Alethea Drexler
archives assistant
July’s photo exhibit had to be trimmed down, but don’t worry–it’s for a good cause. We need the display space for a traveling exhibit. More on that later.
Among the landmark events in the 1960’s:
- The Friends of the Texas Medical Center Library was founded in 1960[1] and continues to provide support for Library resources.
- Ben Taub General Hospital opened in 1963[2]. The Harris County Hospital District was created in 1965[3].
Ben Taub hospital in the early 1960’s. 
Ben Taub Hospital emergency room, 1960’s. - MEDLINE, the Medical Literature Analysis and Retrieval System Online, was implemented in 1964 by the National Library of Medicine as MEDLARS[6] (not online, of course). It was the first large-scale, computer-based, retrospective search service available to the public.
The Medical Center’s IBM 7904 mainframe computer system, circa 1969. 
The appliance in the foreground is an IBM 716 printer, marketed between the mid-1950’s and 1969. - In 1969, Denton Cooley implanted the first artificial heart. The Liotta-Cooley Artificial Heart is now on display at the Smithsonian Institution. The films of the surgery are held by the McGovern Collections.
Archives staffer Kiersten Bryant selected some of her favorite 1960’s Joseph Schwarting illustrations:
Sources consulted:
[1] Friends of the Texas Medical Center Library
[2] Ben Taub General Hospital: Harris Health System
[3] Harris Health System, Wikipedia.
[4] Handbook of Texas Online: Ben Taub (1889-1982)
[5] Texas Medical Center timeline: 1960’s
[6] MEDLARS, National Library of Medicine
[7] Institutional collection 94 Medical Arts Publishing Foundation
[8] IBM