Staff Finds: Netter’s Clinical Symposia Illustrations and Other Publications and Pamphlets

Sarah Bush May 10, 2017 Center for the History of Medicine

cover of Clinical Symposia 21, no. 1 (January-March 1969) with an anatomical illustration of a heart on the cover — Clinical Symposia 21, no. 1 (January-March 1969). Topics: “The Surgical Treatment of Myocardial Ischemia” and “Surgical Treatment of Cardiac Valvular Disease.

Netter’s Works Discovered

While processing the papers of Marie C. McCormick (born 1946), Center staff found a collection of interesting pamphlets and publications on a range of topics. McCormick collected these materials as reference in her professional and research activities. Among those best represented in the collection are issues of the journal Clinical Symposia. The journal was published from 1948 to 1999 by Ciba Pharmaceutical Products, Inc. More than 250 issues of Clinical Symposia were illustrated by Frank Netter, M.D.; many of those illustrations were compiled into the 13 volume The CIBA Collection of Medical Illustrations (1953). Even after he retired in the early 1970s, Netter continued to produce illustrations at the astonishing rate of a new image every several days. In 1989, two years before he passed away at the age of 85, Netter published the Atlas of Human Anatomy, which was widely adopted at American medical schools and across the world. In all, Netter painted more than 4,000 medical illustrations during his lifetime (Hansen, 482-483).

McCormick’s Collection

Other publications collected by McCormick demonstrate the types of health and parenting advice that were distributed to parents in the late 20th century. They include a 1984 booklet entitled “Childhood Vaccination: Current Controversies,” a 1979 pamphlet entitled “What Parents Should Know about Shoes, Twisted or Bent Legs, and Flatfeet in Children,” which has easy-to-understand diagrams, and an undated booklet entitled “What Are the Facts about Genetic Disease?” which includes charts explaining how dominant, X-linked, and recessive inheritance works.

Also of interest is the graphic design on the covers of pamphlets. “Regional Emergency Medical Communications Systems” (1978) draws the eye with an interesting stylization of a warning light, “The Sudden Infant Death Syndrome” (1976) implies a harrowing situation, and “Cleaning Products and Their Accidental Exposure” (1989) subtly connects women with housework through dress-like bottle designs.

These examples and more can be found in the Marie C. McCormick papers, 1956-2016 (inclusive), 1968-2009 (bulk), which are expected to be open to research in spring of 2017. For information regarding access to this collection, please contact Public Services staff. Processing of the collection is part of the Bridging the Research Data Divide project, funded by a Hidden Collections grant administered by the Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR). For more information on the project, please contact the project’s Principal Investigator, Emily R. Novak Gustainis, Deputy Director of the Center for the History of Medicine.

Reference

John T. Hansen. “Frank H. Netter, M.D. (1906-1991): The Artist and His Legacy.” Clinical Anatomy 19 (2006): 481-486.

cover of Clinical Symposia 22, no. 3 (1970) with illustration of a man hitting his chest against a steering wheel in an automobile accident — Clinical Symposia 22, no. 3 (1970). Topic: “Chest Trauma.”

cover of a pamphlet with an illustration of a mother holding the hands of two children, one of which has lower legs that bend outward below the knee, commonly known as knock knee — “What Parents Should Know about Shoes, Twisted or Bent Legs, and Flatfeet in Children” pamphlet, 1979, published by the Department of Orthopedics, The Children’s Orthopedic Hospital and Medical Center, Seattle, WA.

cover of a pamphlet decorated with concentric circles and arcs — “Regional Emergency Medical Communication Systems” pamphlet, 1978, published by the National Academy of Sciences.

“The Sudden Infant Death Syndrome” pamphlet, 1976, published by the U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare.

cover of a pamphlet with stylized illustrations of cleaning products — “Cleaning Products and Their Accidental Exposure” pamphlet, 1989, published by The Soap and Detergent Association.

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