Preserve Your Department's Legacy

The Mitchell-Nelson History Library

October is American Archives Month.

Why should you care? Because archiving is your ticket to immortality. The work you’re doing today at Cincinnati Children's can be preserved and recorded so that generations to come will be able to see and understand how your contributions to child health are still impacting the world.

Don’t believe it? Schedule a visit to the Mitchell-Nelson History Library on the third floor of the Old Research Building (Location R). It’s where the Cincinnati Children’s Archives is housed. You can find all kinds of treasures there—bound ledgers of patient visits; the Rookwood Della Robbia sculpture that has been part of Cincinnati Children’s visual history since 1926; the original handwritten charter for the hospital; textbooks written by Cincinnati Children’s physicians; an infant carrier that looks like a metal lunchbox, and so much more.

Now, imagine your department, lab or office and its amazing history collected and catalogued in one place where it can be accessible to anyone.

Bill Gerhardt, MD, served as the volunteer staff historian at Cincinnati Children's for many years. The collection of artifacts in the Mitchell-Nelson History Library, which he amassed, is named in his honor.

The Cincinnati Children’s Archives wants to help you get organized. During October, we will host a number of activities—via webinars and social media (CenterLink, Twitter and Yammer)—that will enable you to:

  • Better understand how our history and documentary heritage informs our present and future work
  • Share key moments from Cincinnati Children’s history that were instrumental in shaping the institution we know today
  • Explore the history, and future, of recordkeeping at Cincinnati Children’s
  • Encourage your department to create a narrative, timeline, or outline of its history, highlighting achievements, successes and, yes, failures
  • Provide guidance on the care and preservation of your department’s historic records
  • Assist in compiling an inventory of your department’s existing records

Throughout October look for announcements and updates as we explore the Future of the Past through Cincinnati Children’s documentary heritage.

For more information, contact: Kevin Proffitt Cincinnati Children’s Archives Kevin.Proffitt@CCHMC.org Follow the Cincinnati Children’s Archives on Twitter: @CCHMCArchives

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