About
“Medical Journeys” brings to light items from several of the archival collections of the Washington University School of Medicine pertaining to physicians and medical scientists who immigrated to Missouri from foreign countries in the 19th and 20th centuries and to Missouri physicians and medical scientists who traveled abroad to research, teach and share their expertise.
The exhibit explores
- the opportunities and challenges encountered by foreign-born students, physicians, and medical scientists in settling in Missouri
- contacts that paved the way for Missouri physicians and scientists to train and work abroad, to invite foreign research fellows to Missouri hospitals and laboratories, and to promote exchange programs with overseas medical schools
- political conflicts and crises that increased or diminished possibilities for international travel and immigration
Photographs, texts, oral histories and memorabilia from the archival collections of physicians and scientists such as Gustav Baumgarten, Carl and Gerty Cori, Paul H. Stevenson, Valentina Suntzeff, and Michel Ter-Pogossian illustrate the pathway of medical knowledge across borders. The images used in this exhibit include items from over 35 visual collections held by the Archives of the Washington University School of Medicine. Textual material was drawn from scores of the manuscript and institutional collections held in the Becker Medical Library.
Digitization
Images were digitized in compliance with the Best Practices Guidelines advocated by the Missouri Digitization Project Planning Committee, Scanning Working Group. Two-dimensional items were scanned on a Hewlett-Packard ScanJet XPA, a Hewlett-Packard ScanJet 7490c, a Hewlett-Packard ScanJet 5550c, or a Epson Expression 10000XL. 24 bit RGB full-color scans were made at 100% of the original prints’ dimensions with a resolution of 600 dpi. Master image files of both the photographed and scanned items were saved as lossless, uncompressed TIFF (Tagged Image File Format) image files. Derivative access and thumbnail images were created from the master files and saved as JPEG (Joint Photographic Experts Group format) image files.
Exhibit Migration
The original version of this exhibit exists as a legacy site that was created in 2006. In 2025, the information contained within the legacy site was moved to WashU Med Library's new digital exhibition platform: Omeka S.
Legacy Project Archivist: Paul G. Anderson
Legacy Assistant Archivist: Philip Skroska
Legacy web site content: Paul G. Anderson, Ellen Dubinsky, Cathy Sarli
