The Southern California Medical Museum
Annual Report 2003-2004
The Historical Committee met eleven times during 2003/2004. We continue to have excellent attendance at our meetings and have added two new physician members to the Historical Committee and two consultant members, one of whom is a dentist and the other a lay member. Our members give generously of their time for the benefit of the Medical Museum, and our Subcommittees meet as needed to conduct their work.
The Historical Committee was able to implement new ideas this year to update the identity of the Medical Museum. With the approval of the SBCMS Board, we renamed our Museum the “Southern California Medical Museum.” The goal of adopting this new name is to reflect a broader base for the Museum to attract more attention and encourage contributions from throughout Southern California.
The Committee also received approval from the PMGBF Board to rename the Medical Museum and Library portion of the PMGBF Endowment Fund the “Dr. Merlin A. Hendrickson Endowment Fund for the Medical Museum” in recognition of his role as one of the founding members of the Historical Committee and Medical Museum. In February at the Medical Museum Open House, Dr. Hendrickson made a $50,000 donation to the Endowment Fund for Medical Museum, the largest single donation ever received by the Museum. We are saddened to report that in March 2004 Dr. Hendrickson lost his valiant battle with cancer and passed away. His love for the Museum was evident even during the last week of his life when he was busy meeting with local civic leaders and business professionals to promote the Medical Museum. He will be deeply missed by all.
In June 2003, Dr. Roger A. Smith, MD stepped down as Chair of the Historical Committee after serving in this position for eleven years (over half the life of the Historical Committee), and the gavel was passed to Dr. Marilyn J. Herber. The Committee honored Dr. Smith with a small reception and gift and expressed their appreciation for his outstanding leadership and oversight of the accomplishments of the Historical Committee during his tenure. He is continuing on as a member of Committee and this year served as Chair of the Open House Subcommittee.
Each month the Historical Committee continues to receive donations of medical memorabilia and books. This year we were pleased to accept a donation of several antique pieces of furniture and cabinets from the estate of Dr. Julius Simon who practiced in Hollywood from 1936 to 1985. The items included a matching wood exam table, medicine cabinet, and stool, circa early 1900’s, all of which were added to our doctor’s office diorama. The Medical Museum also received a donation of several boxes of medical artifacts from Dr. Hendrickson that he had personally purchased from the Los Angeles County Medical Association several years ago when they closed their medical museum.
Dr. Roger A. Smith, Past Chair of the Historical Committee, authored a wonderful article for the October edition of The Southern California Physician commemorating the 125th anniversary of the San Bernardino County Medical Society. This past fall, Dr. Hans Davidson coordinated a request from the Southern California Permanente Medical Group in Pasadena to provide a month-long display of medical artifacts for their 50th anniversary celebrations. Dr. Davidson did an excellent job in coordinating this display and used many artifacts from his personal collection so that our own Museum displays would not be disrupted. Dr. Thomas Gibson coordinated a request for a display at St. Bernardine Medical Center for their Founders Day Celebration. He also was able to use many artifacts from his personal collection. Both the Kaiser and St. Bernardine displays included signage that the items were on display courtesy of San Bernardino County Medical Society Historical Committee. Dr. Gibson has been asked by St. Bernardine Medical Center to coordinate a larger display for their
75th anniversary celebration in three years.
The Medical Museum and Library Subcommittees worked very hard this year on updating the exhibits and the library. The thermometer display was totally revised to show the historical evolution of thermometers from the 1860’s to the present. Members served as docents for student tours on twelve occasions this past year. One of the goals of the Historical Committee is to create a virtual museum website for the Medical Museum. We submitted a grant application for this project, but it was not selected for funding this year. The Committee will continue to explore other grant funding opportunities. Since its inception in 1996, “Friends of the Museum” have contributed a total of $49,914 in support of our sponsorship. An additional $65,928 has been contributed to the Dr. Merlin A. Hendrickson Endowment Fund for the Medical Museum. This includes a $1,528.96 donation we received this year from the Hinterland Pediatric Society representing the funds remaining in their treasury to help preserve the memory of their disbanded pediatric society.
In February the Committee hosted our seventh annual Open House for the Medical Museum. The topic this year was _Medicine in Ancient Egypt,_ and our guest speaker was Dr. W. Benson Harer. Dr. Harer is a Past President of the SBCMS and was President of ACOG in 2000-2001. He is a noted Egyptologist with a world-class collection of Egyptian antiquities, and is a renowned expert on ancient Egyptian Medicine. His presentation was a huge success and drew ourlargest Open House attendance ever with a capacity crowd present. Docent tours were provided following the program with many visitors taking part in the tours to see the medical artifacts and have their use explained by the physician docents. The Historical Committee would again like to extend a special thank you to the SBCMS Alliance for graciously and faithfully providing a sumptuous buffet lunch for the Museum Open House.
While the members of the Historical Committee were initially disappointed to learn that the SBCMS building had been sold and that the SBCMS offices and Medical Museum would be relocated outside of San Bernardino County, we have since been able to focus on the positive aspects of relocating. We are looking forward to having all our Museum display cabinets located in one room and sincerely appreciate that SBCMS has allowed us the space to have new storage cabinets constructed to go under several of our display cabinets. We are also appreciative of the consideration shown us by Riverside County Medical Association in rearranging their foyer and lobby to allow us to locate the doctors office diorama and library cabinets in those areas. We are anxious to complete the move, to get the Museum set up and displays updated, and to begin to promote the Museum for tours by Riverside County schools as well as those from San Bernardino County.
In closing, I would like to recognize and thank all of our active and corresponding members for giving freely of their time and efforts for the Historical Committee. On behalf of Historical Committee members and myself, I would like to express our appreciation to the Executive Committee and Board of Directors for their continuing support of our Committee and activities, and for allowing me the opportunity to serve as Chairman of the Historical Committee.
Marilyn Herber, M.D., Chair
