Dr. Benjamin Felson Project: A Friendship that Spans Careers

Henry R. Winkler Center staff recently completed processing the correspondence portion of the Benjamin Felson archival collection, which is now available for research. The correspondence series documents many of the professional activities in which Dr. Felson was involved, such as his editorship for Seminars in Roentgenology, as well as his travel activities and his love for tennis.

Drs. Felson and Jacobson

Dr. Felson is seen here with Dr. Harold Jacobson in an undated photograph.

While exploring the correspondence series, one name appeared on a regular basis — Dr. Harold G. Jacobson. Continue reading

Dr. Benjamin Felson Project: Ten Axioms of Teaching and Learning

Dr. Benjamin FelsonThe Henry R. Winkler Center for the History of the Health Professions was fortunate to receive generous donations from both Nancy Felson and the University of Cincinnati Department of Radiology to help process the Dr. Benjamin Felson papers held here in the Center. According to a chapter in History of Medical Specialties in Cincinnati, Dr. Stanley J. Lucas wrote:

Under [Felson’s] leadership, the training program for radiologists at Cincinnati General Hospital flourished to become one of the outstanding teaching programs for Clinical Radiology in the country. In addition, Dr. Felson through his warmth of personality, teaching abilities, knowledge, sense of humor and friendship to practicing radiologists helped develop a high standard of excellence in radiology for this entire community.

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The Albert B. Sabin Digitization Project: Spreading the Word

At the recent 2013 Society of American Archivists’ annual meeting in New Orleans, Louisiana, I presented a poster on the final results of the Albert B. Sabin digitization project. Several archivists stopped by to discuss the poster, particularly because they were curious about the way project staff handled documents that contained sensitive information. Many of those that stopped by were at archives in similar positions as the Winkler Center, trying to figure out the best way to balance privacy and access. Continue reading

Finding Aid for the Esther Zocher Freese Collection Now Available

Esther V. Zocher

Esther V. Zocher (later Freese) was a 1922 graduate of the Bethesda Hospital School for Nurses in Cincinnati, Ohio.

The Esther Zocher Freese archival collection, which provides insight into nursing education during the 1920′s in Cincinnati, is now available for research at the Henry R. Winkler Center for the History of the Health Professions.

According to an annual catalog found in the collection, the Bethesda Hospital Training School for Nurses was organized in 1914 and required students to study for 3 years.[1] Esther V. Zocher (later Freese) graduated from the school in 1922. A great group of photographs that document nurses and nursing during Freese’s time at the school are found in this small collection. Continue reading

Digitized Correspondence and Photographs of Albert B. Sabin Available on the Web

sabin1The University of Cincinnati Libraries have completed a  three-year project to digitize the correspondence and photographs of Albert B. Sabin,  developer of the oral polio vaccine and distinguished service professor at the University of Cincinnati’s College of Medicine and Children’s Hospital Research Foundation from 1939-1969.

The collection is freely and publicly available via the Albert  B. Sabin website at http://sabin.uc.edu/ and includes approximately 35,000 letters and accompanying documents totaling 50,000 pages of correspondence between Sabin and political, cultural, social, and scientific leaders around the world. Also included are nearly 1,000 photographs documenting the events and activities worldwide that were part of Sabin’s crusade to eradicate polio. Continue reading

The Albert B. Sabin Digitization Project: Remembering Hilary Koprowski

By Jeff O’Flynn, Sabin Student Assistant

Telegram from Hilary Koprowski to Albert Sabin, indicating he would be unable to attend a polio conference.

Hilary Koprowski is considered by many to be equally important as Salk and Sabin in the quest to eradicate poliomyelitis. When Koprowski passed away last month, his illustrious career was recounted in his obituary and included such notable achievements as the development of a live-virus polio vaccine, improvement of the rabies vaccine, and directorship of the world-renowned Wistar Institute in Pennsylvania. His interest in the live-virus polio vaccine caused his career to overlap with Albert Sabin’s work regularly. The obituary details the competition between Sabin and Koprowski for the eventual triumph of their various polio vaccines.[1] Letters in the Albert B. Sabin archives indicate that the two great scientists often shared material and data though, unfortunately, they did not have an entirely conflict-free relationship. Continue reading

The Albert B. Sabin Digitization Project: New Lesson Plans Available

Dr. Albert B. Sabin

Dr. Albert B. Sabin

Sabin project student assistant Katie Pintz created a couple of lesson plans to encourage the use of the the newly digitized materials in the Albert B. Sabin Archives. They are:

We look forward to hearing what you think about these lesson plans. Please give us feedback either here on the blog, or you can send your comments to chhp@uc.edu.
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The Albert B. Sabin Digitization Project: An Unsolved Mystery

Dr. Sabin and Mr. O'Connor

Albert Sabin and Basil O’Connor pose with Dr. Sabin’s bust, sculpted by Edmond Romulus Amateis.

The Digital Public Library of America (DPLA) recently launched, and, of course, I wanted to see if there was anything Sabin-related in the collection. Doing a quick search for Albert Sabin revealed a bust which resides at the National Portrait Gallery. According to the DPLA, this bust, a 1966 cast after 1958 terra cotta original, was originally sculpted by Edmond Romulus Amateis.[1] This bust was originally created for the Polio Wall of Fame in Warm Springs, Georgia. We have a photograph in our collection of Dr. Sabin and National Foundation President Basil O’Connor posing with the bust created by Amateis. Continue reading

The Albert B. Sabin Digitization Project: National Medal of Science 50th Anniversary

National Medal of Science (front)The National Science Foundation (NSF) is celebrating the 50th anniversary of the National Medal of Science with a new online exhibit. In 1959, President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed legislation creating the National Medal of Science. President John F. Kennedy awarded the first medal to Theodore von Kármán in 1963. This new exhibit features some of the 476 men and women who have been recognized for “their outstanding contributions to knowledge in the physical, biological, mathematical, or engineering sciences,”[1] including our own Dr. Albert Bruce Sabin. Continue reading

The Albert B. Sabin Digitization Project: Featured in The Watermark

Albert B. Sabin

The Winter 2013 issue of The Watermark, which is the quarterly publication of the Archivists and Librarians in the History of the Health Sciences (ALHHS), features an article on the Albert B. Sabin digitization project. This article is based on my presentation at the Mid-Atlantic Regional Archives Conference October 2012 meeting. Continue reading