Medical artifacts in the Libraries’ collections, ranging from an 1850s medicine chest to a cataract extraction set from the 1960s.
Health and Medicine
Marquette Electronics Medical Equipment
In 1964, Michael Cudahy and Warren B. Cozzens founded Marquette Electronics, later known as Marquette Medical Systems and now part of GE Healthcare. The equipment featured in the digital collection, which includes devices produced by Marquette Electronics as well as historical precursors, is also on view in a permanent exhibit at the Medical College of Wisconsin.
Medical College of Wisconsin Heritage Portrait Gallery
Painted portraits of deans, presidents and other notable figures in the history of the College.
Medical College of Wisconsin History Collection
Commencement announcements from the Marquette University School of Medicine in the 1910s, photographs of Milwaukee County General Hospital and Milwaukee Children’s Hospital, and the publication An Anchor for the Future: A History of the Medical College of Wisconsin (1991).
Milwaukee Medical College
Course catalogs and commencement programs from the Milwaukee Medical College and School of Dentistry. In 1913, Milwaukee Medical College merged with the Wisconsin College of Physicians and Surgeons to become the Marquette University School of Medicine and later the Medical College of Wisconsin.
Opening the Doors: Wisconsin Mental Health Heritage

The Winnebago Mental Health Institute admitted its first patient on April 23, 1873 and was known as the Northern Hospital for the Insane. In 1935, the facility name was changed to the Winnebago State Hospital and was changed again in 1973 to the Winnebago Mental Health Institute. This collection includes annual reports authored by physician superintendents and issues of The Cue, a newsletter written and edited by patients at the hospital from 1968-1973.
Oral Histories of the Wisconsin HIV/AIDS History Project
The Wisconsin HIV/AIDS History Project brings to light significant stories from the state’s history of HIV/AIDS through the medium of oral histories. This collection includes video interviews with physicians, nurses, social service workers, AIDS Resource Center of Wisconsin (ARCW) staff, and long-time survivors. The interviews were conducted by Linda Wesp at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee in 2017-2018.
Wisconsin College of Physicians and Surgeons
Course catalogs and commencement programs from Wisconsin’s first medical school, founded in Milwaukee in 1893.
Wisconsin Traditions of Social Care

Images of people and buildings contributing to Wisconsin’s social care system, including asylums, hospitals and orphanages.