Dermatology lantern slide collection

The Dermatology lantern slide collection includes glass lantern slides and related materials that were housed together in a storage cabinet transferred by Dr. Frances Storrs from the Department of Dermatology at the University of Oregon Medical School (UOMS). The cabinet is thought to have belonged to Dr. Storrs based on the presence of patient contact cards in drawers labelled “Charts in Archives Dr. Storrs”. These cards have since been deaccessioned out of concern for patient confidentiality.

Many of the slides in the collection are labeled to indicate their belonging to or having been created by Dr. Walter Lobitz and multiple other individuals at various institutions. Most slides in the collection were either created at UOMS or the Hitchcock Foundation. There is a smaller percentage of slides that originated from the Mayo Clinic, University of Washington, University of Chicago Clinics, or Wayne University. Much of the content of this collection is restricted due to the presence of protected health information. This collection provides an example of the types of instructional materials medical schools may have used to teach the subject of dermatology in the mid-20th century.

The first series, “Primary lecture slides”, consists of approximately 1500 lantern slides dating from 1945 to 1969 and makes up the bulk of this collection. The slides in this series are mainly images of different dermatological conditions represented by photographs of the entire person, just the affected area, a histological image, or a drawing. Most slides in this series are restricted due to the presence of protected health information.

There are also many slides containing educational text, charts, and diagrams of lecture materials. The original order of the slides was maintained. The inventory list uses the original descriptive information for each subject found on the labeled dividers which have now been deaccessioned. Slides throughout this collection sometimes have identification numbers that may have been from their institution of origin.

The second series, “Additional slides”, contains over 500 lantern slides dating from 1949 to 1958 that primarily appear to pertain to sweat, sweat glands, and skin injuries. The subject terms and the corresponding lettering systems used in the inventory list are based on the information found on the original dividers and slides. There are a few slides under “Ca. Physiology-skin" that are restricted due to the presence of what could be protected health information.

The third series, “Index cards”, includes index cards that were originally filed together with the slides in the first two series, so they are assumed to be from the same time span of 1945-1969. The cards contain descriptive information about the slides. Cards in Subseries IIIa are restricted due to the presence of protected health information about the patients whose images were used in Series I. Cards in Subseries IIIb are not restricted, but provide almost no information about the slides in Series II.