Greg Higby Helps the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy Prepare for its Bicentennial

Greg Higby demonstrating the use of a hand scale, that was uncovered at the University of the Sciences, on his visit. Image courtesy of Emma Lee/WHYY

Greg Higby, AIHP’s Fischelis Scholar and former Executive Director, is working with the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy, now called the University of the Sciences, to help the institution prepare for the 200th anniversary of its founding. The school asked Higby to review its extensive collection of historic documents, books and artifacts to select significant items that will be highlighted during the upcoming bicentennial celebration.

Higby’s ongoing work has generated media coverage from Philadelphia’s public radio station, WHYY. An article posted on the station’s website, available here, provides an extensive report on Higby’s work and includes photographs of his many discoveries in the school’s archives.

The article describes Higby as an “hired gun” brought in by the University of the Sciences to help assess the significance and historic value of the many items in the school’s collection. Robert Rudd, the university’s vice president of advancement, explains in the article that “[t]here is a strong collecting instinct among pharmacists,” and that “[t]here’s a fair amount of material that just showed up at the University and we’re entirely unclear on what it is and what it came from.”

Higby quickly identified several items of historic importance. In particular, he identified a first edition of “Pharmacopoeia Londinensis” a controversial pharmacopoeia from 1618 which was quickly withdrawn after publication because of many errors. The WHYY article notes that “[t]he first edition is one of only two known to exist, the other at the Royal College of Physicians in London. Before Higby saw it at the University of the Sciences, he believed there was only one known to exist.”

Higby is uniquely qualified to assist the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy. His PhD dissertation was on William Procter, Jr., one of the college’s prominent graduates and considered the father of American pharmacy. While writing his dissertation in the early 1980’s, Higby spent weeks in the school’s archives conducting research. Higby’s dissertation was published in book form as “In Service to American Pharmacy: The Professional Life of William Procter, Jr.,” for which Higby received AIHP’s Edward Kremers Award in 1995.

Actively engaged in preserving the documents of pharmacy's past and developing materials for understanding the future.
AIHP News

AIHP Thanks National Association Sponsors

Read More
AIHP News

AIHP Wants to Document Your COVID-19 Stories and Experiences

AIHP COVID-19 ProjectThe 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.

Read More
Subscribe

Join AIHP and Subscribe to History of Pharmacy and Pharmaceuticals


Access the Pharmacy in History JSTOR Archive
All past issues of Pharmacy in History have been digitized and are text-searchable at JSTOR.


Note: Academic libraries seeking subscriptions to History of Pharmacy and Pharmaceuticals should directly contact the University of Wisconsin Press.

Read More
AIHP News

Calendar of Events


Upcoming events of interest to historians of pharmacy, pharmaceuticals, medicines, science, and related fields. (Event information current when posted. In light of the COVID-19 pandemic, please double-check the status of all events):


May 9-12, 2024: Annual Meeting of the American Association of the History of Medicine, Kansas City, Missouri.
June 27-30, 2024: ADHS Biennial Conference, Buffalo, NY.
July 7-11, 2024: International Social Pharmacy Workshop, Banff, Canada.
September 4-7, 2024: 46th International Congress for the History of Pharmacy, Belgrade Serbia.
January 3-6, 2025: Annual Meeting of the American Historical Association, New York City, NY.


Read More