Author Archives: Maggie Hughes

Prosper Alpini’s De Plantis Exoticis

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One of the many volumes in the UCSF Special Collections is a first edition of De Plantis Exoticis, written by Prosper Alpini and first published in 1627. Take a look at the engraved title page below:

Alpini, Prospero, De Plantis Exoticis

Alpini, Prosper, De Plantis Exoticis, title page

De Plantis Exoticis, edited posthumously by Aplini’s son, builds on an earlier work of the author’s, De Plantis Aegypti liber, 1592. Exoticis boasts 145 beautiful, full-page engravings of plants, comprising nearly half of the entire volume.

Alpini, Prosper, De Plantis Exoticis

Alpini, Prosper, De Plantis Exoticis

Alpini was born in the Republic of Venice in 1553 and died at the age of 63 in 1617. During his career he was a personal physician and a professor of botany at Padua. Alpini was the first to publish descriptions of many plants that were unknown to other botanists at the time. Much of this information was gathered during his travels to Crete, other Greek islands, and Egypt.

Alpini, Prosper, De Plantis Exoticis, p. 46

Alpini, Prosper, De Plantis Exoticis, p. 46

Alpini, Prosper, De Plantis Exoticis, p. 12-125

Alpini, Prosper, De Plantis Exoticis, p. 124-125

 

UCSF Cornerstone, 1897

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This somewhat rusty, old, copper box is a significant piece of UCSF history. It’s the cornerstone of the first medical school building on the UCSF Parnassus campus.

UCSF Cornerstone, 1897

UCSF Cornerstone, 1897

The “Old Medical School Building,” see photographs here and here, was completed in 1898 and torn down in the spring of 1967. The building was originally erected to both provide more room for and consolidate the dispersed campus of the Affiliated Colleges onto Parnassus Avenue. (Briefly, the Affiliated Colleges were part of the University of California and refer to the Schools of Pharmacy, Medicine, and Dentistry– later known as UCSF.) This new site, overlooking Golden Gate Park where the Parnassus campus of UCSF still is today, was donated by the mayor of San Francisco, Alfred Sutro, in 1895.

The cornerstone of the medical school, laid on March 27, 1897, was comprised of a copper box which functioned as a time capsule.  The box was unearthed and cut open in March of 1967 when the building was torn down. Inside the box were well preserved San Francisco newspapers, a copy of the site deed donated by Adolph Sutro, photos of the Affiliated College Buildings, and University announcements of the establishment of the schools of medicine, pharmacy, dentistry, and law.

The Evening Post, March 26, 1897

The Evening Post, March 26, 1897

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Rotating Art Program and Portraits in the Reading Room

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Here at the Archives & Special Collections we have, in addition to papers, books, and artifacts, a collection of works of art. This collection is widely unknown on campus due to our limited ability to showcase the pieces. However, this anonymity will come to an end with our new rotating art program. Through this initiative, we will be displaying different pieces of art on the walls of our reading room and changing them approximately every three months.

The inaugural works are two portraits of people significant to UCSF’s history– John Bertrand deCusance Morant Saunders, M.D. and William John Kerr, M.D.

William John Kerr, M.D. Alfred Jonniaux (Belgian, 1882-1974) 1949

William John Kerr, M.D.
Alfred Jonniaux (Belgian, 1882-1974)
1949

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UPDATED: The Fraus’ Favorites Cookbook, 1953

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The Fraus’ Favorites, 1953, cover

This handmade cookbook, from the University Archives collection AR 2012-22, offers a glimpse into UCSF student life 60 years ago. Compiled by the spouses of students in the School of Medicine class of 1953, it includes recipes for main dishes, salads, dressing, desserts, and “specials.” Continue reading →

We’re on Zazzle!

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We wanted to announce to all of you that a selection of our beloved treasures, here in the Archives & Special Collections, is featured in the UCSF Zazzle store. The online store allows you to purchase customizable note cards, tote bags, mugs, iPhone cases, water bottles and t-shirts that feature one-of-a-kind images from our collection.

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Recently, we’ve added items that showcase pieces in the “Pharmacy and Pharmacists” exhibition of Japanese Woodblock Prints– currently on display in the  UCSF Library.

 

The online store also includes items with images from past exhibitions of the Japanese Woodblock Prints Collection. These represent a cross-section of the collection, featuring colorful ukiyo-e scenes on topics such as women’s health, diet and nutrition, spirituality, views of foreigners, and traditional Chinese healing methods.

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designall (3)designall (4)Items with historical UCSF photographs from the Photograph Collection are also available. Check out the fascinating views of campus from the turn of the twentieth century.

 

Update & Alumna Spotlight: Medical Sciences Library Photograph

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We were thrilled to find out that a UCSF alumna spotted herself in one of the photographs of the old Medical Sciences library! New library Med Sci

Sally Alpers Arney is shown sitting at the table, third from the left, looking, I think we can all agree, extremely studious. At the time the photograph was taken, 1958, Sally was in her first year of the UCSF nursing program. She left the nursing school after that year and later graduated from the UCSF physical therapy program in 1961.

Sally Alpers, Medi-Cal, 1961

Sally Alpers, Medi-Cal yearbook, 1961

Sally was kind enough to share a few memories about UCSF, student life pre-women’s movement, and what she’s been up to for the last 50 years or so. Read on..

“My favorite memories were of having dinner with my classmates and the medical students in the cafeteria.  Most, if not all, of the medical students were guys, all of the nursing classmates were “girls”.  It was the olden days in the Fifties.

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Photographs of old Medical Sciences Library

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The images that appear in Brought to Light’s header hail from the UCSF Archives & Special Collections’ Photograph Collection. Choosing the images to welcome you to our blog– if you refresh the page a few times you’ll notice that it cycles through a small variety– was quite enjoyable. We hope you like them and will bring you more information on the photographs periodically.

New library Med Sci

UCSF Medical Sciences Library, 1950s.

Three different headers feature these two photographs of UCSF’s old library, sure to induce fits of nostalgia for the days of card catalogs.

OMSB library 50s

UCSF Medical Sciences Library, 1950s.

The lovely library in the photographs was located in the Medical Sciences building, 513 Parnassus Ave, on the UCSF Parnassus campus. The building was designed by Blanchard and Maher and built in the early 1950’s alongside the Teaching Hospital, what is now known as the Medical Center and Children’s Hospital.

The library space within Medical Sciences was forfeited and repurposed when the Kalmanovitz Library, 530 Parnassus Avenue, opened in 1990– gaining space and inarguably better scenic views! The former location of the main entrance to the library is unrecognizable today– otherwise known as Room S-256. Room S-256 sits inconspicuously on the left at the top large, open staircase across from Cole Hall.

UCSF now boasts two libraries, the Parnassus Library as well as the Mission Bay FAMRI Library. Stop by and say hi!