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Spring/Summer 2006.........................Vol. 14, No. 1
Two Donors
The Trent Collection has been the fortunate recipient of a substantial gift from the estate of Dr. William Reid Haas and Mrs. Ardelle B. Haas. Dr. Haas graduated from Duke with an MD degree in 1938 and practiced internal medicine in California. He was at one time the Director of Professional Services at the VA Hospital in Oakland, California. Although we know very little about Dr. Haas’ life and career, we do have a record of his support of the Trent Collection for several decades preceding his death in 1986. Mrs. Haas died last year at the age of 95. While our plans are not yet complete, we intend to establish an endowment, the income from which will be used to support scholarships for the study of the history of medicine, an essay prize, various educational activities, and rare book acquisitions. Within a few months, our Website will have information and instructions on how to apply for the scholarships and educational funds and how to participate in the essay competition.
When Dr. Enrique Montero (’44, ’47) came to Duke from Ecuador to continue his medical training, he knew no one in the States. Dr. & Mrs. Trent welcomed him into their home and a friendship developed. Over the passing years Dr. Montero has kept in touch with the Trent/Semans family and has faithfully supported the Trent Collection since its inception. Now retired from his practice, Dr. Montero lives in Georgia with his wife Ellen. Together they made a generous gift late last year to the Trent Collection in honor of Mrs. Mary DBT Semans for the purchase of rare books. One of the books currently in the exhibit on Infants and Invalids was acquired with funds from their gift.
We are grateful to our donors for valuing history of medicine and generously supporting the Trent Collection.
Dr. William R. Haas Duke University School of Medicine Class Photo 1934 |
Surgical House Staff, mid 1940s Dr. Enrique Montero (row 1: 2nd from left) Dr. Josiah Charles Trent (row 3: 5th from left) |
A Fifty-Year Anniversary
On April 20, 1956, the Josiah C. Trent Collection of Books on the History of Medicine was formally dedicated at 4:30 pm on a Friday during the 29th annual meeting of the American Association of the History of Medicine. Dr. John F. Fulton, one of the founders of the Historical Library at Yale, was the featured speaker. The Library and the Trent Room were at that time located on the ground level of what is today the Davison Building in the Duke South Clinics. When the move was made to our current location in 1975, the Duke carpenters carefully dismantled the pine paneling, the bookcase doors, and the fireplace-surround acquired from the Duke of Richmond’s house in Plaistow, England and reassembled the 1720 period room to fit a somewhat different shape in the new Library. Legend has it the carpenters had to create a few extra pieces to make it work; however, they were so skilled it is impossible to tell where the reproductions are.
The Room continues to house selections from Dr. Trent’s rare collection along with museum-quality artifacts, which include his ivory anatomical manikins. In addition to its use by the students, faculty, and staff of the Medical Center and University, the Room and its collections are regularly visited by prospective medical students, faculty candidates, visiting scholars, and dignitaries, as well as family members of patients and visitors to Durham.
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At the dedication: Dr. Wilburt C. Davison, Dean of the Medical School (2nd from left)
Mrs. Mary DBT Semans (3rd from right), Dr. John F. Fulton (far right) |
Infants & Invalids
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A new exhibit brings together materials from our collections on the theme of devices used to care for and treat infants as well as invalids of any age. The materials selected are drawn from gifts received from a wide variety of donors over a great many years: Drs. George & Evelyn Wilbanks, Dr. & Mrs. Enrique Montero, Ms. Virginia M. Carden, Mr. Robert W. Severance, Dr. & Mrs. Emil Beyer, and Mr. Frank Hinnant.
Reproductions of delicately colored steelplate engravings from Crosilhes’ Le Médecin de la Famille (1849) are used as illustrations. Included are a diphtheria kit, a lactometer, infant and invalid feeders, medicine spoons, an eye bath, a collection of stethoscopes, several syringes, bloodletting and cupping equipment, a steam atomizer, a family medicine chest, and an asafetida amulet. A charming collection of germ stories written for a young patient by a family physician from Beardstown, Illinois in the early 1930s is presented next to an eighteenth century text promoting the use of the goat as a wet-nurse.
The exhibit will be on display in the lower lobby cases in the Library through early September.
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To subscribe to the Trent Associates Report or to receive notification by email when the Web version is available, please send your name, department, box number, and email address to the History of Medicine Collections, Medical Center Library, Box 3702, DUMC. Please let us know if you would like to receive email notification only, a paper copy only, or both. You may also subscribe by sending this information via email to mclhistory@mc.duke.edu.
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Published at regular intervals during the year.
History of Medicine Collections Duke University Medical Center Library Box 3702, Durham, NC 27710 Suzanne Porter, Curator & Editor Beverly Murphy, Assistant Editor/Photographer |
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Contact Us (919) 660-1144
mclhistory@mc.duke.edu
DUMC 3702 Durham, NC 27710 USA
http://www.mclibrary.duke.edu/hom/publications/newsletter/summer06 Last modified: 8-26-2008 © 2010 Duke University Medical Center Library |