View of Mitchell-Nelson Library, formerly the Pratt and Research Foundation Library, location of the Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center Archives. Cincinnati Children’s.

Archival Spotlights: Post #3

The Society of Ohio Archivists Advocacy and Outreach Committee wanted to celebrate Archives Month in a new way, so we featured three archives in a series of posts we are calling Archival Spotlights. Since the Archives Month poster’s theme was “Ohio’s Healthcare Workers: The True Heart of it All,” we felt it a good idea to feature archives that focus on healthcare or have interesting collections related to healthcare.

About the Cincinnati Children’s Archives and its Collections

By A&O Committee member Erin Wilson, Ohio University Libraries

The Cincinnati Children’s Archives are a unique community resource, preserving the history of local patient care, institutional research, and developments in pediatric medicine. With collections dating back to the hospital’s founding in 1883, the Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center (CCHMC) Archives document nearly 140 years of healthcare in the Queen City.

Articles of incorporation of the Hospital of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the Diocese of Southern Ohio, 1883. Cincinnati Children’s.

The Center’s first facility, the “Hospital of the Protestant Episcopal Church” was a rented home in Cincinnati’s Walnut Hills neighborhood with a capacity of fourteen beds. The hospital was cooperatively governed by a Board of Trustees and a Board of Lady Managers until 1921. The first annual report from 1884 concludes with a historically significant statement by the Board of Lady Managers affirming their commitment to patient admission and care regardless of faith, race, or ethnicity, “all being welcomed and treated alike…” Continue reading →

View of Dittrick Medical History Center Archives. Dittrick Medical History Center, Case Western Reserve University.

Archival Spotlights: Post #2

The Society of Ohio Archivists Advocacy and Outreach Committee (A&O) wanted to celebrate Archives Month in a new way, so we are featuring a handful of archives in a series of posts we are calling Archival Spotlights. Since the Archives Month poster’s theme was “Ohio’s Healthcare Workers: The True Heart of it All,” we felt it a good idea to feature archives that focus on healthcare or have interesting collections related to healthcare.

About the Dittrick Medical History Center and its Collections

By A&O Committee Member Amy Czubak, Ohio History Connection.

Have you ever wanted to read a letter written by Charles Darwin? Examine intricately detailed medical drawings? Maybe see inside of a Civil War era amputation kit? The Dittrick Medical History Center at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio, has all of these things and more! Named after the first curator, Dr. Howard Dittrick (1877–1954), the museum and archives has been collecting medical history for nearly 100 years and has the most comprehensive collection concerning medical instruments and implements in the United States.

Diagrams found in the Dittrick Medical History Center Archives include this one of a disk oxygenator. The disk oxygenator removes carbon and gasses from the blood and adds in oxygen.
Disk oxygenator diagram engineered by Richard Jones, PhD. Dittrick Medical History Center, Case Western Reserve University.

The Cleveland Medical Library Association, established in 1894, developed a historical committee in 1898. At its helm was a prominent Cleveland area surgeon named Dr. Dudley Peter Allen (1852–1915), who was tasked with caring for and preserving donations given to the Cleveland Medical Library Association by Dr. Allen and other members of the Association. A new medical library built on land donated by Western Reserve University, and funded by money donated by Dr. Allen’s widow, was established in 1926 and featured a third floor museum gallery.
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Athens Mental Health Center Administration building, winter 1981. Tom O’Grady. Athens Mental Health Center collection, Mahn Center for Archives and Special Collections, Ohio University Libraries.

Announcing a New Series

The Society of Ohio Archivists Advocacy and Outreach Committee wanted to celebrate Archives Month in a new way, so we will be featuring a handful of archives in a series of posts we are calling Archival Spotlights. Since the Archives Month poster’s theme was “Ohio’s Healthcare Workers: The True Heart of it All,” we felt it a good idea to feature archives that focus on healthcare or have interesting collections related to healthcare. The first archive to be featured is the Mahn Center for Archives and Special Collections, focusing on their Athens Mental Health Center collection.

About the Mahn Center, and the Athens Mental Health Center Collection

By A&O Committee Chair Collette McDonough, Kettering Foundation.

The Robert E. and Jean R. Mahn Center for Archives and Special Collections, part of Ohio University Libraries in Athens, Ohio, contains the Ohio University Archives, Rare Books, Manuscript Collections, and the Documentary Photography Archive. The Mahn Center’s mission “is to support the education, research, and creative endeavors of Ohio University, or broad community of researcher, and anyone with an interest in the preservation of cultural heritage.” Ohio University is in the rolling foothills of Southeast Ohio and is a center for arts and culture in the area.

Athens is renowned for what is now known as The Ridges. Originally called the Athens Lunatic Asylum and later named the Athens State Hospital, The Ridges opened in 1874. The Athens Mental Health Center collection documents its evolution.

Plan for buildings and grounds of Athens Lunatic Asylum, 1872. Athens Mental Health Center collection, Mahn Center for Archives and Special Collections, Ohio University Libraries.

This fold-out map from 1872 was pasted into some copies of the first annual report of the Athens Lunatic Asylum. The construction of the campus started in 1868. The grounds were designed by Herman Haerlin, who was also the landscape architect of the Oval at The Ohio University. The architect was Levi T. Scofield. Continue reading →