The Medical Library at the Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center-Shreveport (LSUHSC-S) understands the importance of our medical and scientific past and seeks to preserve this unique history. To that end, a variety of resources that document the history of medicine are collected. A website celebrating the history of the institution dating from 1869 can be found at:
www.lsuhscshistory.org.

The History of Medicine Room contains monographs and serials dating from 1743 to the present. Included are early medical imprints, histories of medicine, reprints and facsimiles of classic early works, biographies, journals and medical fiction. The Medical Library Archives holdings document the history of LSUHSC-S, as well as the history of medicine in Shreveport and Louisiana. Files of correspondence, papers, reports, photographs, slides, realia, and other primary source materials from physicians, professors and administrators, as well as those of local physicians, provide a personal perspective. Important collections include those of John C. McDonald, M.D., a pioneer in organ transplantation (see http://johncmcdonald.org/ for a website devoted to this work), pathologist W. R. Matthews, M.D. and LSUHSC-S photographer, Gordon W. Maxcy. The Medical Artifact Collection contains medical instruments and apparatus, scientific equipment, machinery and medical memorabilia. Highlights of the collection include a Civil War-era amputation kit, vintage electrocardiographs, microscopes, and early electroconvulsive therapy equipment. SERVICES: Located on the 2nd floor of the Medical Library, the History of Medicine Room materials can be consulted Monday – Saturday 9:00 a.m. – 11 p.m. and Sunday 1:00 p.m – 11:00 p.m. Archival materials are housed on the ground floor and can be consulted Monday – Friday 9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. Materials in the historical collections do not circulate.

Approximately 3,500 monographs dating from 1743 to the present; 20 serial titles dedicated to the history of medicine; 200 cubic feet of manuscript materials; 2,000 photographs; 25,000 slides; 800 medical artifacts.