Exhibits
The Special Collections and Archives materials of the McGoogan Health Sciences Library are used in a variety of ways: classroom learning, loans to other institutions, virtual webinars, exhibits, etc. Exhibitions of the materials are located in the new Wigton Heritage Center and in Wittson Hall on levels 3, 4, and 5. Level 8 of the McGoogan Library also holds exhibits and materials that can be more closely examined by appointment.
The McGoogan Library is the proud producer and caretaker of the Wigton Heritage Center’s physical and digital exhibitions. Tours of the physical exhibitions, including the restored iconic façade of University Hospital, are available for booking.
Currently on display on Level 8 of McGoogan Library
A Poisoned Practice: The Holocaust, Medical Complicity, and the American Response
A special exhibit from the Wolf P. Wolfensberger Collection and the rare book collection
A Poisoned Practice explores the silent complicity of the American medical community during the Holocaust through the lens of the American eugenics movement and in the news available to the Omaha medical community during World War II. The exhibit also touches on one UNMC alum's experience liberating a concentration camp and the medical ethics implications of the Holocaust with the creation of the Nuremberg Code.
A Poisoned Practice is provided in partnership with the Calvin T. Ryan Library at the University of Nebraska at Kearney, the host of “Americans and the Holocaust: A Traveling Exhibition for Libraries” made possible by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum and the American Library Association. The exhibition runs through June 15th, 2026, and can be viewed by visiting Level 8 in McGoogan Library (located in Wittson Hall) or through an online format. Please note that the library is 24/7 badge access only. Guests need to be accompanied by library or university staff.
Previous Exhibits
Legacies of Healing: The Karrer Family
Special exhibit from the H. Winnett Orr Rare Book Collection
Over four generations, Karrer family members returned to the UNMC College of Medicine, producing a total of eight graduates. The Karrer family’s dedication exemplifies the college’s impact on medical education and reflects the family’s commitment to caring for patients in Nebraska and beyond. The family’s stories are told through photographs, archival materials, oral histories, and artifacts. The exhibition can be viewed in its online format.
Finding a Voice: Poetry, Prose, and Stories of Neurodiversity from the Wolfensberger Collection
Special exhibit from the Wolf P. Wolfensberger Collection
“Finding a Voice: Poetry, Prose, and Stories of Neurodiversity from the Wolfensberger Collection” features three books from the collection of Wolf P. Wolfensberger, PhD. In the book Bus Girl (1997) author Gretchen Josephson shares through poetry her world view as a person with Down syndrome. Bob Williams gives voice to his life with cerebral palsy through the poetry in his book In a Struggling Voice (1989). And a range of persons with disabilities find a creative outlet through poetry, art, and prose in Know Me As I Am: An Anthology of Prose, Poetry and Art by People With Learning Difficulties (1990).
Battling the Speckled Monster: Stories of Slaying Smallpox
Special exhibit from the rare book collection
“Battling the Speckled Monster: Stories of Slaying Smallpox” features three books from the McGoogan Library’s rare book collection and the H. Winnett Orr rare book collection. Edward Jenner’s 1798 An Inquiry into the Causes and Effects of the Variolae Vaccinae publicized his discovery of the smallpox vaccine derived from cowpox. The exhibit also presents a hidden story from the history of smallpox. In The Works of the Right Honourable Lady Mary Wortley Monatgu viewers are introduced to one 18th-century woman’s fight to introduce smallpox inoculation to England. The third book, A Treatise on the Small-pox and Measles, is a 19th-century translation of Rhazes’s 9th-century landmark work distinguishing the difference between smallpox and measles.