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, […]
"Hearing" at Finger Tips
by Philip Montgomery, archivist Archives require constant maintenance. We are for ever moving boxes, finding homes for random items, making lists, checking them twice, shelving, reshelving and processing collections so we can highlight little hidden gems. Today’s picture is one of those little hidden gems. This is a photo of Vice President Hubert Humphrey and […]
Back in the saddle
by Alethea Drexler, archives assistant mcgovern@exch.library.tmc.edu Figuratively, if not literally. Actually, we do have a saddle here at the McGovern Historical Research Center. It came with the Methodist Hospital collection, although nobody at Methodist could tell Elizabeth White, at the time it was donated, what was significant about it. They simply insisted it went with […]
Air and Rail, 1944
by Alethea Drexler, archives assistant mcgovern@exch.library.tmc.edu Guess what? Ephemera! I found a new cache this week and it’s too beautiful not to share. The following come from a series of items related to the early days of the newly-founded Texas Medical Center, when the M.D. Anderson Foundation had development grants and was looking for ways […]
The Archival Chamber of Horrors
by Alethea Drexler, archives assistant mcgovern@exch.library.tmc.edu I have a different kind of scary blog post for you this week. Well, it’s scary if you’re an archivist. Phil Montgomery, the archivist, and I do a lot of different things here, but when people ask me what I do most of the time, I tell them I […]
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 […]
Jones Motor Basal metabolism tester, 1937
by Alethea Drexler, archives assistant mcgovern@exch.library.tmc.edu I am easily distracted by shiny objects. There is more to an archive than books and professional papers. I’m a bit of a pop culture aficionado, as I’m sure our readers can tell from past blog posts: I love ephemera[1]–the postcards, advertising, commercial packaging. I also love the realia[2]. […]
Outdoor Sculpture: George H. Hermann
by Alethea Drexler, archives assistant mcgovern@exch.library.tmc.edu Just a short post today. This is a follow-up on yesterday’s post about outdoor sculpture in the Medical Center. Phil Montgomery found the following pictures of the head of the George H. Hermann statue being cast: […]
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. […]
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 […]