About Special Collections
Monday-Friday: 8:30 – 5:00 (Central)
2009 Holiday Hours: Special Collections will be closed November 26 and 27, December 24 and 25, and January 1.
The Eskind Biomedical Library Special Collections consists of the History of Medicine Collection (located in the History of Medicine Room on the third floor of the library) and the VUMC Archives at EBL.
The History of Medicine Room is open to the public, but please contact us first before visiting to ensure the availability of resources. This is especially true for those researchers planning to work with manuscript or archival material. Many requests may not require a visit and can be answered remotely. Access to our collections is generally open, with certain exceptions. Please refer to VUMC policy for further details.
Because of the rare or unique nature of the materials in Special Collections, researchers will be asked to follow the regulations below to preserve them for the use of future generations.
- Food and Beverages are prohibited
- Be prepared to present photo identification
- Materials must be paged by a staff member, and must be used in the History of Medicine Reading Room
- Only pencils are permitted
Materials may be photocopied or digitally scanned under the supervision of a staff member. The department reserves the right to refuse reproduction if it might damage the material, overburden department staff or violate U.S. Copyright Law. Permission to publish or reproduce materials in Special Collections must be applied for separately. Please contact us for information regarding fees for these services.
For information about records retention and related records management services, please see Archiving VUMC Records.
For fastest response, please Ask Special Collections for questions on any subject. These questions are answered daily, often within hours. You can also contact individual staff members listed below.
- Christopher Ryland is Assistant Director for Special Collections
- Mary Teloh is Coordinator of the Historical Collections Focus Area
- Jim Thweatt is a Health Information Specialist with Special Collections and Library Information Services
- Andrew Dombrowski is a Health Information Analyst with Special Collections at EBL
