Contacts:
John Eyler, Ph.D., (612) 624-5921
Teri Charest, Academic Health Center, (612) 624-4604
U OF MINNESOTA MEDICAL TIME CAPSULES HIGHLIGHT GROUNDBREAKING, 'BEAUTIFUL U' DAY
MINNEAPOLIS / ST. PAUL--Two medical time capsules, dated 1911 and 1931, will be opened at the University of Minnesota at noon Thursday, Oct. 28, on Moos Plaza at Washington Avenue and Union Street. The event is part of a groundbreaking ceremony for the university's new Molecular and Cellular Biology Building, which is a highlight of this year's Beautiful U celebration.
Demolition crews found the time capsules in the cornerstones of the Millard and Owre buildings. The Owre, Millard and Lyon complex is being torn down to make way for the Molecular and Cellular Biology Building.
University President Mark Yudof will open the time capsules. Frank Cerra, senior vice president for health sciences, and Al Michael, dean of the Medical School, will join him to remove and discuss the contents. It will be the first time anyone has seen the items since they were buried.
John Eyler, head of the history of medicine department, said there was great debate about the quality of medical education in 1911. A report issued by the Carnegie Foundation in 1910 strongly criticized 100 of the nation's 165 medical schools. However, Dr. Abraham Flexner, who wrote the report, praised Minnesota as "perhaps the first state in the Union that may fairly be considered to have solved the most perplexing problems connected with medical education and practice."
Private funding for medical education also evolved in 1911, Eyler said, when the Rockefeller Foundation's General Education Board began giving million-dollar grants to a select group of medical schools. "It was also a time when basic research was developing in medical schools," Eyler said. "The hottest area was infectious disease, especially as it related to surgical infection."
University officials will break ground for the new building after the time capsules are opened.
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