Of course you can find plenty to read in the DMU Library, from its thousands of medical books and journals, online reference resources, fascinating archives and leisure reading collection. However, the library offers plenty of interesting visual displays, too, including some that may surprise you.
“And there’s the humor of it” is a National Library of Medicine exhibit on display through November that explores the language of the four “humors” that pervade William Shakespeare’s works, reflecting his belief that emotional states are physically determined. “Shakespeare created characters that are among the richest and most humanly recognized in all the literature,” the display states. “Yet Shakespeare understood human personality in the terms available to his age – that of the now-discarded theory of the four bodily humors: blood, bile, melancholy and phlegm.”
Visit the display to learn how the playwright depicted the full range of human behaviors and character types, “from the vengefulness of choleric old age to maidenly melancholy.” You’ll view “Hamlet” with a whole new view.
Also on display through November, in conjunction with Veterans Day this month, is a commemoration of Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae, author of the World War I poem, “In Flanders Fields.” McCrae, who earned both D.O. and M.D. degrees, is why the red poppy has become synonymous with Veterans Day observations, as the poem opens with “In Flanders Fields the poppies blow / Between the crosses, row on row…”
Additional displays in the DMU Library include the following:
- A remembrance of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks that took the life of DMU graduate Sandra Teague, who was aboard American Airlines Flight 77 that crashed into the Pentagon. The display includes a scorched tile from the Pentagon’s roof, given to the library by DMU graduate and Board of Trustee member Arthur Angove, D.O.
- A global health display honoring English physician and scientist Edward Jenner and Nobel Peace Prize winner Albert Schweitzer. Jenner’s development of the smallpox vaccine led to the World Health Organization’s declaring the disease eradicated in 1979. His work also laid the foundation for modern discoveries in immunology. Albert Schweitzer’s illustrious careers included medical missionary, minister, theologian, musician, prolific scholar-author and social commentator. Check out the great description of this eclectic, eccentric and not-without-controvery character and photos of his amazing mustache.
- A display on the history of the DMU Clinic, which this year is marking its 25th year in the 10-story tower on campus. In addition to its services including family medicine, foot and ankle, osteopathic manual medicine and physical therapy, the clinic recently became home to La Clinica de la Esperanza, a DMU-Iowa Health System partnership that provides primary care to central Iowa’s Latino population.
Check out the DMU Library to discover all the great things you can “check out”!
