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STHC-L: The Science, Technology and Health Care Archives Forum
[Previous Posting] [Next Posting] New Website Gives Voice to Patients from the Past
Claude Moore Health Sciences Library University of Virginia Health System May 20, 2005 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact Joan Echtenkamp Klein at (434) 924-0052 or jre@virginia.edu "DEAR DOCTOR:" NEW ONLINE EXHIBIT GIVES NEW VOICE TO PATIENTS FROM THE PAST http://carmichael.lib.virginia.edu Charlottesville, VA - Before the Internet and the telephone, patients could only reach their doctors through written letters. Thanks to a collaborative effort between U.Va.'s Claude Moore Health Sciences Library, and the U.Va. Library's digital teams, the voices of patients from 19th century Virginia are no longer lost in the past. A new online exhibit from the Claude Moore Library presents 700 letters from the patients of Dr. James Carmichael, a Scottish physician whose practice was based in Fredericksburg, Virginia. The collection of correspondence, written between 1819 and 1830 and held in the new Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library, gives a unique view into the physician-patient relationship. The letters can be seen online in their original, handwritten form, side by side with a typed version. The 19th-century patients' terms for complaints, diseases, and treatments have been matched to their 21st-century equivalents. The letters are not only descriptive but show familiar emotions that we would recognize today. A father in 1820 pleads for his sick daughter, "Pray send out Dr. Carmichael to me immediately-as I consider her to be in great danger. Delay not a moment for her life and my happiness depend on it." Todd L. Savitt, Professor of Medical Humanities at the Brody School of Medicine at East Carolina University and noted author on Southern medical history, said, "There are only a few collections of letters to antebellum southern physicians. They're invaluable because they give us insight into the physician-patient relationship, and tell us about the role of physicians in the society where they practiced. U.Va. has given us a wonderful gift in making the Carmichael collection so readily available." Teams from the Claude Moore Library's Historical Collections and Services and the U.Va. Library's E-Text Center and Rare Materials Digital Services worked to bring the historic letters to life on the web. "One of the more challenging aspects of the project faced by the Historical Collections team was to read and transcribe the handwriting of nearly 700 different individuals, who possessed varying degrees of literacy," stated Joan Echtenkamp Klein, Alvin V. and Nancy Baird Curator for Historical Collections and project director. Team members examined each of the 700 letters and assigned multiple subject terms reflecting the content of each unique letter or note. Each side of each document was scanned at a high degree of resolution to maintain the highest digital archive standards. In addition to the correspondence, the web site also includes a photo essay of the landscape of the Carmichael letters, newspaper articles, book excerpts, court records, maps, WPA reports, and extensive listings of "Who's Who" and "Places Mentioned" in the letters, with links to related sources of information. Links: Exhibit web site: http://carmichael.lib.virginia.edu Claude Moore Health Sciences Library Historical Collections & Services http://www.healthsystem.virginia.edu/internet/library/historical/ Claude Moore Health Sciences Library information: http://www.healthsystem.virginia.edu/internet/library/ U.Va. Library E-Text Center: http://www.lib.virginia.edu/etext U.Va. Library Rare Materials Digital Services: http://www.lib.virginia.edu/rmds U.Va. Library Special Collections: http://www.lib.virginia.edu/small/ ### Joan Echtenkamp Klein Alvin V. and Nancy Baird Curator of Historical Collections and Assistant Professor for Medical Education Claude Moore Health Sciences Library University of Virginia Health System P.O. Box 800722 1300 Jefferson Park Avenue Charlottesville, VA 22908-0722 434-924-0052; FAX 434-243-5873; jre@virginia.edu www.healthsystem.virginia.edu/internet/library/historical/ ____________________________________________________________ STHC-L - Science, Technology, and Health Care Archives Forum STHC-L@lists.ucla.edu http://lists.ucla.edu/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/sthc-l STHC-L@lists.ucla.edu STHC-L Archives -- Main Index STHC-L Archives -- 2005 Message Index |