Many of the items in our rare book collections feature beautiful illustrations of the human body. While these are often the obvious choices to use in exhibits and highlight on social media, a book does not need to be visually spectacular to be interesting. Some of our most fascinating holdings are small and unassuming in [Read more]
After a great start with Nina Siegal’s “The Anatomy Lesson,” we’re excited to announce that our next book selection will be “Year of Wonders” by Geraldine Brooks. Published in 2001, the novel was inspired by the true story of Eyam, England. “When an infected bolt of cloth carries plague from London to an isolated village, a housemaid [Read more]
Vaccination. The word, coined by Edward Jenner (1749 – 1823) as a combination of the Latin word for cow, “vacca,” and the Latin word for cowpox, “vaccinia,” has carried emotional weight from its inception as a scientific endeavor to control smallpox, an infectious disease. Today, the word “vaccine” likely provokes immediate, charged associations with other words [Read more]
When the United States entered World War I, Base Hospital 21, the medical reserve unit based at the Washington University Medical Center, placed a call for volunteers as the U.S. had yet to institute the draft. There was a great response from the public. In a nation of immigrants, many enthusiastically joined up in support [Read more]
A new historical exhibit titled, “Brain Localization: images and ideas through 500 years,” is on display from June 11 to September 14 on the seventh floor of the Bernard Becker Medical Library.
A very generous donation of archival materials was given to Becker Library in May 2018 consisting of letters, photographs, case reports, and other papers that had belonged to John T. Hodgen, one of the most prominent 19th century physicians in St. Louis.
April is National Poetry Month! That means it’s time for us to venture into the stacks and find examples of one of the most entertaining poetic subgenres: Medical Poetry.
Today, nearly 300 women attend Washington University School of Medicine, making up approximately 50 percent of the student body. One hundred years ago this month, the School of Medicine admitted its first women medical students.
This story is summarized from Valentina Suntzeff’s unpublished autobiography, which can be found in the Valentina Suntzeff Papers in the Bernard Becker Medical Library Archives. Early Life Valentina Davidovna was born in Kazan, Russia on February 28, 1891. Her father was a physician, and he encouraged Valentina to pursue medicine at a young age. When she entered [Read more]
We believe the earliest illustrations of the brain that can be found at Becker Library are in two books in from the 1490s: “Fasciculus medicinae, 1491” (facsimile 1988) and “Philosophia Pauperum (Philosophy for the simple),” 1496.