A fountain pouring blood instead of wine. A blood-red moon and blood raining from the sky. The capture of a fish that looks like a lion. What do these unsettling events portend? The answers can be found in a compilation of early modern religious propaganda by the German preacher Heinrich Oraeus (1584-1646). Oraeus was a [Read more]
Send your science-loving sweetie a valentine from Becker Archives and Rare Books!
As the United States and the Soviet Union vied for global dominance during the Cold War, they also engaged in scientific and technical exchanges—including in the fields of health and medicine. These exchanges ranged from informal delegations to state-sponsored visits, and they often included scientists affiliated with universities and hospitals. Read more about how Washington [Read more]
Archivists, Rare Books Librarians, and Library IT staff have been hard at work revamping our digital exhibition space. Some of our older exhibits have been migrated to the new platform, Omeka S, and others have been given a bit of a refresh. And now that the archivists and librarians have spent some time familiarizing themselves [Read more]
Reproductive rights in America are constantly changing. But how did we get here? Historical context can help us understand our current moment and even possible futures. Becker Library has a variety of historic materials that shed light on the history of reproductive rights at WashU and in St. Louis.
When discussing medical history, it is common for narratives to focus predominantly on Europe and America — yet doing so misses large, rich parts of medical history. Spotlight on East Asia was a two-day speaker series focusing on medical history in East Asia (specifically China, Japan, and Korea), and was hosted by Becker Medical Library [Read more]
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]
Have you ever stumbled upon one of our collections that just looks a little too…sparse on the details? This post aims to discuss what happens when you find a collection that hasn’t been described in detail yet, like the Albert Fuller Papers pictured to the right. If you have spent time looking through the Becker [Read more]
What does multiple awards-winning video game Baldur’s Gate 3 have in common with Becker Medical Library’s rare books collections? In Baldur’s Gate, players can collect plants and monster parts, which are then refined and used in potions that give special effects in the game. This mechanic mirrors the real-life practice of gathering plants and animal [Read more]
If you hear the word dracunculus in a vacuum, chances are you’ll think of dragons. The frontispiece to the 1674 edition of Georg Hieronymus Welsch’s Exercitatio de Vena Medinensi certainly supports that association. Sitting next to the two Greco-Roman deities Diana and Mercury (identifiable by their shield and staff, respectively) is a dragon, which acts [Read more]