1805 and he received a medical degree from Transylvania University in 1825. Prior to moving to St. Louis in 1839 with the intention of founding his own medical school, McDowell served as an anatomy professor at the Jefferson Medical College in  [Read more]

Archives and Rare Books

Wonderfully weird 2022 calendars from 1898 originals now available

The wonderfully weird Antikamnia calendars, published between 1897 and 1901 by the Antikamnia Chemical Company of St. Louis, feature colorful skeletons in humorous or whimsical scenes. This year, we are re-printing the 1898 calendar from Becker Library’s archival collections in the form of a 2022 calendar. The reproduction comes from the 1898 calendar because the  [Read more]

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