Chances are you’re familiar with the phrase “A picture is worth a thousand words.” While this maxim originated with an American advertising firm in the 1920s, it is certainly applicable to images produced in early modern Europe. Many of the illustrative elements in books were meant to convey meanings on multiple levels. Elaborate title pages [Read more]
The Becker Archives is pleased to announce that an index of the Max A. Goldstein Collection of Scientific Articles on Otorhinolaryngology is now available on the Becker Archives Database. This collection features more than ten thousand scientific articles on subjects related to the study and practice of ear, nose, and throat medicine. The articles were [Read more]
In 2024 Violet Mae Doolin (later Schroeder by marriage), donated a collection of letters she wrote while attending the Washington University School of Nursing in the 1940s.
If you’ve ever accessed your electronic health records (EHR), there’s a good chance you’ve encountered MUMPS—the Massachusetts General Hospital Utility Multi-Programming System, that is, not the vaccine-preventable disease. Originally designed in the late 1960s specifically for building medical databases, MUMPS and its descendants continue to form the basis of the EHR software used by many [Read more]
Bernard Becker Medical Library is fortunate to have robust collections in archives and rare books that document the history of medicine from the late 15th century up to the present. Subjects in which the library’s holdings are particularly strong include ophthalmology and optics, neurology, deaf education and the history of dentistry. To encourage researchers living [Read more]
Today, hearing aids are small enough to sit behind your ear or slip in your ear canal, but they weren’t always so diminutive or discreet. If you used a hearing aid in the 1930s and 1940s, you wouldn’t just have a receiver in your ear—that receiver would be connected to two bulky units: one piece [Read more]
The Becker Archives is pleased to announce the acquisition of over 3,500 historical postcards featuring current and former hospitals in the St. Louis and American Midwest geographical area. This incredible collection was donated to the Becker Archives by Dr. Hilton I. Price, a long-time postcard enthusiast and BJC HealthCare radiologist who was associated with Christian Hospital [Read more]
The Washington University School of Medicine Oral Histories can now be found at the Digital Commons@Becker, the institutional repository managed by the Bernard Becker Medical Library.
In April 2025, the Center for Health and Science Communication at Becker Library hosted a #SciComm Seminar titled “Communicating Effectively with Policymakers.” Ross C. Brownson, Steven H. and Susan U. Lipstein Distinguished Professor of Public Health, presented a basic communication model and discussed its application to communicating evidence-based public health knowledge with local, state, and [Read more]
For the past several years, the Center for the History of Medicine has sponsored a week-long trip abroad for students with an interest in medical history. While the first iterations of this program were offered for Phase I students, this year marks the first time it was incorporated into an elective for Phase III students. [Read more]