Rush Archives Blog

From the Rush Archives: James B. Herrick, MD, the 1918 Influenza Pandemic and Sickle Cell Anemia

The Rush University Medical Center Archives is always thrilled when a researcher finds and uses our online digital collections!

This week, Circulating Now: From the Historical Collections of the National Library of Medicine, featured a blog post by E. Thomas Ewing, PhD, Professor of History and Associate Dean in the College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. In his piece, "Revealing Data: Dr. James Herrick and the 1918 Influenza Epidemic," Dr. Ewing offers a comparison of health recommendations during the Spanish Influenza epidemic of 1918 and today's COVID-19 crisis. 

You can read the post here: Revealing Data: Dr. James Herrick and the 1918 Influenza Epidemic

https://circulatingnow.nlm.nih.gov/2020/06/09/revealing-data-dr-james-herrick-and-the-1918-influenza-epidemic/

Dr. Ewing utilized photographs and documents from the Rush University Medical Center Archives in his piece. One of which, the Presbyterian Hospital Annual Report of 1918, was featured in our own recent blog post:

From the Rush Archives: Presbyterian Hospital and the Influenza Pandemic of 1918

https://rushu.libguides.com/blog/From-the-Rush-Archives-Presbyterian-Hospital-and-the-Influenza-Pandemic-of-1918

Presbyterian Hospital, founded in 1883, is a predecessor hospital of Rush University Medical Center. Presbyterian Hospital was the teaching hospital of Rush Medical College and was located on the current Rush campus on Chicago's West Side.

This photograph, featured in Dr. Ewing's post, has long been one of the most-requested photographs from our photograph collection:

Caption: James B. Herrick, MD, (standing at the head of the patient's bed), conducts a teaching clinic in Cook County Hospital's amphitheater for Rush Medical College students and other visitors, 10 April 1900. From the Rush University Medical Center Archives, Subject Photographs Collection, #P3540.

DID YOU KNOW? World Sickle Cell Day is June 19! To learn more about James B. Herrick, MD, and the first description of sickle cell anemia, visit our blog post from 2010, when we marked the centennial of this milestone in research and medicine, "Centennial of Sickle Cell Discovery by Rush Alum."

https://rushinperson.rush.edu/2010/07/13/centennial-of-sickle-cell-discovery-by-rush-alum/

A brief biography and overview of the James B. Herrick Papers in the Rush Archives can be found in this 2011 blog post from the Chicago Area Medical Archivists:

http://chicagoareamedicalarchivists.blogspot.com/2011/05/james-bryan-herrick-1861-1954.html

Want to learn more about the history of Rush or the Rush Archives collections? Explore the Rush Archives website, or contact the archivist, Nathalie Wheaton, MSLS.