News: Hektoen Institute announces Michael Reese Archive

Michael Reese Hospital lives on in new Michael Reese Archive

CAMA members and researchers interested in historic Michael Reese Hospital should be pleased with the news that the hospital, which closed in 2009, is gone, but not forgotten. Chicago's Hektoen Institute of Medicine has collaborated with the Michael Reese Research and Education Foundation to collect, preserve, and provide digital access to information related to the history of the hospital, which opened in 1881.

Please visit this page for more information on the Michael Reese Archive:

http://www.hektoeninternational.org/Articles_Michael_Reese.html

The Michael Reese Archive needs your help. To further develop this collection, the Hektoen Institute is looking for more documents related to the hospital. If you have a potential donation, please contact associate editor of Hektoen International, Lila Haile, with questions: lila.haile@hektoen.org

The Chicago Area Medical Archivists are grateful to the Hektoen Institute and the Michael Reese Research and Education Foundation for preserving the legacy of such an important part of Chicago's rich medical history and the history of Jews in Chicago. We thank you, and future researchers thank you!

Lecture and Reception Celebrating History of University of Chicago's Hospitals

Lecture and Reception: History of the University of Chicago's Hospitals

An earlier CAMA blog post covered the opening of a new exhibit at the University of Chicago's John Crerar Library.  

http://chicagoareamedicalarchivists.blogspot.com/2011/11/new-exhibit-at-university-of-chicagos.html 

Now, you are welcome to attend a lecture and reception celebrating the exhibit.  

Past, Present, Future: The Evolution of Medicine at the University of Chicago's Hospitals  

The exhibit's curator, Mindy Schwartz, Associate Professor of Medicine at the Pritzker School of Medicine, University of Chicago, will speak on the history of the hospitals.

Wednesday, January 25th, 4:00-5:30 p.m. 

For more information and to RSVP, please contact 773-702-7569 or follow the link below: 

http://www.lib.uchicago.edu/e/crerar/exhibits/ 

The exhibit is free and open to the public through March, so don't miss it! Please see below for details on the exhibit. 

David A. Ansell, MD, MPH, to speak at Hektoen Institute of Medicine event

The Hektoen Institute of Medicine to host David A. Ansell, MD, MPH

The Hektoen Institute of Medicine will host David A. Ansell, MD, MPH, at an upcoming free event at Cook County Hospital, March 27th.

Dr. Ansell conducting research.

For more information about this event and to RSVP, please visit the Hektoen Institute of Medicine's Events page:

http://www.hektoen.org/events.html

Date: Tuesday, March 27, 2012 

Time: Program: 4PM–5PM; Refreshments: 5PM–5:30PM

Location: Cook County Hospital, 627 S. Wood St., Chicago, 1st floor auditorium

Parking Information: Cook County Hospital parking on Wood & Polk. Enter Polk street at light. $3 parking voucher available at lecture.

Cost: Free

 

Dr. Ansell will be speaking about his book County: Life, Death and Politics at Chicago's Public Hospital, which was published last year. His book is a memoir of his years at Cook County Hospital and addresses the issue of health disparities in not only Chicago, but also the United States. Currently, Dr. Ansell serves as Chief Medical Officer at Rush University Medical Center.

In researching this book, Dr. Ansell delved into County's past and its longstanding relationship with its next-door neighbor, Rush-Presbyterian-St. Luke's Medical Center (now named Rush University Medical Center.) His book features photographs and other material from the Cook County Health and Hospital System Archives and the Rush University Medical Center Archives among other sources.

[Image caption: Dr. Ansell wasn't afraid to get his hands dirty when researching his book. In March 2011, he enthusiastically visited various areas of Cook County Hospital's campus with Rush Archivists Heather Stecklein and Nathalie Wheaton in the hopes of finding long-lost treasures for his memoir. Image courtesy Rush University Medical Center Archives.]

For more information on Dr. Ansell and County, please visit the book's informative page:

http://countythebook.com/

For more on the history of the Hektoen Institute of Medicine:

http://www.hektoen.org/history.html

Interested in Ludvig Hektoen? Visit CAMA's page on Hektoen to learn more about CAMA member institutions with Hektoen collections:

http://chicagoareamedicalarchivists.blogspot.com/2011/03/ludvig-hektoen-1884-1951.html

History of the Illinois Medical District

Research Tips

View east, showing Harrison and Wood near bottom center, 1973.

The Illinois Medical District, located on Chicago's Near West Side, is home to some of Chicago's largest medical centers, including hospitals, research facilities, and universities devoted to medical, nursing, and health sciences education. 

The Great Chicago Fire of 1871 destroyed several hospitals and medical schools in downtown Chicago. The Near West Side was untouched by the destruction and seemed a safe distance from the Loop for rebuilding. Cook County Hospital was the first medical institution to stake its claim, building its new hospital at Harrison and Wood Streets in 1876. Rush Medical College had lost its building at Grand Avenue and Dearborn Street in the fire and chose to build a replacement across the street from the new Cook County Hospital. 

[Image Credit: Rush University Medical Center Archives, Facilities Photograph Collection, Rush-Presbyterian-St. Luke's Medical Center, Aerial View, 1973, P553D.]

Over the years, more hospitals and medical schools were attracted to the area. Today, the Illinois Medical District includes the Cook County Bureau of Health Services, Rush University Medical Center, the Veterans Administration Healthcare System, and the University of Illinois Medical Center, whose College of Medicine is the largest medical school in the country. The district also supports research and development within its Chicago Technology Park.

Researchers might find this link to the History of the Illinois Medical District from the District's website interesting and useful: 

http://www.imdc.org/about/our-history

The site also includes an interactive map, showing the basic components of the district:

http://www.imdc.org/contact-us/interactive-map-of-the-imd 

Interested in learning more about the history of the University of Illinois Medical Center or Rush University Medical Center? 

Please contact the following archives:

University of Illinois at Chicago, Library of the Health Sciences-Chicago, Special Collections Department

Rush University Medical Center Archives