Virtual Tour – Reynolds Historical Library & Alabama Museum of the Health Sciences

Click on the smaller image if you wish to see a larger, more detailed view.

	The Reynolds Historical Library and the Alabama Museum of the Health Sciences are located on the third floor of the LHL building. The Reynolds Historical Library represents a nationally respected collection of rare and important books, manuscripts, and artifacts in the medical sciences. Together with the UAB Archives, these three units comprise the UAB Historical Collections. Visit the Historical Collections website at: http://www.uab.edu/historical/
	The Alabama Museum of the Health Sciences was established to document the growth and development of education, research, and practice in the field of the health sciences in Alabama.
	Housed within the Reynolds Historical Library is a collection of intricately carved ivory figurines. Each figurine is seven to eight inches in length. In all of the figures, the upper portion of the trunk can be lifted off, exposing the viscera, and all the female manikins are pregnant. Internal organs in some figures have been carved in situ, and thus are not removable; in other cases, the organs have been carved as separate, removable pieces. The best research suggests that these "anatomical manikins," are of French, Italian, or German origin and were probably made during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries to satisfy the curious as models of human anatomy, with their main purpose to point out the internal differences between the sexes. Note in the specimen shown here that the organs are represented by tiny men at work. Some of UAB's manikins were recently included as part of a larger exhibit by the National Library of Medicine called Dream Anatomy.
	A beautiful three-panel stained glass window now located in the Reynolds' Historical Library is from the chapel of New York City's original Woman's Hospital. This hospital was founded by Dr. J. Marion Sims, a native of Alabama and a medical pioneer in the practice of gynecology. The Sims Window was presented to the UAB Medical Center by St. Luke's Hospital through the efforts of Dr. Samuel Buford Word, a Birmingham gynecologist.
	The UAB Plane tree that once stood outside Lister Hill Library was removed after it had died in 1994. This tree had a long, honored history at UAB (1968-1994), and had begun life as a root cutting of the Hippocrates Tree from Athens, Greece. This carving of the Staff of Asclepius was made from the trunk of that tree by Dr. John F. Jackson, Professor Emeritus, University of Mississippi School of Medicine, through arrangements made by Dr. Wayne Finley, Chairman of the Reynolds Library Associates Steering Committee. The statue was donated to the Reynolds Library by the Caduceus Club, Laboratory of Medical Genetics, and Reynolds Library Associates. It greets visitors by the entrance to the Reynolds Historical Library.
	Here is a general map of the 3rd floor. The Caroline P. Ireland Room on the 3rd floor is frequently used for University-wide lectures.

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