Location: 1061 American Lane, Schaumburg, IL 60173-4973
Contact: 1-847-825-5586, wlm@asahq.org
Access: Contact library
Website address: https://www.woodlibrarymuseum.org/
The Wood Library-Museum of Anesthesiology (WLM) ranks among the world’s premier collections devoted to anesthesia history. Housed in the headquarters building of the American Society of Anesthesiologists, the WLM also serves as an active, specialized medical library. The collection includes 13,000 books, over 50 international and domestic journal titles, newsletters, comprehensive biographical material, photo and digital image files.
John W. Pender Living History of Anesthesiology: This oral history collection provides insight and historical perspectives from pioneers and leaders who experienced and contributed to the history of our specialty. These interviews constitute an authentic record of the contemporary history of anesthesiology. The WLM also archives hundreds of related audio tapes. Several of our interviews are available online. Additional interviews are for sale in DVD format.
The Wood Library-Museum Rare Book Collection is housed in the K. Garth Huston, Sr., M.D. Rare Book Room. As an invaluable collection and one of the largest of pre-20th century publications, it also includes manuscripts, letters, artifacts, portraits, pictures and works which marked the advent of special contributions to anesthesia. This closed collection may be used through prior arrangement with the Manager of the WLM. A continuing project is the compilation of an annotated catalog of the Rare Book Collection. The WLM has begun to digitize its rare book collection for access and preservation. So far, we have digitized over 200 of our rare book titles as part of our many concurrent digitization projects.
The Archive collection includes letters, photographs, manuscripts, membership lists, minutes, organization records, medical records, anesthesia records, scrapbooks, newspaper clippings, newsletters, legal documents, ephemera, and other items relevant to anesthesia and the medical specialty of Anesthesiology. The Archives contains individual and institutional collections, as well as ephemera and 2-D advertising. The ephemera and advertising collection includes artifacts of popular culture from sheet music, hand fans, comic books, and postage stamps; advertisements on trade cards, postcards, posters, and in magazines.
The Wood Library Museum contains a variety of objects and instruments that can be viewed online by category.
The Wood Library also offers a Fellowship.