Getting People into History Means Going Out of the Box

Description

Live presentation on May 7, 2020 for the the LAMPHHS 2020 Annual Meeting (formerly ALHHS/MeMA (Archivists and Librarians in the History of the Health Sciences / Medical Museums Association)), that was held virtually May 7-8, 2020. The presentation was one of three in a session entitled: Digital Collection, Outreach, and Access.

Abstract

Between 1942 and 1945, more than six hundred Northwestern University physicians and dentists, Chicago-area nurses, and enlisted men from across the country treated nearly 30,000 patients in Algeria and Italy as the 12th General Hospital Unit. Having processed the papers of James A. Conner and Michael L. Mason, who served as officers in the Unit, digitized and uploaded approximately one thousand documents into an online repository, and created a digital exhibit highlighting the legacy of the Unit, the staff at Northwesterns Galter Health Sciences Library & Learning Center wanted to call attention to these resources through a variety of outreach initiatives during the summer of 2019. The session discussed the evolution of the programming that ultimately included a speaker, presentation of a filmed interview with the 12th General Hospitals chief nurse, a traveling banner exhibit, and an open house showcasing materials from Galters collection and those of other Northwestern libraries and archives. It explored the efforts conducted to publicize these outreach endeavors that would attract a diverse audience and the partnerships that the Galter team established with other divisions of the University such as the Office of Alumni Affairs and the Office of Communications and the broader Chicago community, including regional veterans groups and the family members of the veterans of those who served in the Unit that were discovered through genealogical research. Lastly the session examined how the staff gauged both the short-term and long-term success of the programming and some of the lessons learned that can shed light on how other institutions embark on a multi-faceted outreach mission.

Acknowledgements

This research was supported in part by an appointment to the NLM Associate Fellowship Program sponsored by the National Library of Medicine and administered by the Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education.

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