Historical Collections and Services

Extent:

8 boxes Six (6) boxes are restricted and are only accessible by Historical Collections and Services staff due to internal and confidential policies.

Scope and content:

This series includes records related to Historical Collections and Services, the special collections and archives department of the Claude Moore Health Sciences Library. Records the public can access are related to exhibitions that were curated by staff and displayed in the library.

Language:

English

Biographical / historical:

Historical Collections and Services was originally concieved in the 1980s by the first director of the Claude Moore Health Sciences Library, Wilhelm Moll. His vision was to create a rare book room that would house the rare books that belonged to the Medical Library. During the Jeffersonian era and up until 1929, the books belonging to the school of medicine and anatomy were housed in the Rotunda Library on Grounds. In 1929, a new Medical School Building opened. This unified all the medical departments, which had been scattered throughout the Grounds. The Medical Collection became the Medical Library, and moved into new quarters in the Medical School Building. When Alderman, now Shannon, Library was built in 1937, the books moved there until the creation of the Claude Moore Health Sciences Library in 1976. Following Dr. Moll's untimely death in 1979, Special Collections librarian Joan Echtenkamp Klein helped to make Moll's reality of a special collections department a reality. She became the curator and manager of Historical Collections and Services, serving in that role until 2015. Dan Cavanaugh took over the role of curator and manager until 2022. Meggan Cashwell became the curator and manager in 2023 and is currently serving in that position.

Access and use

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