Our colleagues Sharon Purtee, director of the Health Sciences Library, and Devhra Bennettjones, archivist/curator, graciously hosted the CAHSLA membership meeting on October 8 in the Stanley J. Lucas Boardroom at the Henry R. Winkler Center for the History of the Health Professions.

We began the membership meeting by reviewing proposed events for the coming year, including a holiday party, lightning talks, tours of the Oesper Collections and Cincinnati Children’s History Walk, and the spring membership meeting.

Treasurer Brian McConnell reported that our account balance is approximately $1,900. Please renew your membership—or join—today.

After the membership meeting, Devhra discussed the Lucas Boardroom exhibition associated with the most recent Cecil Striker Lecture, Pharmacy Education in the Queen City: 1850–2025, presented by Dennis B. Worthen, PhD. We also viewed the permanent exhibit of ceramics replicating a 15th-century Italian apothecary shop, created by Florence’s Cantagalli kiln for the 1900 Paris International Exposition. We then visited the Health Sciences Library’s main hall to learn about the Smoke Gets in Your Eyes exhibition, which features reproductions of cigarette advertisements from the Ahron Leichtman Papers and the Anatomy Lab Learning Lab of plastinated specimens. 

We then toured the Archives collection area and learned about the wide range of materials the staff collects, processes, and preserves. Highlights included the Albert B. Sabin Collection, medical equipment artifacts, rare and circulating books, drawings, and much more.

Attendees included Aja Bettencourt-McCarthy, Christine Jankowski, Matthew Cooper, Brian McConnell, Sharon Purtee, Devhra Bennettjones, and Jim DaMico.

Watch your email for more updates about upcoming meetings!

Submitted by Jim DaMico, President

Top: American Civil War Surgical Field Kit

Bottom: Daniel S. Young: American Civil War Medical Illustrations

Source: Henry R. Winkler Center for the History of the Health Professions, Donald C. Harrison Health Sciences Library.

Plates from Andreas Vesalius’s Fabrica

Source: Henry R. Winkler Center for the History of the Health Professions, Donald C. Harrison Health Sciences Library.

Leland Clark, PhD’s bubble defoam oxygenator. 

Source: Henry R. Winkler Center for the History of the Health Professions, Donald C. Harrison Health Sciences Library.