Category Archives: Special Collections

Posts related to any special collections held by any UCL library.

Remembering The University of Cincinnati’s 25th General Hospital of WWII

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Murray Lambert Rich, MD: husband to the former Miss Mabel Burrows and father of
John M. Rich, James B. Rich, and Charles L. Rich.
This photo serves as a link to the blog,
“A Special Visit with Dr. Rich.

By: Nathan Hood

In the summer of 1941, the United States federal government requested that the Cincinnati General Hospital – now a division of the University Hospital – organize the 25th General Hospital. Intended as a military organization similar to the one during WWI by the same name, the project gained momentum after Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. The General Hospital was soon after “ordered into active military service … on June 1, 1943.” The 25th was fully organized by June 10, 1943, at Nichols General Hospital. The General Hospital began with 500 enlisted men, 56 military officers (physicians from the Cincinnati General Hospital), 105 nurses, 3 hospital dietitians, 2 physio-therapists, and 1 warrant officer. The 25th was trained at the Medical Field Service School, Carlisle Barracks, in Pennsylvania. Part of this training required the entire organization (exempting female personal) to complete a 10-day “bivouac” at Ft. Knox, Kentucky, from the 17th to the 26th of July, 1943. Here the 25th was rigorously tested under field conditions.

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THE JEWISH HOSPITAL & CINCINNATI JEWS IN MEDICINE. Frederic Krome’s New Book is Now Available

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9781467118491

This image serves as a link to the
official website for the book.

The Winkler Center is proud to announce the publication of The Jewish Hospital & Cincinnati Jews In Medicine by Dr. Frederic Krome; Dr. Krome is an Associate Professor of History at the UC Clermont campus.

While Dr. Krome utilized many collections on or relating to Jewish Hospital in libraries and archives throughout the Cincinnati area, the bulk of his research and the majority of photographs utilized in the book stemmed from the Winkler Center’s extensive collection.

Also, in 2012, Dr. Krome presented on the history of the medical tradition within the Cincinnati Jewish community at the third annual Cecil Striker Society lecture series; a video of Dr. Krome’s presentation is now streaming through the Winkler Center website and is accessible by clicking on the photograph below.

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Join Us for Lunch and a Film: An Interview with Dr. William A. Altemeier

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Impressions-In-Medicine_AltemeierThe Henry R. Winkler Center for the History of the Health Professions will be hosting the Impressions in Medicine inaugural event, Lunch and a Film: An Interview with Dr. William A. Altemeier and you are invited.

The event will be held from 12:00-1:00 PM on Tuesday, October 27, 2015 in the Stanley J. Lucas Board Room in the Medical Sciences Building (see map below).

We’ll be airing excerpts from one of the more significant oral history interviews from our extensive collection with an introduction by Secretary of the Henry R. Winkler Center Advisory Board, Dr. William Camm, along with a complimentary lunch and a viewing of an exhibit on the history of Cincinnati General Hospital.

Please feel free to pass this invitation on to anyone you know who may be interested in attending the lecture.

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Controversy to Concurrence: The Modern and Current UC Health Holmes Hospital

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By: Nathan Hood

DSCN1137 edited

Christian R. Holmes Hospital,
opened May of 1929.
This photo serves as a link to the Winkler Center blog, “The Origin and Evolution of The Christian R. Holmes Hospital.”

The Christian R. Holmes Hospital opened in May of 1929, but it wasn’t until the University of Cincinnati’s proposal process for a new Holmes Hospital Auxiliary building that any serious controversy arose over the Holmes Hospital’s modern function. As has been enumerated before, from the time of its opening the Holmes Hospital was intended to function as a private institution exclusively utilized by the College of Medicine faculty. The Hospital has long since been converted to an extension of the University Hospital; but its history, even still contentious today, is definitely worth understanding because of its pivotal role in sculpting the University medical institution Cincinnati knows today.

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Two Events in the Elliston Poetry Room This Week

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Claudia Keelan

On Wednesday, September 16th at 4:00 poet, editor, and translator Claudia Keelan will read from and discuss Truth of My Songs: The Poems of the Trobairitz (Omnidawn, 2015), the new anthology of 12th century female troubadours (or “trobairitz”) that she translated and edited. Her most recent of her seven poetry collections are O, Heart (Barrow Street, 2014), Missing Her (New Issues Press, 2009), and Utopic (Alice James Books, 2001). As part of her visit to Cincinnati, Keelan will also give a reading at Xavier University’s Kennedy Auditorium at 7:30 on Tuesday night.

James McMichael, Photo Credit: Cindy Love

Photo Credit: Cindy Love

Then, on Friday, September 18th, James McMichael will visit the Elliston Room for two events — a Q&A with Don Bogen at 3:00 and a poetry reading at 4:00.  His most recent collections include Capacity (Farrar, Strauss, and Giroux, 2006), a National Book Award finalist, and The World at Large: New and Selected Poems, 1971–1996 (University of Chicago, 1996), and his honors include a Guggenheim Fellowship, the Shelley Memorial Award, and a Academy of American Poets Fellowship.

Look for recordings of this presentation soon in the digital collection, The Elliston Project: Poetry Readings and Lectures at the University of Cincinnati.

Learn more about Events sponsored by the Elliston Poetry Fund.

The Origin and Evolution of The Christian R. Holmes Hospital

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By Nathan Hood

Christian R. Holmes

Dr. Christian R. Holmes. This photo serves as a link to the Winkler Center blog, “Dr. Christian R. Holmes, The Cincinnati General Hospital, and the Surgical Amphitheater.”

The history of the “Holmes Hospital” is typically remembered as beginning in the early 1900’s with the construction of the building then and presently located adjacent to Eden Avenue; however, long before that land was developed for such purpose, there existed an original “Dr. C. R. Holmes Hospital” once located on East Eighth Street. This private establishment was made possible through Dr. Holmes collaboration with his associate at the time, Dr. D. T. Vail. Dr. Though Holmes’ wife, Bettie, was perhaps just as indispensable as Holmes himself – she was the supervisor of Holmes’ hospital for more than five years. Opening probably sometime in the very-late 1800’s, for several years it was home to a Nurses’ Training School. Though renovated in 1917, it closed that same year when Holmes took up duties at Camp Sherman. It was never re-opened.

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Dr. Cecil Striker, An Essential Founder of the ADA

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By: Nathan Hood

Dr. Cecil Striker

Dr. Cecil Striker, after the International Diabetes Clinic (Indiana University). This photo serves as a link to the finding aid for the Winkler Center’s collection on Dr. Cecil Striker.

Dr. Cecil Striker’s intense professional passion for Diabetes research began during his one-year residency, which had itself began in 1923 at the recently finished Cincinnati General Hospital. The first full-time Professor of Endocrinology at the Medical College, Dr. Roger Sylvester Morris,  had assigned Striker the task of testing a fairly new medication received from the Eli Lilly Company (Indianapolis) – a “drug” named insulin! Insulin and its medical application had only just been discovered about a year earlier.

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Dr. Christian R. Holmes, The Cincinnati General Hospital, and the Surgical Amphitheater

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By: Nathan Hood

CR HolmesPainting

Portrait of Dr. Christian R. Holmes that hung in the General Hospital’s Administration building for many years. This photo serves as a link to the blog, “Major Christian R. Holmes’ Involvement at Camp Sherman.”

 Dr. Christian R. Holmes is credited with numerous contributions not only to science and medicine in general, but also to medical education. Indeed, he is remembered not only for his expertise in Otolaryngology and Ophthalmology, but also for his profound influence on the history of the University of Cincinnati’s Medical College and it’s collaboration with the surrounding municipal hospitals – Cincinnati’s General Hospital in particular. For this reason, some unhesitatingly compare him to the famed Dr. Daniel Drake who first established the Medical College and soon after more-or-less effectuated the creation of the Cincinnati General Hospital’s institutional with the intention of their collaboration.

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Major Christian R. Holmes’ Involvement at Camp Sherman

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By Nathan Hood

Dr. Christian R Holmes

Major Christian R. Holmes (1917). This photograph serves as a link to the finding aid for the Winkler Center’s
Christian R. Holmes Collection.

On June 8, 1917 – practically two months after the United States’ declaration of war on April 7, 1917 – Chillicothe, Ohio, was selected as the one of sixteen sites for the construction of military training camps. Workers began building Camp Sherman there in late June on a large expanse of farmland in the Scioto Valley. This land was purchased by the United States government with the help of local business owners. The size and scope of Camp Sherman expanded exponentially and the massive convergence of laborers and soldiers at Camp Sherman brought economic prosperity to the surrounding community, arguably transforming the Ross County area. Chillicothe’s population grew from a 16,000 to over 55,000 – numerous new homes and businesses were built and established.

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Magnifying the Past: The “Alsfelder” Faculty Caricatures

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By Nathan Hood

Dr. Cecil Striker

Cecil Striker, M.D. This photograph serves as a link to the finding aid for the Winkler Center’s collection on Dr. Cecil Striker.

Dr. Cecil Striker earned his Bachelor of Science degree in 1919 and then his Doctor of Medicine in 1921 – both from the University of Cincinnati. He began an internship at the Cincinnati General Hospital in 1921, eventually becoming a resident in 1922. He also completed a residency at the Jewish Hospital and was Chief Resident there from 1923 to 1924. He joined the Jewish Hospital medical staff in 1925 and served as President of Staff from 1955 to 1956.

Dr. Striker’s extensive involvement with research on diabetes and insulin perhaps dominates the general perception of his career as a medical professional. However, Dr. Striker was also awfully enthusiastic about the history of medicine.

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