About this collection
This digital collection provides access to a representative group of objects from the Medical Artifacts Collection housed in Special Collections and Archives at the Health Sciences Library. Numbering over 6,000 items, the Medical Artifacts Collection includes surgical, dental, and diagnostic instruments, therapeutic devices, uniforms of healthcare professions, and medical furniture related to the history of health care in Virginia since 1838.
In the 1930s former Medical College of Virginia President William T. Sanger and Directing Librarian E.C.L. Miller created a small museum collection in the college library forming the nucleus of the Medical Artifacts Collection. A number of items from the collection are on display in the Peter N. Pastore History of Medicine Exhibit Hall at the Health Sciences Library.
These medical artifacts, represented by images in this collection, have been assigned both uniform object types and Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) to facilitate access. The object types were derived from MeSH, The Revised Nomenclature for Museum Cataloging, and the Dittrick Medical History Center's subject headings for medical history objects. Only a small portion of the collection is represented here. Please contact Health Sciences Library Special Collections & Archives about other objects in the Medical Artifacts Collection.
Highlights from the collection
Brass fleam and lancet, 1820-1850
Brass hinged enclosure with two fleam blades and a lancet blade. The apparatus is roughly constructed, and shows signs of significant use and verdigris on the interior of the brass housing. Fleam blades are approximately equal in width, but vary in distance projecting from the blade arm.
Urethral Sound Set, 1878-1884
Set of urethral sounds in a velvet-lined wooden case. The box is made of dark-colored wood, and has a brass nameplate on the top which is engraved, "Morris L. King M.D. Roosevelt Hospital 1882-83." Box closes with a locking catch. The interior of the case is divided into two compartments, lined with purple velvet and with a padded velvet divider between the two to keep instruments in the upper tray in place which has a gold foil seal reading "Philip H. Schmidt Surgical "Instruments No. 1311 Broadway Cor. 34th St. N.Y." The tray in the upper lid has two large, empty troughs, and has purpose-cut slots for the included catheter and gauge. The lower tray holds a complete set of 16 sounds of different sizes, which correspond to the sizes marked on the included gauge. Each sound's proximal end is engraved with two numbers, signifying the sound's size, and "P.H. Schmidt N.Y."
Head Mirror, 1925-1945
Adjustable head mirror with adjustable leather strap. Mirror is circular, with a circular aperture and a slightly convex lens encased and backed by steel, which is attached by a fully rotatable and adjustable screw mechanism which allows the mirror to be completely detached from its harness. Strap is of thick brown leather, and has a steel clasp which a snap mechanism for adjusting its length.
Copyright
This material is protected by copyright, and copyright is held by VCU. You are permitted to use this material in any way that is permitted by copyright. In addition, this material is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 4.0 International license (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0). Acknowledgment of Virginia Commonwealth University Libraries as a source is required.
Credits
VCU Libraries digitized this collection from 2008 to 2010. Research and Collections Specialist Taber Bain and Digital Specialist Jennifer Cason digitized the collection and conducted quality control. The metadata, derived from the accession records maintained by the Health Sciences Special Collections and Archives staff, was modified and finalized by Metadata Librarian Mary Anne Dyer.
