Hardin News

The John Martin Rare Book Room will hold its annual open house on Thursday, May 15 from 4:30 to 7:30.

The exhibit, “’No Small Presumption’–Surgical Works From Six Centuries,” will feature rare books from the earliest days of surgery through the twentieth century. Although chloroform and ether were not widely used before the second half of the 19th century, a surprising number of surgical procedures were employed hundreds and even thousands of years ago, including operations for cataracts, bullet removal, hernias, club foot, and bladder stones. The open house will allow visitors to view and page through the early texts and illustrations used by surgeons for instruction and guidance.

Of special interest are the woodcuts and engravings of the elaborate and sometimes quite modern instruments developed over the centuries for specific tasks, including drills, scalpels, and saws designed with speed and efficiency in mind. Important early works in anesthetics and antisepsis will also be featured.

The exhibit is part of a series of public lectures and presentation sponsored by the University of Iowa History of Medicine Society.

The John Martin Rare Book Room is located on the fourth floor of the Hardin Library for the Health Sciences. For additional information, please contact Ed Holtum, Curator at 335-9154.

*This event is open to the public.

Don’t forget to stop by Hardin’s newest exhibit, Simple Medicines, located near the 3rd floor doors of the Hardin Library. The display on herbs and herbal medicinal treatments spotlights the work of French scholar Matthaeus Platearius (d. 1161).

The lustrous images in this exhibit have been copied from a facsimile of a remarkable manuscript published in the last part of the 15th century, Le livre des simples médecines (The book of simple medicines). The original manuscript is housed in the Russian National Library at St. Petersburg [Barcelona: M. Moleiro, 2000].

Beginning around the 11th century, European scholars began translations of ancient Greek works, using as their sources, Arabic translations that were preserved during the Middle Ages by Islamic scholars. One of the most important of these translations (De medicinis simplicibus (“On simple medicines”) was completed in the mid 12th century by Matthaeus Platearius (d. 1161), a physician from Salerno, Italy, an important translation center.

Platearius’ text found its way into numerous manuscripts but none as beautiful as the codex produced for Count Charles of Angoulême and his wife Louise of Savoy. Most of the text is taken from Platearius’ French translation with additional material from later writers. The text includes sections on herbs and flowers, trees, metals & minerals, and animal products. It is followed by a magnificent 116 page atlas depicting “simples” – plants used in treating diseases. The striking artistry was probably the work of Robinet Testard (fl 1475–1523), the French illustrator and illuminator.

Of interest, too, are the written annotations added by two physicians who insert Latin and Greek names for many of the plants and who provide additional commentary.

Thursday, October 18, 2007, 4:00 – 7:00 p.m.
Begins at Sahai Auditorium room 110A, Medical Education & Research Facility (map), then moves to Hardin Library for the Health Sciences.
Join us as we celebrate the opening of the traveling exhibit from the National Library of Medicine, Changing the Face of Medicine.

U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Chief of Staff and UI College of Pharmacy alumna Susan Winckler, and Professor and Head of the UI Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology Jennifer Niebyl, M.D. will speak about the changing role of women in health care. Winckler was recognized in 2003 as a UI Distinguished Alumni Winner. Niebyl was honored as a “Local Legend” by the American Medical Women’s Association (AMWA). 

Women doctors are the focus of a new traveling exhibition on display at the Hardin Library for the Health Sciences from October 11 through November 30.

Changing the Face of Medicine: Celebrating America’s Women Physicians tells the extraordinary story of how American women who wanted to practice medicine have struggled over the past two centuries to gain access to medical education and to work in the medical specialty they chose. The University of Iowa Libraries is one of only 60 libraries across the country that has been awarded the traveling exhibit from the National Library of Medicine.

Remarkable Women in Health Care is the University Libraries local site for the exhibit.   The site includes a calendar of programs.

The companion lectures to “From Monks to Masters,” an exhibit now being held at the University of Iowa Museum of Art, have been scheduled for broadcast on UITV. One of the presentations by Ed Holtum, “Breaking with Galen,” provides a glimpse at anatomical knowledge and illustration from the era of the manuscript through the first century of printing. The lecture airs tonight at 7:00 and is scheduled for rebroadcast throughout the coming weeks. For a complete schedule of the broadcast lectures, consult the UITV schedule.

NOTE: “History Through Deaf Eyes” will continue through Thursday, February 23^rd .

Well over one hundred attendees showed up Friday afternoon, November 4 for the official opening of the exhibit, “History Through Deaf Eyes” now on display at the Hardin Library.

The touring exhibit, developed by Gallaudet University and sponsored by numerous funding agencies was greeted enthusiastically by attendees from all parts of the country.

Staff from The Iowa School for the Deaf in Council Bluffs supplemented the exhibit with artifacts including photographs and objects relating to the early years of the institution.

The opening ceremony was highlighted by addresses from Dr. Jane K. Fernandes, Provost of Gallaudet and Jack R. Gannon, retired Gallaudet faculty member, and the curator of the project.

The exhibit covers nearly the entire first floor of the library and traces the sometimes controversial history of deafness and deaf education in America through photographs, documents, and multimedia.

Professor Richard Hurtig of the UI Department of Speech Pathology and Audiology was instrumental in procuring the exhibit.

Read the original University of Iowa News Release | Listen to the interview with Dr. Richard Hurtig (posted January 2006) - Listen to MP3 (6.49 MB) or read the transcript

See Also: News@Hardin, January 2006

The struggle of women to become doctors began when Elizabeth Blackwell was accepted to the Medical College of Geneva in New York in the 1840’s. At that time, the idea of a woman physician was a scandal, but through a great deal of determination and hard work, women began to carve out a place for themselves in the M.D.’s world.

The Hardin Library has a new exhibit on display in the third floor exhibit area (by the browsing journals). On loan from National Library of Medicine is a wall display on Elizabeth Blackwell, the first female physician. This display can also be seen online at http://www.nlm.nih.gov/hmd/blackwell/

Accompanying the wall display is a small exhibit on the history of women in medicine in Iowa. The exhibit will be up until the second week of July.

Seducing Women and then Killing Them:
The Targeting of Women by the Tobacco Industry

The tobacco industry has long sought to market its product to consumers. Several advertising campaigns have focused specifically on reaching female customers. An exhibit, created by Natalie Cheung and Christopher Squier from the Dows Institute for Dental Research at the University of Iowa, examines how cigarette manufacturers have attempted to entice women to purchase their products.

The exhibit is located on the third (main) floor of the library near the current display journals.

Personal Digital Assistants in the Health Sciences: An Update

Congratulations to Colby Hansen, Kevin Kampfe, Amanda Flink, and Dr. Nicole Nisly, winners of Hardin Library’s PDA contest held in conjunction with our PDA exhibit in September and October. The following prizes were awarded:

• 1st Place: Pocket Companion to Cecil Textbook of Medicine (valued at $50.00) courtesy of University Book Stores
• 2nd & 3rd Place: One of two laser printing packages (valued at $20.00) provided by the Information Commons
• 4th Place: PDA Stylus Pen (valued at $15.00)

A big thank you to all of you who participated in our survey. The results have been posted on our Web site at http://www.lib.uiowa.edu/hardin/pda_survey_results.html

Hardin Library’s Website, Exhibit, and Contest

A Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) is a simple computer that can literally be held in the palm of your hand. Introduced in the mid 1990’s, PDA’s were used primarily as date and address books. In the ensuing decade, the ways in which these devices have been used has grown exponentially, and many professions, including the health care professions, now embrace them.

The Hardin Library has a new exhibit on display all about PDA’s. Highlighting the development of the PDA and the use of PDA’s in the health professions, the exhibit also provides information on the library’s PDA website. Included on the website is information on hardware, software, and local resources for PDA use. To promote both the exhibit and the website, the library is offering a contest. By simply going to our PDA website and answering a few simple questions about your PDA use, you can enter to win one of four prizes:

• 1st Place: Pocket Companion to Cecil Textbook of Medicine (valued at $50.00) courtesy of University Book Stores
• 2nd & 3rd Place: One of two laser printing packages (valued at $20.00) provided by the Information Commons
• 4th Place: PDA Stylus Pen (valued at $15.00)

Please stop in to enjoy the exhibit, and check out the website at: http://ww.lib.uiowa.edu/hardin/pda_index.html