spring 2012 MLS internship

As a wrap-up of the Coleman Brothers Archives, I wrote the following entry to the Medical Historical Library blog:
http://historical.medicine.yale.edu/featured/coleman

I had to do some fact checking on the doctors' biography as well as on the history of the Yale Medical Institute. My audience, I expected, would be readers somewhat familiar with noted names in the field, so I also verified the credentials of the correspondents and mentors Dr. Ewing and Dr. de Belleville I mention in the post. The image I chose was from a letter, folded in the custom of the times to serve as its own envelope, with the name of the recipient Isaac Coleman, 'student of medicine' in New Haven, CT.

Below is a letter of recommendation from Dr. Belleville, noted psychiatrist, preceptor to James Coleman, testifying to his character and skills:

I wrote a blog entry on the Historical Library website about the John J. Cushing Collection, featured as a recent acquisition. The image is of one of my favorite stories the doctor tells of attending a woman in labor despite the family's objections to his homeopathic training and bachelor status. He (more precisely, his patient) successfully delivers an 11 pound baby, to everyone's amazement.

I have also begun my next project by verifying the newly acquired collection against the dealer's inventory and description. This mainly involved counting items in folders and checking their condition. I also got a sneak peak into the content, of course, and it promises to be interesting. This one is a variety of materials, about half of it makes up a fairly complete set of correspondence between two Yale educated brothers, both physicians in New Jersey.