history of pharmacy – Points: short & insightful writing about the long & complex history of drugs & alcohol

“In the footsteps of the poppy”: a new virtual exhibition by the National Pharmaceutical Museum

April 25, 2023 by Points Editor

The Netherlands’ Nationaal Farmaceutisch Museum has launched their virtual exhibition on the history of opium and opiates curated by digital archivist Rimke van der Bij in partnership with experienced academics in the histories of drugs and pharmaceuticals, Toine Pieters and Stephen Snelders.

Call for Nominations for the George Urdang Medal

March 14, 2023 by Points Editor

he American Institute for the History of Pharmacy is now accepting nominations for the George Urdang Medal, which recognizes the lifetime achievements of a person who has made important scholarly contributions to the field of the history of pharmacy and pharmaceuticals. The deadline for nominations is June 1, 2023.

Call for Papers: ‘Reckoning and Re-Imagining Health Histories’ CSHM & CAHN Joint Conference

December 13, 2022 by Points Editor

The Canadian Society for the History of Medicine and the Canadian Association for the History of Nursing are seeking papers and panel proposals that “reckon with the segmentation of nursing history/medical history/health history and seek to broaden our reach and re-imagine the direction of our fields” for their 2023 joint conference. They welcome proposals from a diversity of geographical areas and time frames.

From King of Opium Substitutes to Global Health and Beauty Retailer: A S Watson

May 19, 2022May 19, 2022 by Patrick Chiu

This article is an abstract of Patrick Chiu’s forthcoming book “Transformation from Colonial Chemist to Global Health and Beauty Retailer: A S Watson” due to release at the end of May 2022. Pre-ordering at the Amazon Books is available or World Scientific with the discount code WSASOC20, valid until September 30, 2022.

Points Interview: Dr Laura Robson-Mainwaring

September 29, 2022March 8, 2022 by Points Editor

Today’s post features an interview with Dr Laura Robson-Mainwaring, the Modern Health Records Specialist at The National Archives. She specialises in 20^th century health records. Prior to joining the archives Laura undertook a PhD on Branding, Packaging and Trade Marks in the Medical Marketplace c.1870-c.1920 at the University of Leicester, and she holds a MSc in the History of Science, Technology and Medicine from Imperial College London.

Laura recently authored ‘“OWN NAME,” “NO NAME,” AND “THE PLAGUE OF FANCY NAMES”: Trademarks within the British Pharmaceutical Market, c. 1875-1920‘ within the first issue of History of Pharmacy and Pharmaceuticals. Find out more about Laura’s background, article and future research plans in this interview.

Interview—Mat Savelli, “Crafting the Modern Via Psychoactivity Advertisements”

January 31, 2022November 30, 2021 by Points Editor

Mat Savelli Interview Title Card — Left: Senegalese advertisement from December 24, 1960, issue of *Dakar Matin*. The ad proclaims that Kiravi Valpierre wine is the “Perfect Product of Progress.” Image featured in the article “Crafting Modernity via Psychoactivity Advertisements” in *HoPP* 63.1

Editor’s Note: This is the first installment of the Points series of interviews with authors from the inaugural issue of AIHP’s journal History of Pharmacy and Pharmaceuticals (HoPP) (vol. 63, no. 1). Today we feature Mat Savelli, Assistant Professor and Undergraduate Chair in the Department of Health, Aging, and Society at McMaster University. Read his article here (open access until February 2022!) and consider joining AIHP to subscribe to HoPP.

Article Abstract for “Crafting the Modern Via Psychoactivity Advertisements”

In this article, we examine advertisements for psychoactive products sold in five different geo-political jurisdictions: Canada, Colombia, Yugoslavia, India, and Senegal. We compare products and marketing campaigns aimed at selling psychoactive substances to consumers in these places over the twentieth century.

Inaugural Issue of History of Pharmacy and Pharmaceuticals Published!

January 31, 2022November 16, 2021 by Points Editor

The American Institute of the History of Pharmacy (AIHP) is pleased to announce that the first issue of History of Pharmacy and Pharmaceuticals (HoPP), the Institute’s renamed academic journal is now available online at JSTOR (63.1, 2021)! This issue of the journal is also the first published under AIHP’s new partnership with the University of Wisconsin Press. HoPP continues Pharmacy in History, which AIHP self-published from 1959 through 2020.

The first issue of History of Pharmacy and Pharmaceuticals features articles about trademarks and intellectual property rights in the British drug market in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries; the history of non-branded compounded drugs in the Netherlands; the introduction of cocaine to China; and an analysis of the global advertising of psychoactive drugs. Editor-in-Chief Lucas Richert said that the first issue of the re-titled HoPP “represents the increasingly global and vibrant nature of pharmacy and pharmaceutical history.”

Documenting the Evolution of Hospital and Clinical Pharmacy: Remembering the Career of Joseph Oddis

November 9, 2021 by Points Editor

Editor’s Note: Today’s guest post is by William A. Zellmer, AIHP Advisor for Pharmacy Outreach and the President of Pharmacy Foresight Consulting.

A recently published tribute to Joseph A. Oddis (1928–2021), an extraordinary organizational leader in pharmacy, offers historical insights into the transformation of pharmacist education and pharmacy practice in the United States during the last four decades of the twentieth century. The entire August 15, 2021, issue of the American Journal of Health-System Pharmacy (AJHP) (which is freely accessible at the preceding link) was devoted to the memory of Oddis, the first full-time Chief Executive Officer (1960–1997) of the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP), who died on February 24, 2021 (note: the downloadable .pdf version of this issue may be easier to read than the web version).

Joseph Oddis in 1984 — Joseph Oddis at the Headquarters of the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists in 1984. Image courtesy of AIHP Kremers Reference Files.