By Mary Kroeger Vuyk, Sabin Student Assistant

Faster than a speeding bullet, more powerful than a locomotive, able to leap tall buildings in a single bound! It’s a bird. It’s a plane. It’s Albert Sabin? While many may view Albert Sabin as a super scientist or a super doctor, I’m not entirely sure that many would consider him a Superhero. And yet… that’s exactly how hundreds of thousands of people worldwide viewed him almost 50 years ago.

While I was aware of Dr. Sabin’s contribution, it wasn’t until I began going through the letters sent to Sabin that I started to fully understand the impact that he had on the lives of others. In one letter, Julie Harrison writes, “How much you have enriched the lives of all of us! Your oral vaccine for polio is surely one of the greatest accomplishments. We do thank you; you are truly an American hero.”[1] Continue reading →

This fall, the Albert B. Sabin digitization project has been featured in several different places. I wanted to share all of them with you so you can check them out!

First, I want to tell you about my recent presentation at the Mid-Atlantic Regional Archives Conference (MARAC) Fall 2012 Meeting in October. My presentation, “The Albert B. Sabin Digitization Project: Reconstructing a Collection on the Web while Balancing Privacy, Restrictions, and Access,” was part of the session called, “Student Paper Session: Digital Reconstructions.” This was a great opportunity to discuss how Sabin project staff are dealing with sensitive issues, such as privacy and classified government information, in a digital collection. It was great sharing the project with the group at MARAC, and I even received a couple of questions at the end of the session. (MARAC plans to have all of their presentations from this meeting, including mine, available on their digital repository soon. Be sure to check it out!) Continue reading →

We are currently in the process of redesigning the current Sabin website, which is very exciting! For this new website, I have been doing some research to create new content and update content already there. Through my search, I came across some essays about Dr. Sabin written by Dr. Allen B. Weisse, a cardiologist and medical historian.

In 1987, Dr. Weisse contacted Dr. Sabin about one of the essays that appeared in a book called Medical Odysseys: The Different and Sometimes Unexpected Pathways to Twentieth-Century Medical Discoveries. (The Sabin Archives has a folder of correspondence between Dr. Sabin and Dr. Weisse that discusses this chapter.[1]) They met later in 1987, when Dr. Weisse conducted an interview for this chapter.

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While processing some Sabin material to add to the current finding aid, we came across an interesting box. In 2004, the Winkler Center received a large box full of letters that Dr. Sabin received while he was in the hospital. These letters, and many more, poured into Dr. Sabin’s address at the National Institutes of Health because of an article written by Chicago Tribune columnist Bob Greene titled, “Rx: Don’t forget Sabin on Sunday.” I wanted to share a bit about this column, as well as some letters found in that box. Continue reading →

October 24 is known as “World Polio Day,” in honor of Dr. Jonas Salk’s birthday. According to the Global Polio Eradication Initiative, since World Polio Day 2011, the number of new cases of polio has declined by a significant amount. Along with the success of a decrease in polio cases, the Global Polio Eradication Initiative has noted, “Polio eradication partners around the world are marking the first World Polio Day since India was removed from the list of countries with active transmission of wild poliovirus.” Currently, only three countries – Afghanistan, Nigeria and Pakistan – are considered endemic for polio. Continue reading →

October is American Archives Month! To celebrate, project staff wanted to showcase some interesting newspaper clippings in the Sabin collection. We hope you enjoy what we have found.

The first seen here is a crossword puzzle that Sabin student assistant Mary Kroeger Vuyk recently found while processing a box in the collection. Ida Sherman sent Dr. Sabin this 1985 newspaper clipping from the Atlanta Constitution after filling out the answers to all of the clues, including #49 down. See whose name is listed as the answer for “Vaccine name”? At the bottom of the crossword, she wrote, “Now your fame is secure!”

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