Wangensteen Library

“Anatomy Illustrated: Scientific Images and the Body” showcases some of the most important examples of the Wangensteen Historical Library’s vast collection of historical anatomical illustrations. Central to the exhibit are three of the collection’s flap anatomies, reproduced and made larger so that viewers can interact with them. View this exhibit now through September 2022.

The Health Sciences Library has acquired a new male skeleton and we need your help in choosing a name.

Join us on a treasure tour of the Wangensteen Historical Library as curators Lois Hendrickson and Emily Beck share some selected items with Shanda Hunt, MPH, liaison librarian to the School of Public Health.

Anna Opryszko has joined the Wangensteen Historical Library as the Public Services Supervisor. In this role, Anna will advance our work to create a welcoming space for researchers, students, and visitors alike.

We are welcoming you in to the new Health Sciences Library and the Wangensteen Historical Library of Biology & Medicine with a virtual tour. Check out the highlights in this story, and link to our full virtual tour to explore more.

A behind-the-scenes look at how historical artifacts from the Wangensteen Historical Library of Biology and Medicine are prepared for a physical move into a newly-built space that will ensure preservation and access for decades to come.

Moving can be disruptive, but it also can be an opportunity to make a fresh start. The Wangensteen Historical Library of Biology and Medicine has taken advantage of its move into the Health Sciences Education Center to improve protection and access for the collection of books and artifacts.

Library student John Cole is scanning artifacts from the Wangensteen Historical Library in 3D, offering an advantage for very fragile items — as well as for virtual instruction.

The students in Sally Kohlstedt’s honors course this fall, “Campus Obscura: Cabinets of Curiosity at UMN,” are visiting several U collections and museums as they explore the reasons for why they are an intimate part of the U. And at one site, they felt the experience was close to hands-on.

Health Sciences Library’s move into the state-of-the-art Health Sciences Education Center supports interdisciplinary education across the health sciences. “This is really a new set of services and a new set of expertise we’re getting ready to share with the University,” says the library's Emerging Technology Strategist Jonathan Koffel. He wants to get the word out about how tools like virtual reality can influence physicians’ practice and training, data visualization can help public health practitioners to tell their stories, and how the Makerspace can support innovation among health providers.

The staff of the Wangensteen Historical Library of Biology and Medicine are back in the kitchen to try their hands at making cheesecakes from 1540! This time - taste testing support comes from the Lisa’s of the Libraries - including our new Dean of Libraries, Lisa German.

In this student reporter post, history major Kaylee Morlan shares why she loves working at the Wangensteen Historical Library while taking classes that feature the library’s collection, and how she uses her ever-growing knowledge of the collection to help her fellow classmates contextualize course concepts.

Escape rooms have been gaining popularity nationwide, and with the move of the Wangensteen Historical Library to a new location, escape rooms are being used to share the little-known world of the history of biology and medicine!

Curators Lois Hendrickson and Emily Beck of the Wangensteen Historical Library of Biology of Medicine are always sharing their collection and expertise with historical materials with students, faculty, researchers, and scholars. And while no day is typical, it is not surprising that they are typically busy. In this post, we’re looking back fondly to March 2, 2020 when our buildings were open and bustling with people – detailing the events of a single hour during an “average” day in the Wangensteen Historical Library.

COVID-19 has brought all of the bakers out of the woodwork. From sourdough to elaborately-decorated focaccia, many people are lifting their spirits with yeast, baking powder, and baking soda. The Wangensteen Historical Library of Biology and Medicine is following suit, testing a recipe for “Tunbridge Cakes” from the library’s late 18th-century manuscript recipe book.

The Libraries is sending you a virtual care package, with everything you need to finish the semester strong. Go ahead and color our collections, take a ten song study break, watch a relaxing video, travel the world, or find helpful resources to help you maintain focus and keep organized while studying.