Category Archives: Digital Projects

Exploring the Archives for 150: School of Nursing Comic Books

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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 1944, the graduating class of the UCSF School of Nursing received a unique gift…a comic book dedicated to their experiences as student nurses.

Cover of The Adventures of Miss Smith, Archives Classification, N-S, folder 1:1

Cover of The Adventures of Miss Smith, Archives Classification, N-S, folder 1:1

This homemade book, created by Marjorie Carlson and titled The Adventures of Miss Smith, includes 31 illustrations that parody everything from late-night cram study sessions to overwhelming patient and doctor requests.

Illustration from The Adventures of Miss Smith, Archives Classification, N-S, folder 1:1

Carlson makes special note of the imposing landscape of Parnassus, a reference to which current students and staff can definitely relate!

Illustration from The Adventures of Miss Smith, Archives Classification, N-S, folder 1:1.

Illustration from The Adventures of Miss Smith, Archives Classification, N-S, folder 1:1.

In 1947, nursing student Phyllis P. Benson created a similar comic book, titled Nurses in Embryo.

Illustration from Nurses in Embryo, Archives Classification, N-S, folder 7:1

Cover of Nurses in Embryo, Archives Classification, N-S, folder 7:1

In her introduction, Benson notes that the book “is the realization of an idea one of us had during our pre-clinical semester – to record some of the amusing, humiliating and exasperating experiences we’ve had in training both on and off duty. Each of our twenty-nine class members is represented…these things couldn’t have happened – but they did!”

Illustration from Nurses in Embryo, Archives Classification, N-S, folder 7:1

Illustration from Nurses in Embryo, Archives Classification, N-S, folder 7:1

While Benson maintains a humorous tone throughout, she also illustrates some serious issues that mid-century nursing students faced. For instance, five of the twenty-nine anecdotal illustrations reference sexual harassment from doctors and patients.

Illustration from Nurses in Embryo, Archives Classification, N-S, folder 7:1

Illustration from Nurses in Embryo, Archives Classification, N-S, folder 7:1

Documents like these provide excellent evidence for researchers looking to better understand students’ lives and experiences. They speak to the history of nursing training at UCSF and showcase unique individual stories. To view more images from the books, visit our digital collections or come see the real thing in the UCSF Archives and Special Collections.

New Faces in Archives

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Kelsi Evans

Kelsi Evans

Kelsi Evans
Our new Assistant Research Archivist, Kelsi Evans who joined the archives team a month ago, will help with research and organization for several onsite and online exhibits, as well as processing, cataloging, digitization, and social media projects related to the University sesquicentennial. She will respond to reference requests relating to UCSF History and 150th anniversary, research and provide historical information for UCSF schools and departments. Kelsi will be contributing to the Archives blog and support Archives outreach programs.
She will also spend half of her time completing processing of the Lawrence Crooks Radiologic Imaging Laboratory Records and establishing the Lawrence Crooks Radiologic Imaging Technology Digital Collection.
Dr. Crooks’ collection provides insights into the history of the development and testing of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) technology. The material donated by Dr. Crooks is a major addition to the archives holdings and is treasured for its high scholarly value and ability to broaden research perspective. Some of these treasures are lacking intellectual control and have no or minimal descriptive data. The goal of this project is to create a detailed finding aid and digitize a sizable and significant part of this material to build a comprehensive on-line collection. The archives will produce an exhibit at the UCSF library showcasing the key documents and artifacts. Subsequently, an online companion exhibit will be built and will be accessible through the UCSF library site.
Kelsi holds a master’s degree in Archives and Public History from New York University and completed graduate coursework in American History at UC Santa Cruz. She has worked as an archivist in the Fales Library and Special Collections at NYU, the Foundation for Landscape Studies in NYC, and the Lowe Art Museum at the University of Miami. Additionally, she has planned events and coordinated volunteers for non-profit organizations, including Old Spanish Days Fiesta in Santa Barbara. Originally from Kansas City, Missouri, Kelsi has lived in the Bay Area for the past several years and enjoys California’s farmers’ markets and beaches.

Armani Fontanilla

Armani Fontanilla

Armani Fontanilla

This fall semester the UCSF Archives & Special Collections is hosting an intern from the University of San Francisco (USF) public history program. Armani is currently a senior at the USF majoring in History with an emphasis on European and Asian Studies. He is originally from San Jose, and has lived in California his entire life. After he graduates from USF, he hopes to be able to earn a teaching position at his old high school, Bellarmine College Preparatory, and eventually pursue a Masters. In choosing the UCSF archives through the USF internship program, he hopes to not only practice skills that can only be found through working at an established institution but to also enhance his ability to do archival work and explore history of Western medicine at the archives.
Armani is working on organizing and creating an inventory of biographical files. This frequently consulted collection includes CVs, newspaper clippings, obituaries, bio sketches of hundreds of UCSF researchers, clinicians, staff, and alumni. Armani will also assist with digitizing images and documents for the University sesquicentennial events.

Eric L. Berne exhibit marks the conclusion of the first phase of Eric Berne Papers Processing Project

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The UCSF Archives & Special Collections would like to announce the opening of the new exhibit, “Eric L. Berne Archive: The Birth of Transactional Analysis.” This exhibit marks the conclusion of the first phase of the Eric Berne Archive Processing project.
Eric L. Berne (1910-1970) was a practicing psychiatrist, lecturer and author. Best known for his development of the theory of Transactional Analysis, Berne published dozens of scholarly articles in the field of psychoanalysis and was the author of eight major books, including the bestseller Games People Play.

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Advertisements for Games People Play, the New York Times Book Review, August 14, 1966. Eric L. Berne papers, MSS 2005-08, box 4, folder 21 UCSF Archives & Special Collections.

The materials in the Archive were created by Dr. Berne (1910-1970) and by the organizations he founded: the San Francisco Social Psychiatry Seminars (SFSPS) and the International Transactional Analysis Association (ITAA). The Archive holds Berne’s personal and professional papers, including correspondence, writings, notes, conference programs, administrative records, photographs, and audio-visual recordings.

In the past nine months (September 2013-May 2014) project archivist, Kate Tasker has been working diligently to process six existing collections and two recently added accessions. As a result of this effort six detailed finding aids for the Eric Bern Archive consisting of 77 boxes or 41.8 linear feet were added to the Online Archive of California. Kate also organized and compiled an inventory for the Eric L. Berne Rare Book collection that includes over 300 books from Berne’s personal library and copies of his published works. With the help of our cataloger, Bea Mallek, these volumes were added to the UCSF Library catalog and can be consulted in the Archives & Special Collections reading room.

mss82-0_2_10_party-aug-1959-001

Costume party, August 1959.Eric L. Berne papers, MSS 82-0, box 2, folder 10 UCSF Archives & Special Collections.

Another important achievement was the digitization of more than 400 unique documents, containing Eric Berne correspondence (including letters from significant figures such as Alfred C. Kinsey, Paul Federn, and Karl Menninger), writings, educational records, lecture drafts, announcements and publications from the SFSPS and the ITAA as well as photographs. The Eric L. Berne digital collection, an educational portal containing information about Eric Berne, his studies and writings is now accessible to researchers and general public worldwide.

Announcement card for the opening of Berne’s San Francisco office, undated. Eric L. Berne papers, MSS 2003-12, box 3, folder 4, UCSF Archives & Special Collections.

Announcement card for the opening of Berne’s San Francisco office, undated. Eric L. Berne papers, MSS 2003-12, box 3, folder 4, UCSF Archives & Special Collections.

The exhibit highlights selected artifacts, photos and documents from the Eric L. Berne Archive at UCSF.
The visitors will be able to view Berne’s correspondence concerning the design and promotion of the board game “Games People Play” and a fully intact game set, edited typescript of his first book The Mind in Action, his glasses, an announcement about the opening of his practice in San Francisco, a selection of English and foreign language
editions of his book Games People Play and numerous photographs.

mss2005-08_4_20_gamespeopleplaygame_ca1967

Photograph of the components of the Games People Play board game, based on Eric Berne’s best-selling book of the same title. Eric L. Berne Papers, 1929-1970, MSS 2005-08, box 4, folder 20, UCSF Archives & Special Collections.

The Eric L. Berne Archive is housed in the UCSF Archives and Special Collections. Detailed processing and digitization for these materials were made possible by generous support from 23 TA Associations worldwide and many individual donors through the ITAA. The UCSF Archives will continue working with the ITAA and its supporters to secure funding for the digitization of additional items.
Please view the online companion for this exhibit on the UCSF library website.
The exhibit will be on view on the 5th floor of the Parnassus Campus Library, beginning August 8th, 2014.

Moving Mementos, 1930-1938

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Take a quick 7 minute break to watch this newly digitized and previously rarely seen footage we presented at last night’s Bay Area Video Coalition’s (BAVC) program– Video Capsule: Treasures from Bay Area Archives! UCSF’s contribution was this amalgamation of clips from “moving memento” films of the 1930s. For a time the UCSF School of Medicine had a tradition of creating these dynamic mementos of each class of students of staff. The films are comprised of faculty and staff introductions and a variety of candid scenes around campus and in the hospitals.

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

Or watch the video on the Internet Archive.

May 27th VIDEO CAPSULE: Treasures from Bay Area Archives

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Join us next Tuesday, May 27th, at the Exploratorium at 7pm to take in some rarely seen audiovisual treasures from local archives– including some of our own! UCSF’s contribution is an amalgamation of clips from “moving memento” films of the 1930s. For a time the UCSF School of Medicine began a tradition of creating these dynamic mementos of each class of students of staff. The films are comprised of faculty and staff introductions and a variety of candid scenes around campus and in the hospitals.

Here is more information from the Bay Area Video Coalition (BAVC), and do note that while the program is free there is a link to RSVP:

WHAT: Video Capsule: Treasures from Bay Area Archives
WHERE: Exploratorium, Pier 15: Kanbar Forum. Please enter the Exploratorium through the historic Pier 15 Bulkhead located directly on the Embarcadero.
WHEN: Tuesday, May 27 at 7PM
ADMISSION: Free

Join Bay Area Video Coalition (BAVC) Preservation program staff for an evening of video preservation revelry. Anchored by recent selections from BAVC’s Preservation Access Program*, tonight’s program includes archivist favorites, unexpected gems, and rarely seen treats from artists and arts organization participants from the program as well as friends from other Bay Area preservation organizations– including Stanford Media Preservation Lab, San Francisco Media Archive, UCSF Archives, the GLBT Historical Society and California Audiovisual Preservation Project. We invite you to join us as we share recent, prized work, making for a congenial celebration of archival craft and our media legacy.

Co-presented with BAVC by the Exploratorium Cinema Arts.

Let us know you’re coming. RSVP here.

Please note: there will be no Museum access during this program. Join the Exploratorium during adult evening hours on May 29th, 6-10pm, which will include a film screening co-curated by Walter Forsberg and Exploratorium Cinema Arts.

*The Preservation Access Program is made possible through the generous support from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA).

 

UCSF on Historypin

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Historypin is a website that allows users to view and post historical photos that have been digitally “pinned” to a map– thereby highlighting the location which may be unrecognizable in the photo. It allows photographs to be searched by place, time, or channel– channels are accounts that have been set up by various people and organizations.

We created our channel on Historypin– UCSF Archives & Special Collections— in part to begin celebrating the 150th anniversary of UCSF! Toland Medical College began in 1864 in the heart of San Francisco’s North Beach neighborhood, moved to the wide-open countryside of the Parnassus/Inner Sunset area, and has continued to change and grow.

We will continue to add images and information throughout the coming year. Check back often for new and interesting images of the ever-evolving UCSF campus. We encourage you to add comments or information to our pinned images!

One of the niftiest features of Historypin is the ability to pin an image directly onto street view. If the photograph was taken from the street (or similar angle and location), it can be placed on the map over the Google street view image of the image’s location– just like the image of Market Street Earthquake Damage, 1906 shown below. You can toggle the fade slide bar to play with photograph’s opaqueness.

Capture

For more detailed information on the history of UCSF, please see A History of UCSF.

Archives receives a gift to process and digitize Eric Berne collections

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We are happy to report the archives recently received a generous gift through the International Transactional Analysis Association (ITAA) that will support the processing and cataloguing of Eric Berne collections preserved at the UCSF Library. It will also permit us to make a comprehensive and sizable part of his papers available online through the archives website so that researchers, practitioners, and general public can easily access and search it at any time.

Eric Berne, M.D., 1969. Eric Lennard Berne Papers, 1959-66, MSS 82-0.

Eric Berne, M.D., 1969. Eric Lennard Berne Papers, 1959-66, MSS 82-0.

Dr. Eric Berne (1910 –1970) was the founder of Transactional Analysis and since the beginning of 1980s the archives has been serving as a repository of his papers, including correspondence, photographs, films, and manuscripts. These collections were donated to UCSF by his former colleagues from the ITAA and also members of the Berne family.

Dr. Berne’s archival materials will continue to be a valuable resource for scholars researching his life and theory and to Transactional Analysis practitioners who wish to develop a deeper understanding of the man and his body of work.

This fundraising campaign was spearheaded by Carol Solomon Ph.D., Transactional Analyst based in San Francisco. The efforts quickly spread internationally to include Terry Berne (Eric’s youngest son) in Spain, Ann Heathcote in the United Kingdom, Gloria Noriega in Mexico, and Marco Mazzetti in Italy.

We are grateful to all dedicated donors from the ITAA, the European Association for Transactional Analysis, and other associations in the United States and around the world as well as many individuals and Eric Berne’s family for contributing funds for this project. Thanks to their generosity this gift allowed the archives to hire a project archivist, Kate Tasker who at the end of September started working on arranging several Eric Berne collections and preparing their finding aids. She will be regularly posting updates about the progress of the project and profiling treasures from these collections.

Kate is a recent graduate of San Jose State University’s Master of Library and Information Science (MLIS) program. She has worked in the archival field for the past three years, and became a member of the Academy of Certified Archivists in August 2012. Kate also holds a B.A. in History from Sonoma State University, where she focused on social history.

And today I would like to introduce Kate’s first story chronicling the Eric Berne processing and digitization project at UCSF.

Digitized Audiovisual Treasures from UCSF Archives Accessible Online

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Today we would like to officially inaugurate the UCSF Archives and Special Collections audiovisual collection on the Internet Archive.

UCSF has been participating in the California Audiovisual Preservation Program (CAVPP) since its inception in 2010. This innovative program that received funding from the California State Library, the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) and the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) partners with diverse archives, museums and libraries from around the state to provide “digitization and access services for historic California audiovisual recordings.” The goal of the project is to save the rapidly deteriorating California audiovisual heritage: the majority of the cultural institutions in the state have hundreds of recordings in obsolete formats and poor physical condition.
The program selects the recordings based on the following criteria:

• statewide and/or local historical significance – (ideally) featuring widely known names and events
• risk of loss due to physical condition and format obsolescence
• never published commercially– must be primary source material
• intellectual property in the public domain, held by the owning library, or secured from the rights holder, when possible

CAVPP pays for digitization of materials according to best practices and standards, copies of digital files, management of metadata, and provides public access via the California Light and Sound online collection on the Internet Archive.

1964 School of Medicine centennial program

1964 School of Medicine centennial program

The UCSF collection includes 20 recordings with 11 more currently being digitized. Please take some time to browse these films and audio recordings documenting the development and growth of UCSF. In the next few months we will be showcasing individual items and today we would like to highlight a tape made at the centennial celebration of the School of Medicine on November 20, 1964:

[iframe src=”https://archive.org/embed/cum_000012″ width=”500″ height=”30″ frameborder=”0″ webkitallowfullscreen=”true” mozallowfullscreen=”true” allowfullscreen]

This tape contains almost 4 hours of recordings including addresses and presentations by William O. Reinhardt, Dean, School of Medicine; John B. de C. M. Saunders, Chancellor; Herbert Evans; H. Glenn Bell; William Kerr; Chauncey D. Leake; Peter Forsham; J. Englebert Dunphy; Alexander R. Margulis; Ernest W. Page; Harvey M. Patt; Seymor M. Farber; Henry S. Mass; Samuel Sherman; Alexander Simon; Lloyd H. Smith. To view the centennial program that included photographs by Ansel Adams please click here.

Here is a short excerpt from William O. Reinhardt, M.D. welcome introduction:

“…What are the functions of a school of medicine? The three basic essentials must be teaching, research and community service. The neglect of any one of these spells potential failure of its role. Indeed, the more that these three phases can be melded together, the greater the accomplishment of the institution will be.
Looking back with pride we see new potentials for the future. Therefore, the Centennial Committee has planned a program in which distinguished members of the faculty will survey the past and attempt to project the necessary directions of the future.
But for its greatest usefulness a school of medicine must offer more than narrow disciplines. It must turn our leaders in the community, thoughtful individuals well versed in many fields beyond the confines of the profession itself. Therefore, the celebration of the Centennial closes with a reconsideration of the role of the humanities in the education and profession of the physician.”

Robert L. Day Collection: Anatomy of an Archival Project – Part 2

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A Processing Prescription for School of Pharmacy History

Have you visited the 5th floor of the UCSF Library lately? If so, you might have seen the latest UCSF Archives and Special Collections exhibit featuring items from the new Robert L. Day Collection. With photographs, scrapbooks, letters, books, and dozens of curious artifacts, the collection illustrates School of Pharmacy history from 1872 to the present day.

When School of Pharmacy Associate Dean Robert Day retired after a distinguished 50-year career at UCSF, his office was bursting at the seams with historical items he had collected. From 19th-century faculty meeting minutes to recent academic plans and reports, from the School’s 1873 Inaugural Address to the research that pioneered the Clinical Pharmacy Program in 1966, his collection tells the story of more than a century of education and innovation in pharmacy practice at UCSF.

Show globes containing colored liquid were displayed in shop windows to identify the business as a pharmacy or drug store. This show globe belonged to Otto A. Weihe (1896-1961), an alumnus and instructor of the California College of Pharmacy. It contains the original colored liquid used by Weihe family when the globe was installed in the Modesto, CA pharmacy in 1911.

Show globes containing colored liquid were displayed in shop windows to identify the business as a pharmacy or drug store. This show globe belonged to Otto A. Weihe (1896-1961), an alumnus and instructor of the California College of Pharmacy. It contains the original colored liquid used by Weihe family when the globe was installed in the Modesto, CA pharmacy in 1911. Robert L. Day Collection, MSS 2011-23, UCSF Archives & Special Collections.

In addition to papers and photographs, Professor Day gathered enormous pharmacy ledgers containing prescriptions from the 1930s and 1940s, reels of 16mm film and audio tapes, and curious artifacts like a liquid-filled glass show globe. He generously donated these materials to the UCSF Library in 2012.

I joined the Archives and Special Collections staff from November 2012-May 2013 as a Project Archivist to process the Day collection and to prepare it for research and exhibit use. It was fascinating to peruse items like 19th-century textbooks from “Materia Medica” courses and to examine boxes of patent medicines for ailments like “dyspepsia” and “pleurisy.” I cataloged leather-bound volumes of faculty meeting minutes and reviewed letters from dozens of alumni recounting colorful stories of their early-twentieth-century student days and later careers. (A complete collection description and research guide is available on the Online Archive of California.) Continue reading →

Robert L. Day Collection: Anatomy of an Archival Project – Part 1

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Robert L. Day

Robert Day as a student, in a UCSF School of Pharmacy lab, 1957. Robert L. Day Collection, MSS 2011-23.

We were fortunate this past spring to benefit from the generosity of Dr. Robert Day and the expertise of the Library’s Archives and Special Collections. Dr. Day retired in 2012 from the UCSF School of Pharmacy faculty after an accomplished 50+-year academic career at UCSF. He retired as well from his unofficial position as the School’s historian. He was a magnet for all things old and wonderful related to the School and pharmacy in general.  His office was a floor-to-ceiling treasure trove, the precious contents of which he generously donated to UCSF upon his retirement. The new Robert L. Day Collection is complete with the 1906-1910 School of Pharmacy faculty meeting minutes; glorious show globes, the predecessors of which were used originally to mark the physical location of a pharmacy; a 1930 prescription for one pint of whiskey (undiluted); photos of our bell-bottomed and side-burned faculty members in the 60’s; and priceless detailed documents showing the transformation here at UCSF of pharmacy into a clinical profession.  Coming soon is Dr. Day’s oral history, a must read. Just as impressive as the items in the collection was the skilled and focused work of the archive professionals in the Library. Under the direction of UCSF Archivist Polina Ilieva, the boxes and boxes of precious items from Dr. Day’s office were collected, preserved, digitized, and catalogued into a findable resource that is now accessible worldwide. I encourage anyone who might have archival documents or special collections of health- or science-related items to contact the Library. In the meantime, enjoy the Robert L. Day Collection.

Susan Levings, MS
Associate Dean, Planning and Communications
UCSF School of Pharmacy