2014 Winter Holiday Closure

The Archives and Special Collections will be closed from Wednesday, December 23, 2014 through Thursday, January 1st, 2015. We will reopen on Friday, January 2nd.

Gingerbread version of The Anatomy of Human Body: Illustrated in One Hundred & Fifty Eight Plates

Gingerbread version of The Anatomy of Human Body: Illustrated in One Hundred & Fifty Eight Plates by the UCSF Library 5th floor staff.

For our entry into the UCSF Library staff gingerbread house contest we used the pieces of the house to create a rare book in a cradle, specifically, we made a tastier version of Andrew Fyfe’s The Anatomy of the Human Body: Illustrated in One Hundred and Fifty Eight Plates, 1830, that we showed you earlier this fall on the blog

Happy holidays again! See you in the new year!

Holiday Wishes from UCSF Archives!

UCSF Library Holiday CardDear supporters and friends of UCSF Archives & Special Collections!

We would like to express our gratitude to all of you for your help in building our historical collections through donations of rare books, personal papers, and unique artifacts. Thank you for taking the time to read how UCSF Archives preserves the history of UCSF.
Over the past several years we have been providing archival documents, photographs and film footage to enrich the celebration of UCSF’s 150th Anniversary. This year we inaugurated archives lecture series and launched a Twitter account to share historical tidbits, provide updates on events, acquisitions and our diverse projects. Currently the archives team is working on several exhibits commemorating UCSF’s achievements that will be opened in 2015.

Looking forward to serving you in the New Year!

UCSF Clock Tower

Millberry Union Clock Tower as it looks today.

Millberry Union Clock Tower, 2014

Have you ever noticed the large transparent clock on the exterior of Millberry Union? It looks like this:

I walk past it often without giving it a second thought, but the clock tower has quite an interesting history.

Often referred to now as the “Founders’ Clock,” it is also known as the “Toland Clock Tower” and “Seth Thomas Clock.” You may also have seen photographs of the Old Medical School building from time to time, with a large clock atop the center of the building– the same clock as Millberry’s clock.

One of our rotating banner images here on Brought to Light depicts the old Medical Building, including the Seth Thomas Clock, through the lens of well-known photographer Ansel Adams. It’s a slice of this photograph:

toland-clock-tower_d68c000ac8

Ansel Adams, Clock Tower of old Affiliated Colleges building, with new structures in fog, August 1964

The above building was the College of Medicine, and the first building to have been erected on the Parnassus campus in 1897. Seth Thomas was a well-known clockmaker in Connecticut in the early and mid 19th century. The clock was brought to San Francisco via ship that traveled around Cape Horn, South America to be a crown jewel in the Affiliated Colleges campus. The image, taken in 1964, shows the old College of Medicine building surrounded by the more modern campus buildings of today in the background and on the left. When the old College of Medicine building was torn down in 1967, a group of “friends of the clock”, led by Alison Saunders, MD and assisted by Meyer Schindler, MD ’38, formed to ensure it’s safekeeping until it could be moved to a new location on campus. “We have salvaged the granite pillars and blocks as well as the clock from the old building that was a landmark on Parnassus Heights . . . ,” Dr. Alison Saunders declared in 1969 as chair of the UCSF Campus Court Development Commission.

The process to find the famous clock a new home took 14 years. Finally, in 1982 the inner-workings of the clock were reinstalled on Millberry Union, 500 Parnassus Ave, where it lives today.

Founders Clock, Millberry Union, circa 1982

Founders Clock, Millberry Union, circa 1982

Next time you’re walking around the Parnassus campus, take a closer look at the historic clock. It is a work of art worthy of our attention.

The inscription reads: “Carried by ship around Cape Horn, this Seth Thomas Clock was installed on the Medical School of the Affiliated Colleges in 1897. Surviving the 1906 earthquake, it served the University and community for 70 years. Members of the UCSF family have made possible its restoration as a campus landmark.”

Check out this article that details the historical inspiration for a new clock, “Saunder’s Clock,” in the Mission Hall courtyard of the UCSF Mission Bay campus.

Exploring the Archives for 150: Dr. Mary Olney’s Summer Camp for Children with Diabetes

In preparation for UCSF’s 150th anniversary celebration exhibits, we’ve been doing a bit of exploring in the vaults. For the next several months, I’ll be posting some of the treasures we’ve discovered!

In 1938, UCSF pediatrician Mary B. Olney founded the first wilderness camp in California for children with diabetes. Unlike many of her contemporaries, Dr. Olney believed that diabetic children could live active, healthy lives through proper disease management. Dr. Olney, known as “Doc” to her young patients, provided a fun, supportive space and encouraged campers to take control of their health. Bearskin Meadow Camp is still active today thanks in large part to the tradition of care and empowerment fostered by Olney.

Dr. Mary Olney on a hike, ca. 1940

Dr. Mary Olney on a hike, ca. 1940. MSS 98-64, box 1, folder 6

Dr. Olney graduated from UCSF in 1932. She completed her training in pediatrics at San Francisco General Hospital and was later appointed Clinical Professor of Pediatrics at UCSF. At the time of her death in 1993, Olney had served the UCSF community for over fifty years.

A postcard filled in by Dr. Mary Olney while at camp Bearskin Meadow. It is addressed to her father, 1961. MSS 98-64

A camp postcard filled in by Dr. Mary Olney while at Bearskin Meadow. It is addressed to her father, 1961. MSS 98-64, box 1, folder 27

Olney’s first group of campers attended a two-week session at Los Posados in Napa County. The camp eventually developed into Bearskin Meadow, a permanent campsite located near Kings Canyon National Park. The camp welcomed boys and girls and provided coeducational activities. Diabetes management instruction focused on diet, exercise, and proper insulin administration.

Dr. Mary Olney teaching nutritional information to campers. MSS 98-64

Dr. Mary Olney teaching a nutrition class for campers. MSS 98-64, box 1, folder 6

Camp staff performing urinalysis. Photograph with original caption, perhaps from a deconstructed scrapbook. MSS 98-64

Camp staff performing urinalyses. Photograph with original caption, perhaps from a deconstructed scrapbook. MSS 98-64, box 2, folder 45

Olney and the counselors, many of whom were medical students, taught a holistic system of care that campers could take home with them.

Camp staff and counselors, ca. 1941. MSS 98-64

Camp staff and counselors, ca. 1941. MSS 98-64, box 1, folder 34

Alongside nutrition classes and medication instruction, campers took nature hikes, learned to swim, played sports, and sang campfire songs. As Olney later noted in a 1988 interview in the UCSF Alumni Faculty Association Bulletin, this physically robust approach to diabetes management differed dramatically from older systems. Olney remembered that when campers first arrived, they often “didn’t know they could do hiking because the old way of treating diabetes was to let the child go from school to home and sit in a chair until suppertime and then go to bed.”

Camp announcement noting the different activities and a typical camp day, 1962. MSS 98-64

Camp announcement noting the different activities of a typical camp day, 1962. MSS 98-64, box 2, folder 77

UCSF continues to honor and support Olney’s work through the Mary B. Olney MD / KAK Chair in Pediatric Diabetes and Clinical Research. In the archives, we house the Mary B. Olney papers, MSS 98-64. The collection includes camp photographs, correspondence, meal plans, and publicity and fundraising material. It also contains records relating to the Diabetic Youth Foundation, an organization created by Olney and her longtime partner Dr. Ellen Simpson to help administer the camp and other services.

The cover image of Bear Facts, vol 11, no. 6, a publication created by campers and counselors at Bearskin Meadow. The Mary B. Olney collection includes numerous issues of Bear Facts.

The cover image of Bear Facts, vol II, no. 6, a publication created by campers and counselors at Bearskin Meadow Camp. The Mary B. Olney collection includes numerous different issues of Bear Facts. MSS 98-64, box addition 3, folder 4

To view more items from the Mary B. Olney papers, visit our digital collections!

Lecture now online: Shimkin’s “Lost Colony” (1947-1953)

The lecture Shimkin’s “Lost Colony” (1947-1953): Early Interdisciplinary Cancer Research at UCSF presented by Michael Thaler, MD, MA last month on October 13th is now available online free via the Internet Archive.

[iframe src=”https://archive.org/embed/ShimkinsLostColony1947-1953EarlyInterdisciplinaryCancerResearchAtUCSF” width=”640″ height=”480″ frameborder=”0″ webkitallowfullscreen=”true” mozallowfullscreen=”true” allowfullscreen]

(It seems that Polina’s microphone wasn’t turned on; just be patient, the sound is fine for Dr. Thaler’s presentation.)

The Laboratory of Experimental Oncology (LEO) was the brain child of Michael B. Shimkin, a career U.S. Public Health Service physician and cancer research at the National Cancer Institute. LEO was established in 1947 at Laguna Honda Hospital at Laguna Honda Hospital, jointly administered by the NCI and UCSF. Speaker Michael Thaler, MD, MA explains how Shimkin created one of the first combined interdisciplinary clinical and basic science research units embedded in a medical school. In this setting, Shimkin introduced the patient release form and was instrumental in the establishment of universal guidelines for the ethical conduct of experiments with human subjects.

Dr. Thaler spoke as part of our ongoing UCSF Archives & Special Collections Lecture Series which serves to introduce a wider community to our holdings, provide an opportunity for researchers to discuss how they use this material, and celebrate clinicians, scientists, and health care professionals who have donated their papers to the archives.

Next, we will welcome Mark Honigsbaum, PhD to discuss Karl F. Meyer: California’s Forgotten Microbe Hunter on Friday, December 5th at noon in the Library’s Lange Room. Please join us!

World AIDS Day

AIDS Research License Plate Program application form.

AIDS Research License Plate Program application form, UCSF Center for AIDS Prevention Studies (CAPS) records

UCSF Archives continues to collect and preserve AIDS History materials. Here is a list of recently cataloged collections that can be viewed in the reading room:
AR 2005-15, UCSF Center for AIDS Prevention Studies (CAPS) records, 1984-2004
AR 2007-14, UCSF AIDS Health Project records, 1983-2003
MSS 2001-04, Sally Hughes AIDS research collection, 1981-1997
MSS 96-32, Brooks Linton ephemera collection, 1983-1995