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Hermann Hospital Sweetheart

by Philip Montgomery, archivist A few months ago, Dr. Adrian Melissinos was searching for nursing photos when she discovered “Sweetheart” the donkey. Today, I had to find the photo of this early Hermann Hospital mascot. I love that the photographer, who remains unknown, made an effort to capture this donkey’s personality.  What is even more […]

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Archival Surprises

by DK Smith, Project Archivist In part, the fascination of an archivist’s job lies in the discovery of bits of lost history hidden in doctors’ papers. For example, the photo below contains a wonderful unknown trophy, faceless major characters, and an obviously emotional scene. What is going on? Five minutes with a loupe, an archivist’s […]

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Pulling Teeth from the Man of Steel

by Philip Montgomery, archivist I want to be perfectly clear at the beginning of this post that being an archivist is a tough job. I can’t even begin to describe the trials that come with being an archivist. You have your dirt, your mold, your sneezing, your cold temperatures, your silverfish, your 50 year-old hypodermics, […]

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Hallowe'en Season

by Alethea Drexler, archives assistant mcgovern@exch.library.tmc.edu Happy Hallowe’en from the McGovern Historical Collections and Research Center! Archivist Phil Montgomery suggested that, this year, we should set up an exhibit for Hallowe’en.  Since we’re a medical school archive, we probably have an unfair advantage when it comes to selecting creepy artwork. The first item in our […]

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Outdoor Sculpture in the Medical Center

by Alethea Drexler, archives assistant mcgovern@exch.library.tmc.edu It’s been a long week and–guess what?–I’m still going through slides.  I’ve learned more than I ever wanted to know about the ways in which plastic can deteriorate after a couple of decades.  Did you know that something can be sticky and greasy at the same time?  Go figure.  […]

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Gratuitous Use of the Slide Scanner

by Alethea Drexler, archives assistant mcgovern@exch.library.tmc.edu I’ll be honest: This post is just an excuse to play with a new toy. We recently acquired a new slide scanner: It’s pretty exciting.  The HRC has lots of slides and negatives squirreled away in various collections but they have been pretty much inaccessible until now: We would […]

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Public Health and Christmas Seals

by Alethea Drexler, archives assistant mcgovern@exch.library.tmc.edu You know I never pass up an opportunity to scan something. We received an image request early this week that sent me scurrying off to look into Institutional Collection 34, the San Jacinto Lung Association[1], a collection with which I had never before had occasion to work.  Oh, my.  […]

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Letterheads: Introduction

by Alethea Drexler, archives assistant mcgovern@exch.library.tmc.edu I’ve been suffering with computer-related ailments for the past week, but our tireless and good-humored IT department has me back up and running.  So, really, this week’s blog post is made possible by them.  Thanks, y’all! When I re-boxed some of the Hermann Hospital Estate papers five years ago, […]

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The Office, 1920's

by Alethea Drexler, archives assistant mcgovern@exch.library.tmc.edu Let’s take a look at office life, circa 1924. This is the building that housed the Hermann Hospital estate in the 1920’s.  The estate was responsible for the business and funding aspect of running the hospital. Here’s a closer view.  It seems that road construction was a favorite local […]

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