Dr. Edward H. Cary Bust and Ledger
The Dr. Edward H. Cary bust was made in 1929 by sculptor Allie Victoria Tenant. It was presented in honor of Dr. Cary’s time as Dean of Baylor Medical School in Dallas. He served as Dean of the school until 1922 and as Dean Emeritus from 1929 until 1943. Dr. Edward H. Cary’s dedication to medical education did not stop there. He was one of the originating members of the Southwestern Medical Foundation and a leader in the establishment of a new school, now known as UT Southwestern, when Baylor moved their medical school to Houston. In 1955, the first building on Harry Hines Blvd. was named the Edward H. Cary Building in his honor and Cary College also bears his name.
Next to the bust is a ledger that was kept by Dr. Edward H. Cary. It collects case studies on diseases that he treated while at Bellevue Hospital in New York. It traces several diseases and conditions and the status of patients while they were admitted to the hospital and were under his care. These notes are on display for all to see and pages are changed regularly.
Dr. Ernest Poulos Bust and Photographs
Dr. Ernest Poulos was once the President of St. Paul Medical Center and Emeritus Director of Surgical Training at the former St. Paul University Hospital. He also was a Clinical Professor of Surgery at UT Southwestern Medical Center. The bust was created by Dr. Ben Wilson, the Chairman of Surgery at UTSW in the 1950s. Above the bust are a 1966 portrait, a photo, and handwritten letter from the day the bust was presented to Dr. Poulos. In the photo are Dr. Poulos, Dr. Wilson, and the surgery residents of Dr. Poulos's who commissioned the bust in his honor. The bust and accompanying materials were donated to the University Archives for display by the UTSW Department of General Surgery in 2023.
Dr. Ben Wilson has an additional statue titled “The Mentor” on display at Zale Lipshy University Hospital, which was inspired by Carl A. Moyer, M.D. his mentor and predecessor as Parkland’s Chief of Surgery.
Dr. Robert I. Kramer Mortars & Pestles Collection
The mortars and pestles found in this collection were gathered on Dr. Robert I. Kramer’s trips around the world. The full collection, totaling over 100, were donated in 1995 and span several countries and centuries. Some of the most unique pieces come from North Africa, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and the Americas and date back to the 1600s. These tools have been used for around 10,000 years to prepare medicines and herbal remedies, along with food. In recent history they were used by pharmacists to prepare individual prescriptions and are still used today as both medical and culinary tools.
Leon A. Harris Apothecary Jar Collection
The Apothecary Jar Collection was donated to the UTSW Special Collections Library and Archives in memory of Leon A. Harris on December 19, 1959. They range in date from around 1930-1959. The styles seen in the exhibit are mostly French in origin, while others are from Spain.
Many of the plants used in apothecaries, and later pharmacies, were poisonous and dangerous when used inappropriately. It was part of the role of the pharmacist, or an apothecary, to know how to balance the measurements of these and other ingredients to safely administer them as medicine, as well as know all of their uses. Some of the medicinal herbs here are commonly known as Black Henbane, Water Hemlock, and Opium and would have sat alongside the jars of Sugar, Oat Straw, and Scotch (Scots) Pine.
The symbolism seen on the jars includes the “Bowl of Hygeia” - two snakes twined around the base of a bowl and rearing up above it to form handles - a symbol of the pharmacy. Another pair of symbols are the staffs of Aesculapius and Hermes. The Staff of Aesculapius, also called the Rod of Aesculapius, shows a single snake wrapped around a branch or rod. The Caduceus, connected to Hermes, depicts two snakes entwined around a staff with wings at the top.
St. Paul Hospital Collection
This section of the library is dedicated to the 118-year history of St. Paul Hospital. Originally named St. Paul Sanitarium, the institution started out on Bryan Street in east Dallas. First operating out of a small cottage in 1896, and opening its new hospital doors in 1898, the sanitarium was established by the Daughters of Charity with the intent to help maintain a base level of care for Dallas’ growing population. In 1900, St. Paul's School of Nursing was opened on the hospital grounds. Early on, sisters would visit patients in their own homes and bring items like food and clothing, in addition to medicine, to improve their overall quality of life. Free clinics were later opened as extensions of the hospital in other neighborhoods in Dallas. These clinics continued the work started by the sisters, providing food and clothing to those in need in addition to routine medical care.
St. Paul Hospital was at the center of several historic events. The institution was a key defense during the 1918 influenza pandemic. Forty-five tents were erected on site to facilitate a larger reach of patient care, primarily of the sick soldiers from nearby Camp Dick. Later, the hospital was the first facility in Dallas to integrate their facility, admitting an African-American intern in 1953, and giving black doctors courtesy privileges as early as 1954. This was followed by the admission of black students to the School of Nursing in 1955, staffing of black physicians in 1956, and full de-segregation in 1959.
In 1963, a new facility was opened on Harry Hines Boulevard and all 112 patients were moved in only five hours. A feat that mirrored the great fire of 1951, when all 250 patients and employees present were evacuated from the old hospital successfully. The move to the new facility was in part due to the growing partnerships in the Medical District along Harry Hines, and at UT Southwestern Medical Center. After decades of growth and collaboration UTSW bought St. Paul Hospital in 2005, fully cementing St. Paul’s place as part of UTSW’s Medical Center. After all of their innovations and historic firsts, St. Paul Hospital ended it’s time in Dallas in 2014. That year patients and staff were transferred to the new William P. Clements Jr. University Hospital and in 2015, St. Paul University Hospital was demolished.
Col. Oveta Culp Hobby Portrait
Colonel Oveta Culp Hobby was born January 19, 1905 in Killeen, Texas. She followed in her father’s footsteps and pursued law from an early age and worked as a reported for the Austin Statesman while attending UT Law School.
In 1953, after several years working in both high level government and publishing positions, Col. Hobby was asked to serve as chairman of the Federal Security Agency under the newly elected President Dwight D. Eisenhower. That same year President Eisenhower created the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare to replace the FSA. He appointed Col. Hobby the first Secretary of the Department, making her the second woman to hold that level of office during a presidential administration. While in office Col. Hobby focused on the importance of public water sanitation, availability of personal and public health insurance, funding state nursing programs and nursing programs that highlighted public health, broadening mental health care and awareness, increasing support for women and children in need of special health assistance, improved status and aid to the survivors of servicemembers, and increased funding from the World Health Organization for programs in the United States. In 1955, Col. Hobby helped to plan the first distribution of the newly created polio vaccination in the United States, working against the clock to provide children with protection before polio season began. This was one of her final acts as Secretary before she retired from the position.
For the rest of her life Col. Hobby continued to work in publishing and public service. She served on the board of Rice University and, at the request of President Lyndon B. Johnson, served on the National Advisory Commission on Selective Service. Col. Hobby was inducted into the Texas Women’s Hall of Fame in 1984 and passed August 16, 1995. This portrait stands as a reminder of her service to public health and a commemoration of the opening of the newest school on campus, the Peter O'Donnell Jr. School of Public Health.
The funds for the portrait were donated by Dr. Saad Omer, the first Dean to the Peter O'Donnell Jr. School of Public Health.
Cecil O. Patterson, M.D. Collection
Through the generosity of his daughter, Patricia M. Patterson, and granddaughters, Patricia Farman-Farmaian and Caroline Barlerin, UT Southwestern Medical Center has obtained the endoscopes and gastroscopes in the collection of Dr. Cecil Patterson, one of Texas’ first and foremost gastroenterologists. This collection highlights the development of the endoscope from a rigid instrument that mainly visualized the lower end of the esophagus, to the early semi-flexible scopes, to the modern day fiber-optic and video chip cameras. Dr. Patterson used each of these (except the video chip) in the course of his practice in Dallas from 1933 to shortly before his death in 1993.
Dr. Patterson graduated from Baylor College of Medicine in Dallas in 1931 and completed his training in gastroenterology at Baylor Hospital in 1933. After he began his practice in Dallas and served as a consultant in gastroenterology at the major hospitals across the city and also worked to develop a training program in gastroenterology for young physicians.
His commitments to his private practice and teaching did not prevent him from making pioneering contributions to the specialty of gastroenterology. Dr. Patterson worked with patients to identify and treat the sclerosis of bleeding esophageal varices, a potentially lethal complication of advanced liver disease. He also performed original investigations, making important observations on amebic abscess and gastric syphilis.
Dr. Cecil Patterson was a member of the American Gastroenterological Association from 1942 and President of the newly formed American Society of Gastrointestinal Endoscopy in 1954. Materials from this time are on display in the exhibit.
1805-1932: The Rigid Endoscope
Prior to 1932, the gastroscope was a totally rigid instrument, developed in Europe by Kussmaul and Mikulicz. This approach was severely limited because the patient had to arch his neck to accept the tube and once the stomach was entered the tube could not be manipulated to view the organ in it's entirety. Lighting was also an issue, provided initially by candles and later by platinum wires. An early version for the 20th century is found in the Cameron rigid-esophagoscope (above photo), used from about 1915 to the late 1960s.
1932-1960: The Semi-Flexible Gastroscope of Schindler
Rudolph Schindler of Germany is credited with introducing in this country an endoscope that was capable of giving more extensive visualization of the stomach and even the duodenum. The first time a Wolf-Schindler gastroscope was used to perform an endoscopy in the United States was in 1933 at the Massachusetts General Hospital by Drs. Chester Jones and Edward Benedict. At this same time, Dr. Cecil O. Patterson began his practice in Dallas.
Schindler Semi-Flexible Scope Eder-Hufford Semi-Flexible Scope
Eder S-F and Cameron Semi-Flexible Scopes
Several models of the semi-flexible gastroscope are present in the collection. The earliest, the Schindler S-F Gastroscope, was built about 1934 and was in general use until about 1960. By 1955, there were about 1,100 such endoscopes in use worldwide. Variations on them persisted in the Eder S-F gastroscopes, the Eder-Hufford, and the Cameron semi-flexible. These American variants were developed in part because of the inability to import the finer German instruments during World War II. During this period, the most widely used endoscopes were those of Rudolph Schindler and A. Ray Hufford. Optics improved and cameras were developed to record the results of the procedures. Better light transmissions and stronger power supplies improved the visualization during this period. Meanwhile, in Japan, the Olympus Corporation had developed a gastrocamera.
1957-Present
Olympus Gastrocamera (left) and Hirschowitz F0-5000 (right)
In 1957, Basil Hirschowitz, after several years of study with engineers at the University of Michigan, announced and demonstrated a scope like the Hirschowitz F0-5000 at a meeting of the American Gastroenterological Association the first truly flexible fiberscope, capable of providing a complete view of the esophagus, stomach and duodenum with much less patient discomfort. Two bundles of glass fibers provided both the illumination and the ability to visualize in detail the upper gastrointestinal tract. Rapid advances allowed the introduction of an air channel for insufflation, a water channel for cleaning the lens and a biopsy channel for obtaining directed tissue specimens. This scope most resembles what is used today. Subsequent models incorporated additional design features, including more sensitive controls, moving from the “flag” handle to the double wheel controls in use today.
Surgery Kits - Outpatient Clinic
Surgery kits have taken many forms over the years and would have been personalized for use by the doctors who purchased them. This is why some of the kits in our collection have mismatched tools, bringing together different sets and manufacturing companies in the same cases. This allowed the doctors to care for a wider range of ailments, while still keeping their specialty tools together in a compact case.
Smaller kits, like the red-leather pocket surgical kit and coffin shaped case (seen in the above photograph), were sometimes made by local craftsmen or a doctor's family member. Others, like the G. Tiemann & Co. Patent-Catch Pocket Set for Minor Operating were made commercially and advertised in catalogs that were shipped across the country. These were primarily made for traveling doctors who needed to carry some of their tools on house calls for use in emergencies. The larger kits, which often came in wooden cases and sometimes were equipped with carrying handles, were more complete sets of tools. These would usually be specialized for use in one field of medicine and could be brought on house calls when the diagnosis was sure and a full range of tools were necessary.
The materials used in these cases were most often leather or wood with a velvet lining. In special cases these materials could be swapped out for things like canvas. This is seen in the G. P. Pilling & Son Genito-Urinary Case below, which is made almost entirely out of canvas. It was made under contract with the U. S. Army in 1917 and the canvas build allows for the tools inside to be secured in place and rolled up for easy transport and carrying on packs.
Using the names stamped on the boxes and engraved in the tools our University Archivist was able to research and identify the companies and time periods in which many of our surgery kits were created. This technique allowed her to narrow down the make to only a few years, rather than decades, when different partnerships and business ventures were active. An interesting discovery that was made during research is that one of the companies, the A. L. Hernstein & Co. group, was implicated in a scandal over the source of their tools. The items were being shipped from Europe and the names of manufacturer's were replaced with the Hernstein brand's, passing them off as U.S. made. This happened at a time when U.S. surgical tool manufacturers were facing a changing import and export market and tensions were high between the local manufacturers and those who sold foreign manufactured materials. In response to the scandal Albert Hernstein transferred the company into his mother's name, Esther Hernstein. After several years and a few outside business ventures, Albert once again took over ownership of the company and began selling his surgical kits again.
Awards
One of the highlights of working to preserve the history of UT Southwestern Medical Center is the opportunity to catalog the success of our students, staff, and faculty. Not only as individuals, but as the teams that ensure UT Southwestern thrives. This set of materials is drawn from many of the archive's collections. Outside of our usual Medical Artifacts Collection we were able to feature the Jere H. Mitchell, M.D. Collection, the Philip O'Bryan Montgomery, Jr., M.D. Collection, the UTSW Collection, the Southwestern Medical School Collection, and the Michael Brown, M.D. and Joseph Goldstein, M.D. Collection.
Jere H. Mitchell, M.D. was honored at the national and international level for his research at UT Southwestern. He helped to shape the scientific community's understanding the effects of exercise and sedentary behavior on the human body through his Bed Rest and Training Study, which began in 1968.
Another faculty member, Philip O'Bryan Montgomery, Jr. M.D. was a nationally known pathologist, who was among the first to characterize fibrinoid in patients with high blood pressure. For his work he received an appointment to the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences Board of Regents from President Nixon and he also earned the Linz Award for his service within the Dallas Community.
Individual departments and programs at UT Southwestern have also been successful in establishing themselves on the national stage. Over the years there have been awards and certificates that recognize the work done by the Harold C. Simmons Comprehensive Cancer Center, the Department of Biomedical Communications, and the university as a whole in times of need. This is a tradition that goes back to the beginning of UT Southwestern in the old army barracks in Dallas, Texas.
Antiquated Medicine
Medicine and other remedies have had a long and varied history. This selection aims to capture a wide swath of that history and share pieces of it with the students, staff, and faculty.
The above photo showcases two medicine cases, several vials and bottles, and some of the most delicate pieces in our collection of medicines, ampoules. The name “ampoule” comes from the Latin word for bottle and they have been used for everything from storing blood for burial rites to holy oils for coronation ceremonies. Following advances in technology they began to be hermetically sealed and used to store medicines for patient care. The ampoules we have in our collection are examples of the latter, made from around 1979 to 1995. This was deduced from their shape and contents. The first uses for ampoules in medicine were in the early to mid-1800s, when doctors would store chloroform and other chemicals for surgery in the small vials for easy access and some level of measurement. It wasn’t until Stanislas Limousin, a French pharmacist, discovered a way to hermetically seal the glass as a way to preserve drugs during transport that they were widely picked up by the medical community. The shapes and colors used in the ampoules have changed over time until settling into the standard we see today.
A few of the bottles in this cabinet were selected for their interesting names, including Brown’s Compound Concentrated Fluid Extract of Buchu and Van Scoy’s Reliable Blood Remedy. These are more in-line with the classic “snake oil salesman” and “cure-all” look and feel of what people think of as old medicine. Many of the medicines like these were made prior to the FDA’s establishment of the 1906 Pure Food & Drug Act, which cut down on harmful chemicals and other ingredients being included in medicines that were marketed and sold to the public. Following the act many bottles, like the Nash’s C & L Malaria Chill Tonic with Laxative, would cover their bottles and boxes in text to show their ingredients, instructions, and reviews from patients. These reviews and testimonials were often un-confirmed prior to the 1938 Food, Drug, & Cosmetic Act, which required verification of any claims made by those selling medicines.
The above selection contains another assortment of bottles and a medicine case, but also has two salves/ointments and the Bullard First Aid Pocket Packet for snakebites. The little mint/teal tin was made to have everything needed for a quick stoppage of bleeding (and were thought to help stop the spread of venom) and has a sheet of instructions for first response laid out beside it. The small medicine case inside showcases a set of bright green vials full of medicine with handwritten labels and a list covering the contents. It also has a small golden shovel for measuring out the medicines. The two tins of salve/ointment were samples given to the public. On the left is a tin for Mentholatum featuring a small illustration of a girl made to resemble Shirley Temple. Next to it is the Penetro brand of salve. The Penetro Company was located in Memphis, Tennessee and was a division of the Plough Chemical Company. The image on the lid shows a larger jar of the salve that would be available in stores at the time.
The Sharpe & Dohme partnership is also featured in our exhibit. They were established in the late 1800s after Alpheus P. Sharp opened a retail pharmacy in Baltimore, Maryland in 1860. Louis Dohme and Charles Dohme worked with him to develop their own brand of pharmaceuticals for retail and quickly spread from their local shoppers to become a nationally known brand at the top of the industry. The materials in the above photo are from their hypodermic line of pills and injection kits. Featured are the various methods of storage and transport for these small tablets and their syringes for administration. The large bottle in the back was made to hold 1000 for dispensing and sale at retailers, while the small tubes were best for lightweight travel and storage. The leaflet on display in the case shows an advertisement for their kits and the compartmentalized tablets. Other companies made similar items, including the large manufacturer Parke-Davis & Co., which is still in operation today. Sharpe & Dohme eventually merged with H. K. Mulford & Co. in 1929, which means our pieces pre-date the merger, and in 1953 they again merged with Merck & Co. who still operate today.
The last selection of materials has more bottled medicines and tins of salve, as well as further examples of the medicine cases, which made mobile doctor visits possible. These cases came in all shapes and sizes and were customizable for doctors of all specialties. Sometimes they were even made by the doctors themselves or by friends and family, when purchasing one was not possible. This group also highlights some of the staples that resemble things you might find in your own medicine cabinet today. Mennen Talcum for Men, Iodex, and White Cloverine Salve are all still available on the market today, though the packaging has changed and likely the ingredients along with it.
Alice Lorraine Smith, M.D. Artifacts
Alice Lorraine Smith, M.D. was one of Southwestern Medical College’s first female students, graduating with her degree in 1946, which predates the merger with the University of Texas System and renaming of the school. Dr. Alice Smith joined the faculty shortly after, in 1950, as an assistant professor and worked her way to full professorship in 1976. A leader in cytopathology, she wrote several textbooks on the subject and received the 2004 Texas Society of Cytopathology Lifetime Achievement Award in recognition of her work and dedication to the field. Dr. Smith retired from UT Southwestern in 2006 but was still a feature on campus, continuing to research her interests using the library's resources even after retirement.
Surgery "Accessories"
These masks were used to administer anesthesia to patients before surgery began. The metal frame braces the gauze dampened with a liquid agent used by the doctor. These were used during a time when dosage was not as precise, and the modern medicines used today were still in development or had yet to be discovered. In addition to the masks, this case also contains a head mirror used by doctors in surgery to provide light to the internal workings of patients, and a stencil that was used to label the doorways to the surgery rooms at St. Paul Hospital. Additional items include a textbook on surgery and glass apothecary jars.
Stereoscopes
These tools were used for leisure as well as education. They were an early 3D image viewer which used two images that, through optical illusion, appeared to be a combined image with depth and layers. The earliest stereoscopes were made in the early 1800s and Sir Charles Wheatstone and David Brewster have a shared claim on the title of inventor. The stereo viewers in our collection were made to resemble the Triumph Universal, Underwood & Underwood, and Holmes Stereoscopes and have accompanying viewing cards from the "Stereoscopic Atlas of Plastic Surgery of the Face, Head and Neck" by Joseph C. Beck, M.D. F.A.C.S. and Irah Frank, M.D. F.A.C.S., as well as a collection showing dermatologic diseases.
Seldin Plaques
Donald Seldin, M.D. was a long-time leader at UT Southwestern Medical Center, joining the university in 1951 and serving as Chair of the Department of Medicine for 36 years, from 1952-1988.
While at UTSW, Dr. Seldin helped to grow the school into what it is today, recruiting students and faculty that are leaders in their field today. During his tenure, Dr. Seldin also served as president for seven professional societies and helped to found the American Society of Nephrology.
A portion of his accomplishments are represented by this exhibit, which showcases only some of the awards he received in his lifetime from UTSW and outside entities. These were donated as part of the Donald W. Seldin, M.D. Collection by Ellen Taylor Seldin, M.D. after his death.