Exhibits
John Martin Rare Book Room Open House
Thursday, March 22
5-8pm
Now in the 200th year since its publication, Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, or, The Modern Prometheus continues to raise questions about humanity, scientific ethics, and the place of the monster in our imaginations.
The March, 2013 John Martin Rare Book Room open house featured books and art on The Plague.
Alice M. Phillips edited the original exhibit materials and designed an online exhibit: The Black Death.
Hardin Library is examining medicine through the eyes of William Shakespeare this month.
Currently on display on Hardin’s 3rd floor is the National Library of Medicine traveling exhibit, “And There’s the Humor of It:” Shakespeare and the Four Humors. In 16th century England, four bodily humors were thought to influence physical and mental health. Four temperaments – sanguine, choleric, melancholic, and phlegmatic – were equated with the four humors – blood, bile (or yellow bile), melancholy (or black bile), and blood. The exhibit explores the four humors as they appear in Shakespeare’s Hamlet, The Merchant of Venice, and The Taming of the Shrew. More information on the exhibit can be found online.
A presentation exploring the humors, Attracted to Ill Humors, or What Hope for Shakespeare’s Cachexic Couples?, will be hosted by the History of Medicine Society on May 18th, at 5:30 pm in MERF Room 2117. Kirilka Stavrena, Professor of English at Cornell College, will explore the relationships of Hamlet and Ophelia from Hamlet and Katherina and Petruchio from The Taming of the Shrew.
Also on display on Hardin’s 3rd floor is an exhibit highlighting books from Shakespeare’s era that can be found in the John Martin Rare Book Room. Early Modern England: Medicine, Shakespeare, and Books features examples of common medical beliefs of the time, including the humors, herbals, and “monsters.”
A timeline of medical history shows that the 1555 2nd edition of Vesalius’s De humani corporis fabrica was published just nine years before Shakespeare’s birth, and that Harvey’s discovery of blood circulation occurred in 1628, after Shakespeare’s death in 1616. The exhibit also describes doctors found in Shakespeare’s plays and scientists who were his contemporaries. This exhibit was prepared by John Martin Rare Book Room Curator Donna Hirst, with assistance by Rare Book Room student assistant Caroline Hogan.
If you would like to read more about Shakespeare and the humors, the National Library of Medicine’s History of Medicine Division has posted a list of readings at https://www.nlm.nih.gov/exhibition/shakespeare/education/additionalresources/index.html.
The University of Iowa History of Medicine Society and the University Libraries invite you to the annual open house in the John Martin Rare Book Room.
Early Modern England: Medicine, Shakespeare & Books
Thursday, March 23, 2017, 4pm-7pm
John Martin Rare Book Room, 4th Floor, Hardin Library for the Health Sciences
37 books from 1531 to 1697 will be on display highlighting general medical beliefs, herbals, monsters, poisons and cures. The books will also feature Shakespeare’s contemporaries and doctors in Shakespeare’s plays.
Donate to the Hardin Library. Donate to the UI History of Medicine Society.
Directions to Hardin Library.
Limited metered parking available behind library. Newton Road Parking Ramp 1 block away.
Cambus: take Pentacrest route to VA Loop or Newton Road Ramp stops.
Individuals with disabilities are encouraged to attend all University of Iowa-sponsored events. If you are a person with a disability who requires a reasonable accommodation in order to participate in this program please call Janna Lawrence at 319-335-9871.
University of Iowa Libraries’ Gallery will host the only stop in the state of Iowa for First Folio! The Book that Gave Us Shakespeare, a national traveling exhibition of the Shakespeare First Folio.
First Folio will be on display at the Main Library Gallery from August 29 through September 25, 2016. Location and hours
Many events are scheduled throughout both the campus and community in celebration of the event. Complete information available online.
Organized by the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, DC to commemorate the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death, the tour is produced in association with Cincinnati Museum Center and the American Library Association. First Folio! The Book that Gave Us Shakespeare offers a rare glimpse of the Shakespeare First Folio, one of the world’s most significant books, as it visits all 50 states, Washington, DC, and Puerto Rico.
Many of Shakespeare’s plays were not published during his lifetime. The First Folio is the first collected edition of Shakespeare’s plays. It was published in 1623, seven years after Shakespeare’s death. Two of Shakespeare’s fellow actors compiled 36 of his plays, hoping to preserve them for future generations. Without it, we would not have 18 of Shakespeare’s plays, including Macbeth, Julius Caesar, Twelfth Night, The Tempest, Antony and Cleopatra, The Comedy of Errors, and As You Like It. All 18 appear for the first time in print in the First Folio.
Pictures of Nursing: The Zwerdling Postcard Collection is now on exhibit at Hardin Library. The exhibit explores a 2,588 postcard archive spanning over 100 years. Images of nursing and the nursing profession around the world have been frequent subjects of postcards.
Postcards are influenced by popular ideas and social and culture life, as well as fashion. These images of nurses and nursing are informed by cultural values; ideas about women, men, and work; and attitudes toward class, race, and national differences. By documenting the relationship of nursing to significant forces in 20th-century life, such as war and disease, these postcards reveal how nursing was seen during those times.
500 additional postcards may be viewed online.
This exhibition was developed and produced by the National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health.
The UI Libraries is pleased to host Nicholas Meyer, who will make an appearance as a guest speaker in conjunction with the Main Library Gallery exhibition 50 Years of Star Trek.
Meyer, who is an alumnus of the University of Iowa, directed the movie Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982) and contributed to the shooting script for that film (uncredited). He wrote portions of the screenplay for Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986) and went on to direct Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (1991), for which he also co-wrote the screenplay.
A long-time Sherlockian, Meyer’s writing prowess led to a best-selling novel, The Seven-Per-Cent Solution: Being a Reprint from the Reminiscences of John H. Watson, M.D. The novel, crafted by Meyer in a style faithful to the original series, follows Holmes through cocaine addiction and recovery. Meyer received an Oscar nomination for his screenplay of the novel.
Meyer will deliver a brief talk, titled The Last Man To Understand Anything. There will be a Q&A session afterward.
The event is free and open to the public. RSVPs are appreciated. http://bit.ly/UI-LIB-Meyer
Visit the annual Open House in the John Martin Rare Book Room at Hardin Library on Thursday, March 31 from 4-7pm.
34 books will be on display, with a focus on medical innovations from 1527-1936.
For more information on the History of Medicine Society, or to donate, please see: http://hosted.lib.uiowa.edu/histmed/index.html
Open House 2016 Innovators Bibliography
Hardin Library is currently hosting the National Library of Medicine (NLM) exhibit, “Pick Your Poison: Intoxicating Pleasures & Medical Prescriptions.” The traveling exhibition, consisting of six large banners, was produced by NLM in cooperation with the National Museum of American History and will be on display on Hardin’s third floor through December 23rd.
“Pick Your Poison” explores the social and medicinal history of mind-altering drugs in America and explores the shifts in opinion over the years. Substances explored include tobacco, alcohol, opium, cocaine, and marijuana. Stop by Hardin any time the library is open to see the exhibit.
For additional information, including online versions of related medical books, see The National Library of Medicine’s online exhibit.
How do I get there? Take Pentacrest Cambus to the VA Loop Stop. The library is just up the hill.
This exhibit highlights items from the John Martin Rare Book Room at the Hardin Library for the Health Sciences.
The exhibit addresses antiquity, medical perspectives, innovations, pioneers, and notable books.