For more than a year now, Becker Library has hosted First Fridays @ Becker, a monthly Archives and Rare Books Division open house featuring items from its amazing collections. This has allowed our staff to do one of their favorite things – show people neat stuff. While in-person First Friday monthly events are canceled [Read more]
The following is a guest post from Abbie Schaefer, a student at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville completing an archives practicum at Becker Library. She will graduate in May 2020 with a bachelor’s degree in historical studies and a specialization in applied historical methods, with minors in anthropology and music performance. Her undergraduate research focused on the [Read more]
The novel coronavirus (COVID-19 virus) has been a constant fixture in headlines ever since the first cases appeared in Wuhan, China in late 2019. This is the most widespread disease outbreak that most of us have experienced, but epidemics have always been part of the human experience. One of the most famous diseases to wreak [Read more]
This is the second installment in an ongoing series on Martin Kamen. Read the first installment here. There was every prospect of a brilliant career for me in isotopic tracer methodology, a tool crucial in developments that would eventually usher in the era of molecular biology, bringing with it an understanding of the molecular [Read more]
Happy Valentine’s Day! This year we’ve created four printable Valentine’s Day cards that feature some niche medical library humor. We hope you’ll enjoy them, and maybe even be inspired to send one to your sweetie (or fellow student, office bestie, etc.) Click the images below to open a PDF that you can print. Fold the [Read more]
The close of a decade often triggers retrospective pieces recounting changes over the previous ten years. But in the world of special collections, we tend to look back further. So as we start 2020, we thought it would be fun to take a look back at what the admissions and tuition requirements for the School [Read more]
From Feb. 3-7, 2020, Becker Library will again participate in #ColorOurCollections, a week-long coloring fest on social media organized by libraries, archives and other cultural institutions around the world. Using materials from their collections, these institutions share free coloring content with the hashtag #ColorOurCollections and invite their followers to color and get creative with their [Read more]
When we first begin doing historical research, we start by examining text-based sources. This is especially true in the field of medical history. We want to read old medical texts to learn how our predecessors understood the human body and how this understanding has evolved over the centuries. But the books we hold in special [Read more]
One beloved holiday tradition is sending cards to family and friends – connecting with loved ones when often the weather and a busy season make it difficult to meet personally. The Office of the Dean routinely sent out holiday cards on behalf of Washington University School of Medicine. The following are a few examples from [Read more]
Becker Medical Library’s Archives and Rare Books Division is delighted to announce that it has acquired an exceptional new collection of rare medical texts, generously donated by Patricia Croughan. The collection was assembled by her late husband, Jack Croughan, MD, a former chief resident and assistant professor in the School of Medicine’s Department of Psychiatry. [Read more]