Category Archives: News You Can Use

Cincinnati Children’s Hospital – Preserving Our Collections

CAHSLA Colleagues, Chronicle, News You Can Use,

In November 2024, Cincinnati Children’s Mitchell-Nelson History Library, Archives and Museum (MNHLAM) had much needed UV film applied on the library windows. 

The MNHLAM is in the Children’s Hospital Research Foundation and Clinic Building’s original Research Foundation Library, that opened in 1931 and is the last of the original Burnet campus. The building and the foundation exist due to the generous donation from William Cooper Procter who announced on January 4th, 1928 a $2.5 million gift to construct and endow the Children’s Hospital Research Foundation. 

Fun fact: Louise Sias, who received library training at the University of Wisconsin in 1915-1916 became the first librarian in the late 1930’s after working at the Henry Ford Hospital library. Sias worked at CCHMC for 30 years, building the library from scratch.

While long term damage from the sun’s UV rays have done considerable damage to the bindings of our early patient histoires, the goal of the UV film is to slow the deterioration of all the artifacts and bound volumes currently stored in the space. 

Funding for the UV film was generously provided by the Co-operative Society, the Hospital’s oldest philanthropic organization. The Co-operative Society, founded in January 1884, has given more than $14 million to various programs at the medical center, including the Mayerson Center for Safe and Healthy Children, the International Adoption Center and our Pediatric Primary Care Clinics. Additionally, members give generously of their time. They volunteer in an on-site sewing room where dedicated stitchers create children’s clothing, blankets and quilts for beds and cribs, toys for use by the Division of Child Life, soft helmets for patients with neurological disorders and teaching tools used by the nursing staff. They also brighten the medical center by decorating lobbies and public spaces for the holidays.

To prepare for the installation, I had to move all artifacts including some small bookcases, away from the windows. One snag that I ran into was moving a large, wheeled rack of hemofiltration equipment. The rubber on the wheels had deteriorated (it had been sitting in the sun since 2012!) to the point of breaking off in chunks so our Facilities team had to use a pallet jack to move it. Luckily, they will be able to replace the wheels when time permits. Once everything was moved, Environmental Services came in to clean the windows and window coverings and vacuum the sills. The next day, the vendor came to apply the UV film on all 15 window coverings. Another snag that happened is with the largest pane that was actually plexiglass which required a different type of substrate that the crew didn’t have. Thankfully, the material arrived and it was successfully applied. The next day Facilities came back to reinstall the covers and I put the room back together. In all, it took five days to complete the project. 

Exterior of the Children’s Hospital Research Foundation and Clinic Building, 2013
Close-up of deterioration of wheel
Window before cleaning and UV film application
Patient histories showing direct UV damage to the bindings of the volumes
Plexiglass covers removed from the original windows to prepare for cleaning
Environmental Services team cleaning windows and window covers
Plexiglass cover being cleaned
Plexiglass cover with UV film applied
Treated windows
Hemofiltration equipment rack. The wheels had deteriorated to the point where a pallet jack was needed to move it away from the window

By Jim DaMico, Archivist, Cincinnati Children’s

Cincinnati Children’s History Walk 

CAHSLA Colleagues, Chronicle, News You Can Use,

The Cincinnati Children’s History Walk for the Burnet Campus launched on October 10, 2024, bringing to life decades of work of thousands of employees who have positioned us to be the leader in child health.

Laura Werts, Pratt Library director, was inspired after learning about the Boston Children’s Hospital History Trail from their archivist in 2019. Laura brought the idea to the History Committee and Kevin Proffitt, Archivist at the time began research into developing a history walk here.  

As the first full time Archivist, I was able to devote more time to planning and outreach across multiple departments to ensure a successful outcome. 

Over 20 employees were involved, and they came from Design-Construction-Space Management, Marketing and Communications, Creative Services, Language Access Services.  

Early on, we also aimed to make the experience inclusive–in line with our DEI commitment. We engaged Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, Employee Resource Groups, Family Relations and the Family Advisory Council to make it accessible to those with mobility challenges and available in the three languages–English, Spanish and Arabic.  

The walk features 14 stops for employees. You can download a PDF of the map in the three languages from History Walk. It is also printed in English and available at the Welcome Desks and Family Resource Center. You can begin the walk at any point but if you want to follow the map route, it starts at Seacrest Studio in Location D.  

Each marker has a QR code which takes you to the stop on the History Walk website. You have the option to listen to narration in English, Spanish and Arabic. Maps in all three languages are available as PDF’s. 

For more information about the Cincinnati Children’s Archives, please visit our website.

Jim DaMico, Cincinnati Children’s Archivist leading a tour group
Rotary Polio Plus Sculpture
Ronald McDonald House
Entrance to The Children’s Hospital Research Foundation and Clinic Building

Submitted By: Jim DaMico, Archivist, Cincinnati Children’s

News You Can Use

Chronicle, News You Can Use,
  • We have heard over the years from numerous members that our CAHSLA listserv emails are not always received. We will continue to send all updates via email, but new this year, we are providing several other ways to receive CAHSLA updates:
    • Join and follow our new LInkedIn group
    • Subscribe to receive CAHSLA Chronicle updates directly from our webpage. From any page on our website, enter your email into the Subscribe box in the right column:

      Be sure to confirm your subscription from the email you receive.
  • The 10th annual UC Data Day was held Oct 8th. The keynote on FAIR (findable, accessible, interoperable, and reusable) data was given by Kira Bradford, co-principal investigator and collaborator with the National Institutes of Health (NIH)  HEAL Data Stewardship Group.
  • Last summer the UC Health Sciences Library hosted a traveling NLM exhibit on the origins and roles of physician assistants: https://libapps.libraries.uc.edu/liblog/2024/05/health-sciences-libraries-exhibits-celebrate-the-roles-of-physician-assistants-and-neurology-in-health-care/