The McMaster Medical Student History of Medicine Interest Group visited the archives of the Health Sciences Library on April 23, 2024 to see rare books, manuscripts, medical objects, and photographs.
The wonderful Melissa Caza, archivist, led us through the collections, which included this series of complaint letters from Mrs. Lena Fett to the public health officer.
The HSL Rare books library includes photos from WWI, the former Tuberculosis Sanitorium on the Mountain in Hamilton, and intake registers from the General Hospital. A 19th century microscope illustrates how physicians were their own “mobile laboratories” and compounded their own drugs.