{"id":9125,"date":"2016-05-10T11:00:53","date_gmt":"2016-05-10T15:00:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/circulatingnow.nlm.nih.gov\/?p=9125"},"modified":"2022-05-04T14:38:33","modified_gmt":"2022-05-04T18:38:33","slug":"beyond-chicken-soup-with-a-taste-of-nlm","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/circulatingnow.nlm.nih.gov\/2016\/05\/10\/beyond-chicken-soup-with-a-taste-of-nlm\/","title":{"rendered":"“Beyond Chicken Soup” with a Taste of NLM"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Karen Falk and Jeffrey S. Reznick<\/em><\/p>\n

\"Three<\/a>
NLM Conservator Holly Herro looks on as Curator Karen Falk and Joanna Church of the Jewish Museum of Maryland review the loaned items.
Photo Courtesy Stephen J. Greenberg<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

During the past few years, the NLM History of Medicine Division has loaned items from its collections for display in a number of prominent public exhibitions<\/a>, at venues including The Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Sackler Gallery of the Smithsonian Institution. Most recently<\/a>, several rare books and images from our collections are on display in Beyond Chicken Soup: Jews and Medicine in America<\/a>, <\/em>an exhibition that launched last month at the Jewish Museum of Maryland<\/a>. We are in great company, joining a number of prominent organizations in their support of this project, including the American Philosophical Society, National Library of Israel, and Peabody Museum of Archeology & Ethnology at Harvard University.<\/p>\n

Open through January 16, 2017, Beyond Chicken Soup <\/em>uncovers the often-overlooked cultural history embedded in a scientific enterprise. It probes questions important to all Americans: how do medical categories shape identity; what are the impacts of medical authority; where did our current health care institutions come from; and how does culture influence the medical construction of biological difference.<\/p>\n

\"Textual<\/a>As historian John M. Efron and others have explained through their research, for centuries Jews considered medicine a calling, an occupation of learning and good deeds. Their enthusiasm for the profession was legendary: a source of folklore, entertainment, and pride.<\/p>\n

In America, which promised immigrants equality and opportunity yet often showed them bigotry and discrimination, Jews found the pursuit of a medical career especially compelling: it offered both upward mobility and societal respect. Moreover, their conspicuous presence in medicine reflected well on the Jewish people\u2014a fact that was not lost on the proud parents of countless Jewish doctors.<\/p>\n

\"A <\/a>
A visitor explores the exhibition. Photo Courtesy Stephen J. Greenberg <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"An <\/a>
An image from the NLM Michael Zwerdling Postcards of Nursing Collection featured on an exhibition panel. Photo Courtesy Stephen J. Greenberg <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Two <\/a>
Ma\u2019aseh Tuviyah, 1708, on Display. Photo Courtesy Stephen J. Greenberg <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>\n

But the Jewish doctor is only part of the story.\u00a0 Whether striving to live up to American ideals of health, contributing to the broader community through their hospitals, or looking inward to their genetic code, Jews have used medicine to express identity. A century ago, medicine defined Jews and other minorities as inferior; decades of social and scientific change transformed how medicine defined Jewishness and how Jews defined themselves.<\/p>\n

Focusing on the Jewish experience in the United States, Beyond Chicken Soup <\/em>demonstrates how the field of medicine has been a vehicle, by turns, for discrimination, acculturation, and strengthening Jewish identity. The experiences of Jews, as both practitioners and patients, offer a case study in the formative impact of medicine on cultural and social identity, as well as the impact of cultural values on medicine.<\/p>\n

Among the NLM collection items featured in Beyond Chicken Soup<\/em> are:<\/p>\n