We are actively working to expand online access to the archival collections held by the American Institute of the History of Pharmacy. The available finding aids are listed below and additional guides will be added as they are completed. Our finding aids provide essential information about the scope, context, and contents of each collection to help researchers identify materials relevant to their work.
To support exploration of our holdings, we also offer a classification scheme outlining the major topics and subject areas represented across our collections. This tool can help you better understand the themes our archives encompass, even if a full finding aid is not yet available.
If you have questions about materials or topics that are not covered in the posted finding aids, please contact us—our staff are happy to assist with additional information and research guidance.
The George A. Bender Collection contains materials related to Parke, Davis & Company. Most of the material is about the creation of “A History of Pharmacy in Pictures”, a series of 40 images throughout the history of pharmacy that Bender developed with artist Robert Thom. Other portions of the materials include letters from the 1880s to the 1890s regarding Parke, Davis & Company’s research on plants in the southwestern United States. These materials were used by Bender as sources for his papers.
The papers of John D. Grabenstein, a Colonel in the US Army, an executive at Merck, and a vaccine advocate, contains material about Grabenstein’s pharmacy work in the military and about his vaccine advocacy. The collection includes papers related to his role as director of the Military Vaccine Agency, his activism about vaccines, and his participation in the American Pharmacists Association’s Pharmacist as Immunizer campaign.
The Metta Lou Henderson Women in Pharmacy Collection consists of research notes,
primary sources, and secondary sources. It contains biographical material about female
pharmacists, statistical and census data, information about women and pharmacy
organizations, material about female students at individual schools of pharmacy, and
chronological records of women in pharmacy. A significant subset of the collection consists of information about Sister pharmacists.
The Mickey Smith Drug Advertising Collection contains over 100 drug advertisements taken from prominent medical magazines and journals. The advertisements focus on anti-anxiety medicines and tranquilizers from the 1950s through the 1980s. The collection is arranged alphabetically. There is an itemized inventory in the box, which notes which publication the advertisement came from and the manufacturer of the drug. The materials were gathered by Professor Mickey Charles Smith for his research on pharmaceutical marketing.
The Charles R. Weiss Advertisements collection is a personal collection of pharmacy ephemera, focusing on different forms of advertising. Much of the collection consists of almanacs, trade cards, advertising blotters and booklets, and other miscellaneous materials published by pharmaceutical companies promoting their products.
Our legacy classification scheme reflects an earlier organizational system for our archival collections. While we are transitioning away from this structure, it remains a helpful overview of the major themes and subject areas represented in our holdings. Please note that current folders may no longer appear at the exact locations indicated by the scheme, but the categories still provide useful context for understanding the topics documented in the collections.
