The Ruth Lilly Medical Library is pleased to announce the creation of a collection in IU Digital Collections, a growing online repository of digitized historical materials held by various libraries, archives, and other units across eight Indiana University campuses. The Vascular Surgery Drawings Collection, 1963-1964 consists of 28 color drawings of vascular surgery procedures including endarterectomies, bypasses, grafts, aneurysmal repairs, arterial incisions, and pacemaker implantations created by two unknown artists been 1963 and 1964. Most of the drawings were done on Crescent illustration boards using a combination of paint and ink.
The drawings were donated to the Ruth Lilly Medical Library by Ronald E. Jureziz, MD of South Bend, Indiana in 2021. They were originally commissioned by William Edmund Van Fleit, MD (1922-1987) when he was a faculty member at Emory University School of Medicine (Department of Surgery, Division of Thoracic Surgery) in the 1960s. Dr. Van Fleit subsequently moved to South Bend around 1964 and began practicing as the city's first vascular surgeon. He is the namesake of the Saint Joseph Health System’s annual “Van Fleit Symposium for Cardiovascular Medical Education,” which is funded by an endowment established in 1989 by Dr. Van Fleit’s wife, Frances Macdonough Van Fleit. Dr. Jureziz joined Dr. Van Fleit's medical practice in South Bend after graduating from the University of Illinois College of Medicine at Chicago. When Dr. Jureziz took over the practice in 1984, he also took ownership of the drawings and generously donated them to the library nearly 40 years later. A detailed descriptive finding aid for the collection can also be viewed in IU Archives Online: https://archives.iu.edu/catalog/VAE3200
Selected drawings from this collection are also featured in in the exhibit, Drawing to Learn: Artistic Renderings of Vascular Surgery, currently on display on the third floor of the Ruth Lilly Medical Library outside of the History of Medicine Room (IB 307
About the History of Medicine Collection
The Ruth Lilly Medical Library’s History of Medicine Collection supports the research, learning, and educational success of Indiana University students, faculty, and community members by collecting, preserving, interpreting, and providing access to unique materials documenting the history of medicine; medical education, training, research, and practice; and health and disease treatment and prevention in the state of Indiana and beyond within the global context of the Western medical tradition.
The History of Medicine Collection is located on the third floor of the Ruth Lilly Medical Library (Room 307) and is open by appointment only (Monday-Friday, 10:00am-4:00pm). Research appointments and classes can be scheduled by contacting medlref@iu.edu.