History

The origins of the collection date back to the establishment of the University when librarians and faculty had the foresight to acquire significant works in anatomy and biology.  The collection slowly grew until the 1960s, when Dr. Owen H. Wangensteen, distinguished surgeon, scholar, researcher, teacher, and historian, became the driving force behind the creation of the library that bears his name.

Dr. Wangensteen transformed the nature of the training and education of surgeons in the United States.  The push for a history of medicine library and education program for the history of medicine emanated from Dr. Wangensteen.  He encouraged friends and patients to contribute endowments for these purposes—money which made it possible to build the collections and provide for their continued growth.  The history of medicine library opened to the public in 1964 and was named for Dr. Wangensteen in 1971.

Today, the Wangensteen Library supports the research of faculty and students of the programs in the History of Medicine and the History of Science and Technology.  Graduate students make substantial use of the collections in completing work on their theses and dissertations.  Local and international scholars have drawn from the collections to complete their work.

The staff plays an active role in connecting researchers with printed resources and artifacts that enrich the classroom experience.  From classroom instruction to meeting one-on-one, staff are available to facilitate the use of library resources and tools.

Print Collections

The monographs in the collections date from the 15th century, when printing and production of books was in its infancy, to the Great Depression.  A record for each title can be found in MNCat, the University Library's online catalog.  The staff is available to assist you with your search.

The collections are comprehensive and focus on many areas of health care, jurisprudence, public health, and natural history.  There are particularly heavy concentrations in surgery, obstetrics, pharmacy, gynecology, pediatrics, cardiology, tuberculosis, and small pox vaccination.

Often, sources are used in unexpected ways and for many different purposes.  Students and faculty from Women's Studies have utilized works in psychiatry and obstetrics/gynegology for course development and assignments.  Arts majors have studied prints in the anatomy and botanical works as examples of some of the fines representations of their age.  Abrecht Dürer's Hjerin sind begriffen vier Bücher von menschlichen Proportion, 1528, is a landmark work in both the study of anatomy and artistic proportion.  Beregario da Carpi's Carpi Commentaria cum amplissimis addtionibus super anatomia Mundini una cum, 1521 is at once an example of ground-breaking anatomical discovery and a more primitive style of illustration.

The extensive botanical and mushroom collections are of interest to artists, herbalists, and pharmaceutical researchers.  Earlier descriptions and illustrations of medical instruments and technologies have been used in court cases as well as in the identification of medical artifacts.  Local authors have mined the collections for diseases to inflict their characters with and the medical practices from specific time periods to enhance their stories.

Laboratory practices, architectural designs of hospitals, dental research and practice, surgical techniques, distillation techniques, burial practices, and plague prevention are further examples of subject matter in the collections.

Manuscripts

The collection of manuscripts is small but significant, with rich original source material.  Two important document collections are the Pamard family archives and the James H. Stuart letters.

The Pamard archives represent the work of seven generations of a French surgical family founded in Avignon in the late 17th century.  The Pamards achieved prominence in both medical and civic circles into the early years of the 20th century.  The collection includes personal and professional papers, students' notes, correspondence, hospital records, public health notices and statistics, poetry, remedies and recipes, and diaries.

James H. Stuart (1828-1854) was a medical student at Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia, PA from 1848-1853.  Shortly after graduate he was appointed assistant naval surgeon aboard the Porpoise, a ship in the North Pacific Exploring Expedition.  His letters home detail life in medical school or document his adventures and impressions during his travels until 1854, when the Porpoise was lost at sea.

A growing manuscript collection in the Wangensteen consists of manuscript receipt books for the cure of ailments of the family and livestock.  They are in English and date from the 17th century through the 19th century.

Artifacts

A substantial collection of medical instruments is available by request.  There are no catalog records at this time, but access is available by appointment.  Many instruments are gifts from the Ramsey County Medical Society and were used by early physicians in the state of Minnesota.