The University of Arizona Health Sciences Library Special Collections has been relocated to the Main Library Special Collections to improve the access and preservation of health sciences-related archival and historical collections. In 2014, the Health Sciences Library was integrated into the University of Arizona Libraries, which includes the Main, Albert B. Weaver Science-Engineering and Fine Arts Libraries. 

Image

Jerry Perry, Associate Dean and Director of the Health Sciences Library, explained that the consolidation will enhance the experience of users. "Our UA Health Sciences constituencies will now have the same resources and expertise of the larger system of campus libraries, while we continue to maintain and respect health sciences perspectives."

The Main Library Special Collections has excellent preservation resources that better ensure the long-term conservation of health sciences materials. Additionally, the facility is staffed by professionally-credentialed archivists and is open Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. 

A total of 37 manuscript collections and 3,140 individual books and bound volumes were relocated to the Main Library Special Collections. Of special note are materials related to the founding of the UA College of Medicine in 1967. This includes four elephant scrapbooks of newspaper clippings complete with item level index and the papers of the founding dean, Dr. Merlin Kearfott DuVal, Jr.

The collection of rare books dates back to 1625 and includes historical medical texts donated by Dr. Hugh H. Smith, a notable physician whose research at the Rockefeller Foundation contributed to the yellow fever vaccine. Other notable collections include the papers of Augusto Ortiz, a doctor who worked mainly with low income and underrepresented communities and is a recipient of the U.S. Surgeon General's Medallion, as well as the papers of Dr. Agnes Marie Aamodt, a very early nurse anthropologist, researcher and educator who worked on the Tohono O'odham Reservation.

Have questions? You're welcome to continue contacting the Health Sciences Library or you may contact the Main Library Special Collections directly.