LectureThe 2000 James V. WarrenMedical Humanities Lecturefeaturing John B. West, M.D.,Ph.D., isscheduled forFebruary 24,2000 from 4:30 to6:00 p.m. in theMedical HeritageCenter. Dr. Westwill be presenting“ThePhysiological Challenge ofClimbing Mt. Everest.” There willalso be a book signing for HighLife by Dr. West. For moreinformation, please contactBarbara Van Brimmer, 614-292-4891. Lecture

Also tentatively scheduled in theMedical Heritage Center is alecture on April 27th to bepresented by Michael Bliss, Ph.D.,entitled “What’s a Doctor? HowWilliam Osler Practiced Medicine.”Dr. Bliss is a professor of history atthe University of Toronto and hiswork William Osler: A Life inMedicine was recently publishedby the Oxford University Press.

MeetingThe Ohio Academy of MedicalHistory annual meeting will be onSaturday, April 15, 2000 inCincinnati, hosted by theCincinnati Medical HeritageCenter. Details and registrationinformation will be available in lateFebruary. For more information,contact:Patsy Gerstner, Dittrick MedicalHistory Center, Cleveland MedicalLibrary Assoc./Cleveland HealthSciences Library,11000 Euclid Avenue,Cleveland, Oh 44106-1714Phone: (216) 368-6390Fax: (216) 368-0165Email: pag4@po.cwru.edu

ConferenceFrom the American Association forthe History of Medicine Newsletter“Bodies of Literature/Histories of theBody” an interdisciplinary confer-ence focusing on different interpre-tive strategies for studying the repro-ductive body in early modern culture,is being held April 21-22, 2000. Fea-tured speakers will include DavidCressy, Frances Dolan, John Kingand Linda Pollock. For more infor-mation contact: Caroline Bicks, De-partment of English, 421 DenneyHall, 164 W. 17th Ave, Columbus,OH 43210 (bicks.1@osu.edu) orDavid Cressy, Department of History,(cressy.3@osu.edu). Details arealso available on the web at http://www.osu.edu/conferences/blhb/index.html

A CENTURY OFSANITARY FAIRSAND HEALTHEXPOSITIONS INOHIO (1864-1964)

This article has been excerptedfrom the original paper presentedin its entirety by Bruno Gebhard,M.D., Director, Cleveland HealthMuseum at the 1964 AnnualMeeting of the Ohio Academy ofMedical History in Granville,Ohio.

Ohio, like Virginia, proudlyand rightly calls itself the Motherof Presidents, but in the field ofnational or international exposi-tions she has been a stepmother.Neither a World’s Fair nor a Na-tional Exposition took place inOhio, but fame came to its majorcities, Cincinnati and Cleveland,during Civil War days with itsSanitary Fairs in 1863-64. SanitaryFairs were the money-raisingventures of local branches of theUnited States Sanitary Commis-sion.

“They raised not less than 25millions in money, goods andpersonal help, much of it comingfrom poor farmers, mechanics andclerks who could give but a dollarapiece.”

Continued on page 2

A N N O U N C E M E N T S

Congratulations to Dr. TorrenceMakley on the completion of theHistory of the Department ofOphthalmolgy. We hope otherswill continue to document thehistory of teaching and practicingin all the disciplines of the HealthSciences.

VOL. 3 NO. 2 WINTER 2000

The Medical Heritage Center

HOUSE CALL

Dr. Gebhard was a distinguished leader in the development of health museums in Germany in thepre-Nazi era. He came to the United States to escape from Nazi Germany and settled in Cleveland where hefounded the Cleveland Health Museum and was its director for many, many years. For more informationabout the Ohio Academy of Medical History see our ANNOUNCEMENTS section (p.1).

Columbus, however, hadnothing to show outside of the firstexhibit on tuberculosis, sponsoredby the State Board of Health at theOhio State Fair in 1913. The nexthealth fair educational activitiescame in 1959. From March 25 to 29of that year, such a fair drew110,000 visitors to the VeteransMemorial Building. The ColumbusAcademy of Medicine was thesponsor. Its 850 members assessedthemselves $15 per capita to makethe Health Fair strictly non-commer-cial. Earl H. Baxter, M.D., theChairman of the Board and BillWebb, the Executive Secretary, werethe driving forces along with manyphysicians who served not only ascommittee members, but also asdemonstrators at the exhibits.

A unique feature provided forthe Columbus Hospital Federationwas a hospital corridor showing 14fully equipped hospital rooms. The

public response to the Health Fair was so great - thousands had to be turned away on the afternoon of the lastFair Day - that the Academy decided to look for a permanent home of health exhibits. This was realized fiveyears later as a part of the Center of Science and Industry (COSI), a non-profit organization, “dedicated to theadvancement of knowledge in the fields of Science, Industry, Health and History,” which opened on March28, 1964. The Center is sponsored by the Franklin County Historical Society. The old War Memorial Build-ing on East Broad Street has been completely modernized and has now on its first floor what amounts to thesecond health museum in Ohio. Besides the Academy of Medicine, the Columbus Dental Society, the CentralOhio Heart Association, and the Columbus and Franklin County Tuberculosis Society are sponsors of manyhealth exhibits which originated at the Cleveland Health Museum.

Historical societies have up to now paid little attention to the development of health and medicine, butone of the first in Ohio, not only to concern itself with the past, is the Stark County Historical Society. Itopened in a new building in the summer of 1963, a Hall of Science and Industry, which includes a HealthEducation Center. It contains exhibits on the Miracle of Birth, on Nutrition, and as a special feature, theVesalius Lady, a new addition of a transparent talking woman.

Health expositions and health fairs are not limited to Ohio. They are springing up all over the nationand have been the pacemakers for permanent health museums, of which the first one was incorporated inCleveland in 1936 and opened to the public in 1940.

Continued from page 1 2

Members of the Board of Trustees of the Health Fair responsible for the over-allplanning of the program are shown above at a recent meeting. (Left to right) Dr. Robert J.Murphy, Co-chairman, Dr. Robert A. Heilman, Pre-Fair Open House, Dr. Norman O.Rothermich, Publicity, Promotion and School Tours, Dr. Donald J. Vincent and Dr. Robert M.Inglis, Exhibit Review Committee, Dr. Earl J. Baxter, Chairman and Dr. John N. Meagher,Veterans Memorial Arrangements. Members not pictured are Dr. James L. Henry, BudgetCommittee, and Dr. Robert H. Schoene, Publicity, Promotion and School Tours. (Pictureand caption from The Columbus Academy of Medicine Bulletin, March, 1959.)

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‘… All ambulance calls were anadventure in human relations. Irecall an ambulance visit to thehome of a lonely widower, thefather of a large family of sons anddaughters. It was during Christmasand he was intensely unhappy anddepressed, because of a lack ofattention from his relatives. A callto a daughter, informing her that hehad lost his sight, caused a crowdto gather at the family home. Wewere quickly informed of theproblem and were dispatched to thesite. A thorough history and physi-cal proved without a doubt that thiswas a case of hysteria. My driverquietly prepared a gauze saturatedwith ammonia which was suddenlyplaced under the nose of the sight-less patient with the suggestion thatusually one deep breath was ad-equate to restore sight in thiscondition and if necessary wewould try a second inhalation. Onebreath was enough. He suddenlyjumped from his chair and askedsomeone to take him to the windowand to open the curtains. Dramati-cally and with gestures he loudlyexclaimed, “I can see.” We wereproud of ourselves as we created ajubilant scene and were the recipi-ents of thanks and praise from thepleased children. It was a goodvisit and we were hardly noticed aswe returned to the ambulance forthe trip home.’

From A Surgeon’s Journal byRichard W. Zollinger, M.D.

IN MEMORIAMDr. Richard Zollinger passed awayon September 13, 1999. He hadbeen in to visit the MedicalHeritage Center only days beforeand shared his memoirs with us.We are pleased to present thisexcerpt from his experiences as anintern.

Dr. and Mrs. Paul S. Metzger have established aCharitable Remainder Trust that will leave its assets tothe Columbus Medical Association Foundation to helpensure that the Medical Heritage Center will have fundsto expand its archives and benefit the community.

The Metzgers, who make contributions to numer-ous charities, have included this gift planning vehicle intheir estate plans to perpetuate their charitable givingafter they are gone. The Charitable Remainder Trust

they created will pay them an annual income for the remainder of theirlives. After their death, the assets in the trust will be used in perpetuityby the CMA Foundation to support the efforts and activities of theMedical Heritage Center.

Dr. Metzger practiced internal medicine with the Central OhioMedical Group and was with Nationwide Insurance Companies wherehe retired as Vice President and Chief Medical Director after a 34-yearcareer. Dr. Metzger, a former Senior Franklin County Delegate to theOhio State Medical Association, also served as President of the Acad-emy of Medicine of Columbus and Franklin County (now the ColumbusMedical Association) from 1979-1980. He and his wife Lee currentlyreside in Dublin, Ohio.

For more information regarding charitable planning opportunitiesthrough the Columbus Medical Association Foundation, please contactCMA Foundation Director of Development Weldon Milbourne at (614)240-7420 or via e-mail at wmilbour@cmaf-ohio.org.

From the Columbus Medical Association Foundation Community Checkup, Vol. 2,Winter 2000

A Special Thank You

Recent DonationsRecent DonationsRecent DonationsRecent DonationsRecent DonationsThe Medical Heritage Center thanks those listed for theirrecent support. If you are interested in making a dona-tion to the Center, please contact Barbara Van Brimmer,614.292.4891.George Bell, M.D.: medical books • Rodger Lynch: physiology books,artifacts • Mrs. Gloria Warren: rare book collection • Nathan S. Hale,M. D.: large artifact collection • Howard R. Mitchell, M.D.: medicalinstruments • Albert W. Van Fossen M.D.: local hospital artifacts andpostcards • William Saunders, M.D.: tuning forks (German), Stereo-scope cards and viewer, books • Dale Dickens, M.D.: books, micro-scope • Tearle L. Meyer, M.D.: artifacts • R. Dennis Blose, M.D.:obstetric book collection • Charles Wooley, M.D.: medical historybooks • Dr. John C. Burnham: medical history books • RonaldStuckey, Ph.D.: book collection • Jerome M. Rini, M.D.: Threeframed photos taken by Gabriel Evancy • Killian C. Robinson, M.D.:cardiology artifacts • Tom Lewis, M.D.: books • Horace B. Davidson,Sr., M.D.: books • Catherine Anne Caseley Saylor: OSU studentnursing uniform and cap • Paul Wherry: artifacts • COSI: artifactsfrom “The street of yesteryear” • Darrell Peters from the Departmentof Surgery: archives of Dr. George M. Curtis and miscellaneousmemorabilia.

Monetary Donations: Donald F. Bowers, D.D.S. • Dr. and Mrs. JerryMedaris Hardacre • Paul S. Metzger, M.D. • Alfred Stockum, M.D.

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5th FloorPrior Health Sciences Library376 W. 10th Ave.Columbus, OH 43210

Editor-in-Chief: Barbara Van Brimmer

Production Editor: Jane Witherspoon

e-mail: medhist@osu.edu,

telephone: 614.292.4891

fax: 614.292.9919

http://bones.med.ohio-state.edu/heritage

DisplaysWe are pleased to recognize the Central OhioPediatric Society in the historical display gallery inthe main hall of the Medical Heritage Center. Aspecial “History of Columbus Children’s Hospital” islocated in three display cases on the south end ofthe floor. Photographs and artifacts such as rareinfant feeders demonstrate medical care for childrenin Columbus from 1893 to the present.

At the north end of the hall is a revised display ofearly Columbus hospitals. This is arranged inchronological order beginning with the Poor House(1831) to Lincoln Memorial (1958).

If you have photographs of early Columbus hospi-tals that you would like to donate to our collection,please contact Barbara Van Brimmer, Curator.

The displays may be viewed Monday-Friday from 1-5 p.m. through April.

What’s the value?Many people who have medical artifacts and booksask about the value of their items. While the MedicalHeritage Center staff are unable to appraise items, itis possible for individuals to find prices forcomparable items.

For books, check out book dealers’ prices. TheCenter keeps old catalogs from dealers and thereare numerous web sites for used and out of printbooks, such as http://www.abebooks.com

For medical artifacts and instruments, auction sitesoften have an extensive selection listed for sale.One of the more popular sites is http://www.ebay.com

A tax planner or accountant may best be able toadvise on the appraisal process if you are planningto donate items for a charitable tax deduction.