Category Archives: Special Collections

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

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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In Honor of Joseph F. Kowalewski

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By: Richard A. Puff and Nathan A. Hood

Joseph F. Kowalewki (1)

Joseph F. Kowalewski.
This photograph serves as a link to a video interview of
Dr. Kowalewski conducted by Jim Myers in 1986.

CINCINNATI—On June 23, 2015, The University of Cincinnati Board of Trustees approved renaming the Health Professions Building as Joseph F. Kowalewski Hall in honor of the former dean of the university’s pharmacy school.

Kowalewski served as dean of the College of Pharmacy from 1949 to 1970. He was the last dean of the school when it was the Cincinnati College of Pharmacy, an independent pharmacy school which first opened in 1850. Kowalewski also directed the merger of the school with the University of Cincinnati in 1954 to become the university’s 13th college. The college was renamed the James L. Winkle College of Pharmacy in 2007.

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Weight Not Measured in Pounds: “Fischerisms.”

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By Nathan Hood

Fischer 1912 Faculty Photo

Dr. Martin H. Fischer, faculty photo from 1912.

Scientist, professor, author, artist – at the time of his death in 1962, the wealth of Dr. Martin H. Fischer’s experiences had him regarded by some to be a kind of ‘universal man.’ Who was Dr. Martin H. Fischer? The overwhelming prevalence of dates, research, and other such facts are often too impersonal and superficial to reveal much about the deeper character of this impressive person. Fortunately, there still exist copies of a booklet too ironically and deceptively inconspicuous for the enormous significance of the information it contains: Fischerisms.

Fischerisms is a compilation of Dr. Fischer’s various aphorisms first brought together by Howard Fabing with the aid of Albert Flagge and first published by the Medical College Bookstore, University of Cincinnati, in 1930. Continue reading →

Vaccination Efforts from Around the Globe: The Story of Dr. Sabin and Dr. Harshavardhan

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Dr.

Dr. Harshavardhan (1969)

By: Dr. G. V. J. A. Harshavardhan and Nathan Hood

Dr. Albert Bruce Sabin’s extremely influential role in the development and production of an Oral Polio Vaccine (OPV) simply cannot be disputed; however, information on the precise details of his contributions are not always as well-known or as accessible as one would hope. Fortunately, The Winkler Center for the History of Health Professions’ NEH-funded project to digitize many of Dr. Sabin’s papers has now reached researchers around the globe. Several months ago, the project attracted the delighted attention of Dr. Harshavardhan, a vaccinologist in India, and the exchange of information since has been enlightening for both sides.

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