Himes & Duniway Society

The Members of the Himes & Duniway Society continue to have an active calendar.  Our trip to the Medical Special Collections Library at Oregon Health Science University and two successful book contests have focused the Society's activities.

What an adventure into the macabre. The Oregon Health Science University Special Collections is just plain eerie. What will medical historians two generations from now say about the medical practices of 2014?  Today’s generation thought that the implements and books from two generations ago bordered on the bizarre. The hand-drawn books of anatomy were interesting. The formula and methods of curing what ails you were shocking. The medical devices resembled medieval devices of torture. Maija Anderson, the wonderful special collections librarian, took us on this fascinating journey, and I am pleased to report that nobody fainted.

This year Himes & Duniway sponsored two book collecting contests. We repeated our sponsorship of the Reed College Collecting contest in Portland and started a new one at Oregon State University in Corvallis. All of the entries for both contests can be found on the Himes & Duniway website.

At Reed College, our member and Special Collections Librarian Gay Walker repeated the wonderful work that she did last year in garnering student and faculty support. Reed College President John Kroger opened his home for the presentation of the winners. Our winner was Brittany Ohrt with her essay and collection “A Taste of History: A Vintage Cookbook Collection.” One morsel from this collection is the 1886 Centaur Almanac found in the bottom of a free book bin of a second hand shop that was closing.

At Oregon State University, Special Collections Librarian Anne Bahde did marvelous work by advertising and generating enthusiasm for the contest’s inaugural year, and aside from the entrants there were teachers and staff of OSU as well as Himes & Duniway members in attendance.  Our winner was Jessica Kibler with her collection and essay “On Empathy.”  Ms. Kibler included in her bibliography the very moving book by Malala Yousafzai,  I Am Malala: The Girl Who Stood Up for Education and was Shot by the Taliban.  The title tells the story.

We are looking forward to our annual summer gathering at the home of Brian and Gwyneth Booth.

Let us know if you are going to be in Oregon (info@himesduniway.org).  Information about our Society and its events can be found here.