Author: Martha Riley

Archives and Rare Books

In his own words: Philip M. Stimson, MD Assistant Resident at St. Louis Children’s Hospital, 1916-1917

By — July 11, 2017

This week, as we welcomed new residents to the Medical Center, we discovered a letter in the Archives and Rare Books Division that was written by a resident 101 years ago. The resident, Philip Moen Stimson, MD, went on to a distinguished career as a pediatrician renowned for his research in infectious disease. Becker Library has three  [Read more]

Archives and Rare Books

An Army Nurse Sounds Off on Basic Training and the OR, 1944

By — May 3, 2017

Lola Mae Baird Mathews was an operating room supervisor at Barnes Hospital from 1939-1943. In 1943, her last summer at Barnes Hospital, she worked hard at a course in chemistry at Washington University in St. Louis, because she wanted to earn a degree. Still, it seems her considerable knowledge failed to earn her the respect  [Read more]

Archives and Rare Books

Phrenology exemplified and illustrated or Scraps no. 7 by D.C. Johnston, Boston, 1837

By — August 31, 2016

Phrenology has many definitions in the Oxford English Dictionary.  My favorite is:

The theory that the mental powers or characteristics of an individual consist of separate faculties, each of which has its location in an organ found in a definite region of the surface of the brain, the size or development of which is commensurate with the development of the particular faculty; the study of the external conformation of the cranium as an index to the position and degree of development of the various faculties. (Phrenology, Oxford English Dictionary c 2016)

Archives and Rare Books

Publications by Cécile and Oskar Vogt and letters by Oskar Vogt now available in the Bernard Becker Medical Library

By — May 31, 2016

Archives and Rare Books

In her own words: Caroline Whitney

By — March 31, 2016

Dear Sir: – Before I left St. Louis last Spring, I spoke to you about certain aspirations of mine towards a Fellowship with the National Research Council. You may not remember the conversation, but I am taking advantage of your offer to help me if I should need advice.

Archives and Rare Books

William R. Gowers: clinical neurologist and artist

By — January 31, 2016

William R. Gowers (1845-1915) died 101 years ago.  I was first introduced to Gowers by an American Academy of Neurology fellow who requested many editions of his Manual of diseases of the nervous system. I continue to be amazed that he could capture so much of neurological signs and symptoms in line drawings.

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