American Institute of the History of Pharmacy

AIHP Wants to Document Your COVID-19 Stories and Experiences

The American Institute of the History of Pharmacy is documenting and preserving pharmacy stories and experiences during the COVID-19 global pandemic for the benefit of future historians and scholars. We seek to record the effects of this public health emergency on all types of pharmacy experiences. We invite you to share your pharmacy stories, photos, videos, artifacts, and other documentation of the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic.

You can participate in the AIHP COVID-19 Pandemic Pharmacy Historical Documentation Project either (1) by immediately sharing your thoughts/experiences and/or submitting digital materials or (2) by signifying your to intention to submit materials in the future. Please comply with all applicable local or state stay-at-home orders while self-documenting.

Please click the link below to learn more about participating in the AIHP COVID-19 Pandemic Pharmacy Historical Documentation Project.

AIHP and UW School of Pharmacy Announce Digitization Project

The American Institute of the History of Pharmacy and the University of Wisconsin–Madison School of Pharmacy are excited to announce a partnership with the University of Wisconsin Digital Collections Center (UWDCC) to digitize portions of the historical collections housed in Rennebohm Hall. UWDCC has provided digitization services since 2001 and has made available more than 50 subject-based collections that include more than 2,000,000 pages and 200,000 images. AIHP and the UW School of Pharmacy will digitize parts of the UW/AIHP Pharmaceutical Trade Catalog Collection and the AIHP Drug Topics Photograph Collection.

The "Medicines, Modernity, and Capitalism" digitization project is slated to begin during the summer of 2020 and will continue in phases until about 2027. The project will provide online access to important AIHP and UW–Madison School of Pharmacy historical sources that document changes in pharmacy practice, the pharmaceutical industry, public health, drug advertising, mass consumption, and many other late nineteenth-century and twentieth-century topics.

Pharmacists as Immunizers

From the Collections is a recurring feature at aihp.org that highlights articles, artifacts, images, and other items of interest from AIHP publications and collections.

Today's item is the article, "Pharmacists and Immunization: Increasing Involvement over a Century," by Dr. John D. Grabenstein from the vol. 41, no. 4 (1999) issue of Pharmacy in History (available at JSTOR). This article will be open access and available to all readers (at the link above) via JSTOR until June 30th.

As the world eagerly awaits an effective immunization against COVID-19, it seems reasonable to expect that pharmacists will have a major role in administering the vaccine.

Although pharmacists have long been involved with immunization and it is commonplace today for pharmacists to give vaccinations, the modern era of pharmacists as vaccinators dates back only to 1982.

How did this professional role for pharmacists develop over the twentieth century? Read about in Dr. Grabenstein's article at the link above.

2020 Summer Kreminar #1 - Lina Britto, Marijuana Boom

The American Institute of the History of Pharmacy and the University of Wisconsin–Madison School of Pharmacy are pleased to announce the inaugural Edward Kremers Seminar in the History of Pharmacy & Drugs. The 2020 Summer “Kreminar” will explore the theme of Cannabis, and the first presentation will be by Dr. Lina Britto speaking about her recent book, Marijuana Boom: The Rise and Fall of Colombia's First Drug Paradise.

Lina Britto teaches Latin American and Caribbean History at Northwestern University. Her work has been published in the Hispanic American Historical Review, Social History of Alcohol and Drugs, NACLA, and El Espectador (Colombia). 

Click the "Read More" link below for more information about Dr. Britto's presentation and for a registration link. 

Greg Higby Elected APhA Honorary President

The American Institute of the History of Pharmacy congratulates Greg Higby on his recent election as the American Pharmacists Association's Honorary President for 2021–22! Higby, the former AIHP Executive Director (1987-2018), is currently the Institute's Fischelis Scholar. APhA confers the title of Honorary President "upon a member who has made significant contributions to the association." Higby will be installed as APhA Honorary President at the 168th APhA Annual meeting in Los Angeles, California. Read the full APhA election results.

An internationally-recognized expert about the History of Pharmacy, Higby has authored and edited 11 books and written more than 60 articles, essays, and pamphlets on various aspects of the history of American pharmacy practice, education, and similar topics. In addition to serving as AIHP's Executive Director for 31 years, Higby was also the Editor-in-Chief of Pharmacy in History from 1988-2018, during which time he oversaw the publication of 111 issues of AIHP's academic journal. As the Institute's Fischelis Scholar, he helps to curate and organize AIHP's historical collections.

AIHP & UW School of Pharmacy Receive Library Grant

The American Institute of the History of Pharmacy and the University of Wisconsin–Madison School of Pharmacy recently received a Library Collections Enhancement Initiative Grant to fund the project, "Before Big Pharma: Enhancing the UW-Madison School of Pharmacy/AIHP Pharmaceutical Trade Catalog Collection."

Sponsored by the UW–Madison Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research and Graduate Education, the grant program is intended to "strengthen campus research capacities" and "to address critical and emerging collection needs." AIHP will use the grant money to purchase pharmaceutical trade catalogs that fill gaps in the current collection.