{"id":17454,"date":"2012-09-07T11:02:51","date_gmt":"2012-09-07T15:02:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.libraries.uc.edu\/liblog\/?p=17454"},"modified":"2012-10-04T16:08:36","modified_gmt":"2012-10-04T20:08:36","slug":"the-albert-b-sabin-digitization-project-the-case-of-william-brebner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/libapps.libraries.uc.edu\/liblog\/2012\/09\/the-albert-b-sabin-digitization-project-the-case-of-william-brebner\/","title":{"rendered":"The Albert B. Sabin Digitization Project: The Case of William Brebner"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"The<\/a>

A 1969 letter from Professor Ernest Borek to Dr. Albert Sabin, which is quoted below.<\/p><\/div>\n

Throughout the redaction process, I have been asked by many people how we select what should be removed from letters and other documents prior to publication of the materials online. It\u2019s quite a complicated process! A way to approach this question is to discuss things we typically would not remove from letters. One illustration of this concept is through the case of Dr. Sabin\u2019s colleague, Dr. William Brebner.<\/p>\n

First, a bit of explanation, just in case you are unfamiliar with the Sabin project. As an archivist, it is part of my “Code of Ethics” to follow principles of “Access and Use” and “Privacy.”[1] Because of the nature of the materials within Sabin project, these principles can come into conflict with each other.<\/p>\n

In the Sabin collection there are documents which contain medical research and personal health information. Prior to publishing this material on the web, the Sabin project staff is going through the process of “redaction.” To “redact” a document is to “to select or adapt (as by obscuring or removing sensitive information) for publication or release” or “to obscure or remove (text) from a document prior to publication or release.”[2] By removing information related to medical research or personal health information before publication, the Sabin project staff hopes to balance the issues of privacy and access in a way that will benefit researchers all over the world.<\/p>\n

Now back to the case of William Brebner. We have several files in our collection which refer to the \u201cB\u201d virus, which is a virus that was recovered by Dr. Sabin and Dr. Arthur M. Wright in 1932 from a patient who was bitten by a monkey during the course of poliomyelitis research. This man passed away in November 1932 from \u201crespiratory failure secondary to acute ascending myelitis.\u201d[3] A New York Times<\/em> obituary appeared on November 10, 1932, with the headline \u201cBite by a Monkey Fatal to Physician\u201d and identifies the physician as Dr. W. B. Brebner.[4] Other obituaries, which appeared in journals such as Archives of Pathology<\/em>[5] and The Canadian Medical Association Journal<\/em>[6] also described Dr. Brebner\u2019s fate.<\/p>\n

Years later, Dr. Sabin received letters asking about the origin of the \u201cB\u201d virus, such as the one seen above from Professor Ernest Borek. He wrote, \u201cFor a possible historical essay, I would like to know the name of the resident who is simply designated as Mr. B, who was bitten by a monkey in your laboratory [\u2026] I think the young man\u2019s name might well be perpetuated.\u201d[7] Dr. Sabin explained to Professor Borek and other researchers that he had wished to call it the Brebner virus, but the editor of the Journal of Experimental Medicine<\/em>, where his research was originally published, \u201cinsisted that only the \u2018B\u2019 be used.\u201d[8]<\/p>\n

The association with Brebner and the \u201cB\u201d virus appears in later journals, such as a 1985 article on Dr. William H. Park, who ran the laboratory where both Brebner and Sabin worked in the early 1930\u2019s. There it describes how \u201cintern Sabin obtained tissue specimens from which he isolated a hitherto unknown virus which he named B virus, after Brebner. It was later shown that this member of the herpesvirus group was carried by otherwise healthy macaque monkeys.\u201d[9] The author concluded that Dr. Sabin\u2019s experience with the \u201cB\u201d virus and Dr. Brebner may have influenced his career in fighting poliomyelitis and other viruses.[10]<\/p>\n

In order to maintain links and connections between the Sabin collection and previously published research, we have chosen not to redact Dr. Brebner\u2019s name in any correspondence. We hope that preserving names in cases such as this will assist future researchers who use the collection.<\/p>\n

Over the last year of this project, Winkler Center staff have put forth much effort to protect the privacy of those mentioned in the documents, including the creation and implementation of our redaction policy. Through this redaction process, we are attempting to redact documents in an appropriate manner and provide access to an important medical collection. As one of the largest digitization projects of a medically related materials (that we know of), in many ways, we are breaking new ground. Once our material is up and running online, we will welcome users\u2019 feedback with regard to these issues and other topics.<\/p>\n

References<\/strong>
\n[1] See the SAA Code of Ethics for Archivists<\/a>.
\n[2] See the definition of redact<\/a>.
\n[3] Jason D. Pimentel. \u201cHerpes B Virus \u2013 \u201cB\u201d is for Brebner: Dr. William Bartlet Brebner (1903-1932).\u201d CMAJ<\/em> 178 (2008): 734. http:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pmc\/articles\/PMC2263097\/<\/a>
\n[4] \u201cBite by a Monkey Fatal to Physician.\u201d New York Times<\/em>. Nov. 10 (1932): 24.
\n[5] E.V. Cowdry. \u201cObituary: William B. Brebner, 1903-1932.\u201d Archives of Pathology<\/em> 15 (1933): 133.
\n[6] \u201cObituaries.\u201d CMAJ<\/em> 27 (1932): 683.
\n[7] Letter from Ernest Borek to Albert B. Sabin, dated November 3, 1969. Found in Series 1 \u2013 Correspondence, Subseries General, Box 1, Folder 3 \u2013 B Virus, 1958-69.
\n[8] Letter from Albert B. Sabin to George Dick, dated November 8, 1969. Found in Series 1 \u2013 Correspondence, Subseries General, Box 1, Folder 3 \u2013 B Virus, 1958-69.
\n[9] M. Schaeffer. \u201cWilliam H. Park (1863-1939): His Laboratory and His Legacy.\u201d American Journal of Public Health<\/em> 75 (1985): 1300. http:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pmc\/articles\/PMC1646692\/<\/a>
\n[10] Ibid., 1301.<\/p>\n

In 2010, the University of Cincinnati Libraries received a $314,258 grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) to digitize the correspondence and photographs of Dr. Albert B. Sabin. This digitization project has been designated a NEH \u201cWe the People\u201d project, an initiative to encourage and strengthen the teaching, study, and understanding of American history and culture through the support of projects that explore significant events and themes in our nation\u2019s history and culture and that advance knowledge of the principles that define America. Any views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this blog do not necessarily reflect those of the National Endowment for the Humanities.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Throughout the redaction process, I have been asked by many people how we select what should be removed from letters and other documents prior to publication of the materials online. It\u2019s quite a complicated process! A way to approach this … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[68,13,282],"tags":[286,283],"class_list":["post-17454","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-digital-collections","category-uclibraries","category-winkler-center","tag-albert-b-sabin-archives","tag-sabin-winklercenter"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/libapps.libraries.uc.edu\/liblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17454","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/libapps.libraries.uc.edu\/liblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/libapps.libraries.uc.edu\/liblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/libapps.libraries.uc.edu\/liblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/libapps.libraries.uc.edu\/liblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17454"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/libapps.libraries.uc.edu\/liblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17454\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/libapps.libraries.uc.edu\/liblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17454"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/libapps.libraries.uc.edu\/liblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17454"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/libapps.libraries.uc.edu\/liblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17454"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}