Recent Acquisition: Bernard Zakheim Collection

Posted on February 24, 2015 by Polina Ilieva

Ever since the Polish-born artist Bernard Zakheim painted a series of murals at UCSF in 1930s they remain the jewel of the University’s Art Collection. These murals include ten panel series in Toland Hall, “History of Medicine in California,” and two panels originally located in the Cole Hall and later moved to the Health Sciences West (HSW) lecture halls – “Modern Medicine” and “Ancient Medicine: Superstition in Medicine.” Zakheim worked with Diego Rivera in Mexico City and is best known for contributing the Library Periodical Room fresco and helping organize the New Deal art project at the Coit Tower in San Francisco. From the time of their unveiling, the archives has been compiling reference materials about these murals and now we are delighted to report that a comprehensive set of materials documenting how these frescoes were created and preserved was donated to UCSF (Bernard Zakheim collection, MSS 2014-15).

Viewing murals at Toland Hall at UCSF, left to right: F. Stanley Durie, Superintendent of UC Hospital, Dr. William E. Carter, Phyllis Wrightson, Joseph Allen, State Director of WPA Federal Art Project, Bernard Zakehim (ca. 1939)

Last year I had the privilege to meet one of the sons of the artist who also helped restore the frescoes in 1970s when the wallpaper covering them for almost two decades was removed and the two panels were relocated from the original Cole Hall to HSW.

Artist Bernard Zakheim with his son Nathan Zakheim (1967)

One of the biggest archives’ advocates, Dr. Robert Sherins (SOM, 1963) introduced me to Nathan Zakheim. Nathan, a talented art conservator based in Los Angeles, is the keeper of his father’s extensive archives and art collection. Last fall we met at his warehouse to review and pack the documents destined for UCSF.

The idea to commission murals was brought by Dr. Isabella Perry, professor of pathology after seeing the frescoes Zakheim painted at the Alemany Public Health Center and then spearheaded by Chauncey D. Leake, professor of pharmacology and medical historian. The university murals undertaking which was partially funded by the WPA Federal Art Project and also sponsored by the university was a true collaborative effort between Zakheim’s team and UCSF faculty (including renowned UCSF doctors, Chauncey D. Leake, George Lyman, Langley Porter, Salvatore P. Lucia, W. E. Carter, and F. W Lynch). The artist was provided unrestricted access to the Crummer Room containing numerous books on the history of medicine, including recently published “California’s Medical Story” by Dr. Henry Harris. Zakheim’s assistant, Phyllis Wrightson did extensive research about California medical history which becomes apparent in the sketchbook that she kept for the project. The instruments depicted by her on these pages are still preserved at the archives’ artifact collection and will be displayed as part of the 150th anniversary exhibit.

Drawings of surgical instruments from the UCSF collection for the panel devoted to Don Pedro Prat, surgeon of the Portolá expedition.

Surgeon Don Pedro Prat treats patient’s leg, James Ohio Pattie vaccinates Californians.

One of the sketches portrays fur trader James Ohio Pattie who was captured for illegal trapping in California and earned his release from Mexican imprisonment in San Diego by using the smallpox vaccine to curtail the epidemic spreading among Californians (that story based on the Pattie’s “Personal Narrative” was later proved to be inaccurate as it was measles epidemic* that occurred in Alta California at that time).

Bernard Zakheim at work, 1937

Drawing of James Ohio Pattie.

Bernard Zakheim and his team interviewed numerous faculty members who are depicted in the panel “Rational Medicine,” including Robert Stone, professor of radiology, Francis S. Smith, pediatrician and dean of the School of Medicine, Karl F. Meyer, director of the Hooper Foundation, anesthesiologist Arthur Guedel and Isabella Perry to name just a few.

Scaffoldings in the original Cole Hall (that was located at the School of Medicine building) set up while Bernard Zakheim was working on the panel “Rational Medicine.”

We are grateful to the Zakheim family and in particular to Nathan Zakheim for donating this unique collection to the University. It will be organized and described in the next few months, selected slides and documents will be digitized and uploaded to the library website.
Are you interested in viewing the murals, but unable to visit San Francisco? Please check these two video recordings from the UCSF archives:
Dr. Robert Schindler (Chair emeritus of the UCSF Department of Otolaryngology) presents a video tour of the murals painted by Bernard Zakheim in Toland Hall at UCSF, 1996: https://archive.org/details/cum_00001
Toland Hall murals tour by Dr. Chauncey Leake, 1976: https://archive.org/details/cum_000015

We would also like to bring to your attention a manuscript put together by Dr. Sherins chronicling the life story and work of Bernard Zakheim that can be accessed on the Alumni Association website.

* Valle, Rosemary K. “James Ohio Pattie and the 1827-1828 Alta California Measles Epidemic.” California Historical Quarterly, Vol. 52, No. 1 (Spring, 1973), pp. 28-36, http://www.jstor.org/stable/25157415.

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

Posted on December 9, 2014 by Kelsi Evans

In preparation for UCSF’s 150^th 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. 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, 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!

Commemorating UCSF Dental Alumni WWI Veterans

Posted on November 10, 2014 by Maggie Hughes

In honor of Veterans’ Day this year, we bring you a scrapbook from our collection, titled Dental College Alumni Serving in the First World War, 1917-1919. The scrapbook is filled with letters written to Dr. Guy S. Millberry by both former and on-leave students during their military service. Millberry began working at UCSF in 1906, was appointed Professor in 1910, and became Dean of Dentistry in 1914– a role he continued in for twenty-five years.

The collected letters were written from a variety of places– Camp Greenleaf, GA; Camp Fremont, CA; Vancouver, WA; Royat, France; Oakland, CA; Camp MacArthur, TX; San Pedro, CA; Camp Lewis, WA; Khabarovsk, Siberia; New York, NY; Fort D.A. Russell, WY; Camp Greene, NC; Camp Shelby, MS; Camp Lee, VA; La Ferte, France. They were sent from forts, camps, ships, submarines, and hospitals. Most of the the letters are handwritten, a few are typewritten.