Artifacts

The archives has a small and growing collection of artifacts associated with the history of medicine and many specifically associated with the history of the health science center.

The archives photographed an artifact collection housed in the HSC Library, a collection including a number of black bags and medications.  These photographs will be posted online and there are plans to create online exhibition on how medical instruments were used, what underlying medical systems dictated production and use of certain instruments- especially what was believed to cause disease in the past (for instance, physician and signer of the Declaration of Independence Benjamin Rush believe that disease was caused by tension in the arteries so the way to treat was through bleeding, also what  healthcare providers carried in their black bags, in fact who carried and used these bags! )