Saúde e memória: a história das doenças por meio da coleção de imagens em vidro do Centro de Memória da Medicina da UFMG

Abstract

The Centro de Memoria da Medicina (Cememor) at the Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais (UFMG), founded in the 1970s, preserves an extensive specialized collection related to health, divided into museum, archival, and library categories. Within the archival holdings, a significant collection of photographs in various formats and on different supports stands out. These images vary in their condition and state of preservation. This article discusses the arrangement, description, and preservation of the glass plate negatives in this iconographic collection. The specific goals are to: implement preventive conservation for the glass plate items; identify donors through provenance research; analyze image content according to medical subfields; clean, rehouse, and describe the materials; explore possibilities for increased access and use, integrating teaching, research, and outreach for both internal and external audiences. This article reports on procedures conducted from 2021-2023 on the glass plate images at Cememor through a project with three phases: preliminary condition survey, processing of high- priority items, and content analysis. Upon completing description of the glass plate negatives, work will shift to processing the slide film images using distinct techniques for cleaning, digitization, and storage. Completing arrangement and description of the glass plates has improved preservation by standardizing housing and maximizing storage space. Future plans include developing physical and virtual exhibits to promote awareness of this collection. The aesthetic potential of the microscopic images will be explored through scientific illustration workshops and exhibits.