Featured are photographs of Birmingham’s Slossfield Community Center, which housed a clinic staffed by Black providers that opened in 1934 to serve American Cast Iron Pipe Company’s largely Black labor force. Courtesy UAB Archives. A new exhibition from University of Alabama at Birmingham Libraries chronicles the evolution of access to American healthcare during the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries.
From the stories of horse-and-buggy doctors to telehealth providers during the COVID-19 pandemic, “House Calls to Hospitals” examines how changes in transportation, communication and technology have shaped the experiences of patients and practitioners alike. Exhibit objects include such items as a 1770 dental services advertisement placed by Paul Revere, best known for his “Midnight Ride”; photographs of Birmingham’s Slossfield Community Center, which housed a clinic staffed by Black providers that opened in 1934 to serve American Cast Iron Pipe Company’s largely Black labor force; and an obstetrical inhaler from the early 20th century, which was used to self-administer anesthesia for laboring mothers.
The exhibition, located in the Dennis G. Pappas Historical Collections Gallery, will have a grand opening 4-6 p.m. Friday, Sept. 18, in the gallery, located on the second floor of Lister Hill Library of the Health Sciences at 1700 University Blvd. Kasia Gonnerman, dean of UAB Libraries, and Jason Byrd, associate dean for Historical Collections, will provide remarks beginning at 4:30 p.m., and light refreshments will be served. Parking will be available at no cost in the 9th Avenue Parking Deck.
The grand opening is held in collaboration with the UAB Arts Block Party, a free, family-friendly evening featuring music, art and food for all ages that begins at 5 p.m. outside the Alys Stephens Performing Arts Center and Abroms-Engel Institute for the Visual Arts at 1200 10th Ave. South. A free shuttle will be available to take patrons from Lister Hill Library to the block party through 7:30 p.m.
The exhibit will run through summer 2027, and the gallery is free and open to the public noon-5 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday.
The Pappas Historical Collections Gallery is a 3,000-square-foot space on the second floor of Lister Hill Library of the Health Sciences and the exhibition home to the Alabama Museum of the Health Sciences, Reynolds-Finley Historical Library and UAB Archives. The gallery, which opened in 2024, houses rotating exhibitions featuring the UAB Libraries’ historical collections, which boast an invaluable wealth of preeminent historical record and scholarship.