Author: Philip Skroska

Contact me about:
  1. Permission to publish images from the Becker Archives
  2. Requesting photographs of former School of Medicine faculty and students
  3. The Washington University School of Medicine Oral History Project
  4. General questions about the archival collections at Becker Library
Archives and Rare Books

Helen Tredway Graham, Heinbecker, Ernest Simms “… contributed measurably to Washington University’s reputation for research pre-eminence.”

By — June 11, 2026

The Becker Library exhibit “Compounding Potential – A History of the Neurosciences at WashU” gives a brief historical overview of neuroscience research at Washington University. The exhibit still is on display in the Glaser Gallery on the 7th floor of the Bernard Becker Medical Library for a few more days in June 2026 so it  [Read more]

Archives and Rare Books

A Fine Day : Rediscovering Lives of Perseverance in Archives

By — December 12, 2025

The continued process of digitizing documents and materials in the Bernard Becker Medical Library Archives has made new scans of St. Louis Children’s Hospital publications available in the archives database. These documents shed light on past lives and of turmoil and injustices overcome with perseverance.

Archives and Rare Books

Oppenheimer: Washington University’s connections to an American Prometheus – Part 1

By — April 1, 2024

Christopher Nolan’s Academy Award winning 2023 film Oppenheimer is based on Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin’s 2005 biography of theoretical physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer. The movie cleverly compresses several decades of Oppenheimer’s life around his leadership in building the first atomic bomb and his subsequent political blacklisting during the McCarthy era. Although none are  [Read more]

Archives and Rare Books

“Should Old Acquaintances Be Forgot?”

By — December 15, 2023

What makes a good memory? How about a good meal? For members of the Washington University medical center who served with Base Hospital 21 during the First World War, special dinners were an important part of maintaining morale for the unit’s doctors, nurses, and enlisted men who were often overwhelmed with the wounded soldiers streaming  [Read more]

Archives and Rare Books

The origin story and impact of Queeny Tower

By — June 30, 2021

Becker Medical Library’s visual collection archivist, Philip Skroska, leads a walking tour through time in this brief history of Queeny Tower, a long-time landmark at the Washington University Medical Center, currently being demolished.

Archives and Rare Books

The 75th Anniversary of the End of World War II

By — April 12, 2021

The end of World War II brought elation for some. The staff and patients of the 21st General Hospital, the US Army reserve hospital staffed by members of the Washington University medical community, were almost certainly among those in celebration. The personnel of the 21st had served continuously since 1942 and shared an immense relief  [Read more]

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