Academic Health Center History Project

Birds of a feather flock together

By Erik Moore March 25, 2008
Acquisitions, Digital, Veterinary medicine

Several recent archival acquisitions for the AHC History Project are avian in nature.

Aurora II The Raptor Center on the St. Paul campus transferred 28 boxes documenting administrative history, research, and outreach activities dating back to the early 1970s. Formally established in 1974, the Raptor Center provides clinical services and release programs to injured birds, public and veterinary education in raptor care and raptor-human relationships, and research and conservation information on raptor populations. A large portion of the archival collection is related to peregrine falcon restoration in the Midwest.

The Veterinary Medical Library recently transferred 124 research notebooks which had belong to the late Dr. Benjamin S. Pomeroy. The notebooks document agricultural turkey populations in the Upper Midwest and incidences of avian flu within the flocks. Dr. Pomeroy began studying avian diseases related to poultry farming in the 1930s and remained active in the field throughout his career. The research notebooks compliment existing archival material from Dr. Pomeroy. This material documents his research, academic career, presentations, and professional activities.

A third acquisition is the digital preservation of AHC documentation on the study of and proposed emergency responses to a pandemic influenza outbreak of the H5N1 avian influenza virus. The workplan, progress report, and supporting documents are stored in the digital archives. This material was organized and produced by the AHC Office of Emergency Response.

With these three collections, the archives is now a great resource for the history of avian health care and disease prevention and the study of the human economic and environmental relationships to bird populations.

Isabel Harris

By Erik Moore March 14, 2008
Nursing

Isabel Harris, dean of the School of Nursing from 1969 to 1975, passed away on March 2, 2008. The beginning of her tenure as dean at the School of Nursing coincided with the formation of the Academic Health Center and the reorganization of its six schools and colleges including the School of Nursing. Dean Harris was the first woman dean of an academic unit at the University of Minnesota. Prior to the reorganization in the health sciences, the School of Nursing was a unit of the College of Medical Sciences and lead by a director.

Originally from Michigan, Dean Harris’ early career focused on psychiatry nursing and institutional care. She earned her diploma in nursing from Johns Hopkins after earning a BA from the University of Michigan. During World War II she served in the Johns Hopkins medical unit in Australia. After her service she returned to Michigan for a year and then was invited by Katharine Densford, Director of the School of Nursing, to come to Minnesota to help establish a program in psychiatric nursing. Harris earned an MEd and PhD at Minnesota and later specialized in nursing administration and education. During her time as dean, Harris focused on growing the nursing program through increasing student retention, hiring talented faculty, and working toward the expansion of space. Dean Harris finished her term as dean in 1975 and retired from teaching in 1981. The School of Nursing moved into its new building (Unit F/Weaver-Densford Hall) that same year.

In an interview conducted with Dean Harris in 1999 she stated that “I’d always wanted to be a nurse or at least since I was five years old.” Her devotion and commitment to the profession and the University are reflected in the School of Nursing today.

Hospital anniversary

By Erik Moore March 3, 2008
Hospitals

This week marks the twenty-second anniversary for the grand opening of the University of Minnesota Hospital, conceptually known as Unit J, and now known as the University of Minnesota Medical Center, Fairview.

When the $125 million, 566,000 square feet hospital opened in 1986 it held 432 beds, had 18 operating rooms including a transplant suite, and housed the Variety Club Children’s Hospital on the fifth floor. Eight-five percent of the patient rooms had a view of the Mississippi River. The opening week festivities for the new hospital also included a commemorative time capsule to be opened in 2086.

First proposed in the 1968 health science precinct plan, Unit J provided a centralized hospital facility that would replace many of the services offered in the Mayo Medical Center and other buildings. It is located on the former site of Powell Hall originally a dormitory for nurses.

What did this place used to be?

By Erik Moore February 15, 2008
Curiosities, Facilities

As institutions grow in size and new buildings are added, older facilities are often remodeled (or not) and used for some other purpose other than originally intended. This often leads to the silent wondering of “What was this place?” by the present day occupants.

My own office space acts as a perfect example. Situated in the former (albeit the building still bears the name) Children’s Rehabilitation Center, my door opens up to an abandoned station that once greeted visitors and patients as they stepped off the elevators.

Many other spaces within the buildings that physically comprise the AHC are only shadows of their former self. The map below provides more examples. It depicts the third floor of the former Mayo Memorial University Hospital circa 1970. Today, the Office of the Dean for the School of Public Health is situated in the former space of Neurology Psychiatry. Station 32 along the southern wing (once the original Elliot Hospital) now serves as office space for many hospital social workers who now work out of old patient rooms. And although the coffee shop north of the main entrance is no longer there, a small snack counter is open for service at the former information desk.

Dear Patient _________:

By Erik Moore February 4, 2008
Uncategorized

The University of Minnesota Hospitals was established for the welfare of the state – and thus for your welfare.

So begins the introductory remarks of the patient pocket guidebook “For Your Health” given to each one of the estimated 13,000 annual patients treated at the University Hospitals in the late 1950s. The pocket guide gives information on hospital meal times and local area restaurants, visiting hours, billing and insurance, and what to expect when discharged.

The guide also explains the roles of individual staff members including doctors, medical students, nurses, dietitians, medical technologists, occupational and physical therapists, and social workers as well as what services to expect during a stay ranging from TV rentals to appointments with a visiting barber.

The language and illustrations of the pocket guide differ from today’s approach to educate visitors about the hospitals and clinics. Even the media has changed to online virtual tours to educate patients and families about what to expect.

Browse through the pocket guide “For Your Health” below.

Help wanted

By Erik Moore January 28, 2008
Oral history, Project admin

The AHC History Project is about to launch an oral history project to work in tandem with the archives portion. The oral historian will hold a tenure-track, assistant professor position in the History of Medicine program. The focus of the oral histories will be on the individuals who participated in the formation and development of the AHC, its six schools and colleges, hospitals and clinics, and research centers. This will be a great opportunity for a scholar interested in the changes to medical education, research, patient care, and health policies during the latter half of the 20th century.

To learn more about the position and oral history project, please view the complete position description or see the job ad posted to H-Net.

Medical School admission, then & now

By Erik Moore January 18, 2008
Medical school

The origin of today’s Medical School at the University of Minnesota dates back to the formation of the University in 1851. The territorial act establishing the University provided for a Department of Medicine, however, it was not created until 1882.

The Department of Medicine was not a teaching department but rather a credentialing board that provided examinations and conferred MDs upon physicians who had learned to practice medicine by studying with a preceptor.

In April 1887, Percy Millard, Charles Hewitt, D. Hand, and President Cyrus Northrop presented to the Board of Regents their request to abolish the Department of Medicine and replace it with a new department that would consist of the College of Medicine and Surgery, the College of Homeopathic Medicine and Surgery, and the College of Dentistry. The Regents approved of the reorganization of the Department of Medicine in February 1888. The first class began in October 1888.

As part of the approval process, the Regents specified the admission requirements for the Department of Medicine. Students were evaluated by

1. Writing legibly and correctly an English composition of not less than two hundred words.

2. Translation of easy Latin prose, or, in lieu thereof, by passing an approved examination in any one of the following subjects: French, German, or one of the Scandinavian languages.

3. Passing an examination upon either of the elements of Algebra, Plane Geometry, or Botany.

4. Showing such a knowledge of Physics as may be obtained from the study of Balfour Stewart’s Elements of Physics.

However, examinations were not required for matriculated students or graduates of any reputable college, high school, or normal school, nor of persons holding a first-class teacher’s certificate or certificate of the State High School Board.

By contrast, today’s admission requirements are a little more demanding.

Select the image above to see the full page from the April 26, 1888 minutes.

Dr. Erwin Schaffer

By Erik Moore January 4, 2008
Dentistry

Dr. Erwin Schaffer, dean of the School for Dentistry from 1964 to 1977, passed away on December 25, 2007. Dean Schaffer’s tenure at the School of Dentistry served as the basis for the growth of the School and its many programs and research initiatives including geriatric dentistry and cleft palate prevention.

Appointed in 1964 by then President O. Meredith Wilson, Dean Schaffer was a part of the reformation of the health sciences and long range planning for health education at the University. After chairing the Division of Periodontology for seven years, his leadership helped to transform the free-standing School of Dentistry into one of the six schools and colleges of the AHC focused on research and clinical education. He also helped oversee the physical expansion of the School of Dentistry through planning and fundraising efforts for the construction of Unit A Health Science Tower (later renamed Moos Tower).

A memo written shortly after Dr. Schaffer’s appointment in October 1964 captures the enthusiasm many felt for the new dean’s plans. The memo highlights Dean Schaffer’s vision of preventive dentistry as the next building block to the School’s already established restorative program. Read the full memo below.

Health sciences unit A

By Erik Moore December 10, 2007
AHC documents, Dentistry, Facilities

We will become the architects of health care delivery programs that bring to every citizen of the state the finest health care that society has seen.

With these words, Malcolm Moos, the tenth president of the University of Minnesota, celebrated the groundbreaking for Health Sciences Unit A in 1971. Unit A was the first in a series of interconnected facilities designed to integrate interprofessional education and optimize health care delivery. Based on commissioned studies and committee recommendations during the 1960s, health science education was brought together under the newly created administrative body of the Academic Health Center as well as physically in a complex of buildings, tunnels, and skyways.

Also during the groundbreaking ceremony, the Board of Regents charged the newly formed health sciences administration and faculty to remember

It is the Health Sciences facilities which we are here talking about today [that] will be implemented physically by a moral and intellectual commitment to see that all people of our state, those in the inner city and those in the out edges of the state, without regard to the particular circumstance in which they find themselves economically, will have available to them the degree and the facilities of health care which are adequate and appropriate to the dignity which each man has as a human being.

The building was completed in 1973 for a total cost of $45 million and was home to the School of Dentistry, teaching laboratories for basic sciences, and departments from the School of Public Health and the Medical School upon its opening.

In 1983 the University officially changed the name of Health Sciences Unit A to the Malcolm Moos Health Sciences Tower to commemorate President Moos’ commitment to the expansion of the health sciences on campus.

Read the full remarks made at the groundbreaking ceremony on April 1, 1971.

CENSHARE records

By Erik Moore December 4, 2007
Acquisitions, Public health, Veterinary medicine

The Center to Study Human Animal Relationships and Environments (CENSHARE) recently transfer approximately 6 cubic feet of records to the archives. The transfer was prompted by the Center’s relocation to its new facilities at 717 Delaware.

The Center, an early promoter of companion animal therapies and studies, is situated within the School of Public Health and has historical ties with the College of Veterinary Medicine. CENSHARE’s director, Dr. R. K. Anderson, and long-time supporter, Ruth Foster, are well known for their design of the Gentle Leader.

The records include early correspondence on establishing the Center, information bulletins regarding human-animal relationships, conference planning, material related to pet therapies and animal assistance studies and projects, administrative records, newsletters, and photographs. The material documents the Center’s beginnings in the early 1980s through the 1990s. More recent and active records are still maintained by the Center.

Read an early bulletin published by the Center describing pet therapy:

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