July 1, 2006 - June 30, 2007

The Historical Committee met ten times during 2006/2007 and our members still give generously of their time in support of the Medical Museum. We have had some decline in attendance this year with a few of our members moving from active status to corresponding status due to health concerns. We are continuing our efforts to recruit new members to serve on the Committee.

We are saddened to report two of our long-time members, Dr. Roger Smith and Dr. Ralph Kleinman passed away this year. Dr. Smith had served as Chair of the Historical Committee for 11 years and wrote several historical articles for "The Bulletin" as well as a history of the San Bernardino Medical Center (now Arrowhead Regional Medical Center). Dr. Kleinman established the Museum's Library which has previously been named the Ralph A. Kleinman Library in his honor.

Accomplishment of the Historical Committee this past year include:

Museum Logo & Signage:

• Updated the logo for "Southern California Medical Museum" and added it to our letterhead.
• Added the logo to the glass side-light panels in the SBCMS lobby entrance outside the main Museum doors.
• "Southern California Medical Museum" has been added to the sign outside RCMA's front entrance door.
• Business cards were printed for the Museum Curator and three docents.

Museum Publicity:

• In September 2006 Dr. Tom Gibson appeared for an interview about the Medical Museum on Inland Empire Alive which airs on our local public television station.
• In December 2006, an article about the Medical Museum, "Good Ol' Days of Medicine Not So Good", written by Trevor Summons, correspondent was published in the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin and the San Bernardino Sun.
• In January 2007 columnist Hal Durian with the Press Enterprise toured the Museum and published an article entitled "Physician, Pharmacist Oddities on Display".
• In February 2007, Dr. Elliot Weinstein was interviewed for a program that aired twice on KVCR Radio 91.9 FM.
• In May 2007, the Museum was invited to set up a display of medical artifacts at the Notre Dame High School Health & Science Fair in Riverside.

Museum Displays:

• Finalized the update of our Museum display signage to a more professional and uniform format.
• Our second rotating display, "Blood Letting, Blistering, and Blood Suckers-Medical History or Cutting Edge?" from the collection of Dr. Bert J. (Hans) Davidson was set up from April 2006 to February 2007.
• This has now been replaced with the next rotating display, "History of Contraceptives" featuring items from the collection of Dr. Bert J. (Hans) Davidson as well as items from our Museum.
• Continued to update and expand our newest display showing "How Botanicals and Seeds Become Drugs". The display includes photographs of the plants, a written narrative of the drug derived from the plant, and specimens of the plant and/or the drugs derived from it. Items in this display will periodically be rotated out and other plants highlighted since there is such a wide variety of plants to showcase.

Future Goals and/or Projects:

• Our Docent Tour Guide Training Manual is nearing completion and will be utilized to train additional members of the committee to be docent tour guides. Long term our goal is to have the information available on CD's that could be used for "self-guided" tours when docents are not available or for "self-guided" tours by members of both RCMA and SBCMS when they are meeting in the room.
• Update the Medical Museum web pages on the SBCMS website to feature photos of some of the museum exhibits and to include links to other medical museums.
• Explore the possibility of producing a radio program featuring such topics as medical history and interviews with noted medical historians and authors.

Donations:

• Received the loan of several items from the private collection of William Coffman, DDS for long-term display in the museum. The items include a dental chair, armature for the foot-powered dental drill, and an ophthalmology lens set and antique display cabinet (which we are displaying in our doctor's office diorama).
• Our Museum continues to truly live up to our name, the "Southern California Medical Museum". We recently received a large collection of antique medical instruments and five boxes of medical books from the Orange County Medical Association. Previously we have received collections from Los Angeles County Medical Association, Ventura County Medical Association, Imperial County Medical Society, and San Diego County Medical Society.
• We continue to receive donations of equipment and books from physicians and others throughout Southern California.

Medical Museum 10th Annual Open House and 25th Anniversary Celebration:

• This year marks the 25th Anniversary of the Historical Committee and Medical Museum. The Historical Committee and Medical Museum were established in 1982 under the leadership of Dr. Merlin A. Hendrickson, a former SBCMS President.
• We celebrated our 25th Anniversary in conjunction with our Tenth Annual Open House at the end of April. Letters of Recognition and Resolutions recognizing our 25th Anniversary were received from a U.S. Senator and a U.S. Congressman; State Senators and State Assembly Members, and both the San Bernardino County and the Riverside County Board of Supervisors. They were all displayed at our Open House/Anniversary Celebration.
• Our Tenth Annual Open House event featured Dr. Jennifer Smith who is completing the first ever Envenomation Fellowship at Loma Linda University Medical Center. She spoke on "Scorpions, Spiders & Snakes, Oh My! Treatment of Venomous Bites & Stings"..
• The past two years since the Museum was relocated to Riverside we have incurred the expense of renting a large tent and holding the event in the parking lot followed by refreshments and docent led tours inside the Museum. However, our attendance had taken a substantial drop following the relocation, so this year the decision was made to hold the event inside the Museum.
• I am pleased to report that the attendance was outstanding and we ended up with standing-room only with over 120 people in attendance. The speaker and subject matter drew a more diverse audience than we have had in prior years and was well received by all.
• We would like to express our appreciation to the Alliance for assisting at the registration table and providing the refreshments, and to the Medical Society as a whole for all their assistance with the logistics of this year's Open House.

Additional Information
about the Physicians' Memorial, Gift, and Benevolence Fund, Inc.

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