Who says archivists are introverted? We love to get social!

You have found this blog, obviously, but did you know that we have 2 other blogs that you should check out? For this Friday Feature we’re featuring something else and want you to go forth and explore…

• The Pauling Blog: Your weekly source for fascinating new stories from the world of Linus Pauling. The Pauling Blog also provides an inside glimpse into the latest Pauling-related news and activities being carried out by our department.
• The Oregon Multicultural Archives Blog: Up-to-date information regarding current projects, new collections, and recently digitized materials pertaining to the histories that document Oregon’s African American, Asian American, Latino/a, and Native American communities.

For all our social media hot spots make sure to explore SCARC’s “Social Media Digital Resources” page.

Enjoy!

Ten Little Lessons on Vitamins, by Eugene Christian

This charming set of booklets was recently added to our History of Science collections to complement a collection emphasis on the history of vitamins and micronutrients, and their use in nutrition and alternative approaches to health and diet.

After Casimir Funk’s first work on vitamins in 1911, there was a notable emphasis on vitamins and their impact in American popular press and advertising. Americans were thrilled by the power, hope, and promise of vitamins, and looked to vitamin consumption as a quick fix to a multitude of health problems. Published in 1922, Ten Little Lessons on Vitamins was part of this new wave of interest in nutrition and diet.

In the introductory lesson, author Eugene Christian tells his story recovering health by eating only uncooked, natural foods. After recommending his approach to diet to numerous friends and acquaintances, Christian published Uncooked Foods and how to Use Them, a Treatise on How to Get the Highest Form of Animal Energy from Food, with Recipes for Preparation, Healthful Combinations, and Menus in 1901, and his career as nutritional activist was launched.

Through the Little Lessons, Christian wished to bring the “lessons of the new nutrition” out of the scientific literature and into clear language for laypersons, for use in their daily diet and “applications in the household.” He sought to convince a populace he claims was increasingly busy and reliant on unwholesome foods of the importance of “Vitamin Science,” and the consumption of “whole foods to which nothing has been added, and from which nothing has been taken away.” In the Little Lessons, Christian strongly advocated for a “Pure Food Movement” to restore nutritive value to American daily diets.

A self-proclaimed “prophet” of advances in nutrition, Christian headed many groups between 1915-1930 (including the Health-Culture Society, the Corrective Eating Society, and the Christian Dietetic Society), and published prolifically to spread his message of good health through better eating.  Ten Little Lessons on  Vitamins, and the numerous other works documenting the history of vitamins, natural foods, and orthomolecular medicine in our collections are of interest to scholars and students of the history of public health, popular culture, nutritional history, and alternative health.

Christy in the case

The sun shone most days as we put up our new exhibit to to highlight an important piece of Oregon’s Latino History in honor of Latino/a Heritage Month. And, of course, we took pictures and released a new Flickr set called “The day we put up The Braceros Collection exhibit.” Catchy, eh?

You can read more about the display on the OMA blog and see the text panels in the Flickr set “Braceros In Oregon Exhibit, 2012 .”

Stop by the 5th floor of the Valley Library until October 26 to check it out!