Excerpt:
The Owen H. Wangensteen Historical Library of Biology and Medicine is a collection of approximately 60,000 rare and out-of-print books, manuscripts, and journals dating from the early 1400s to 1920. Subject concentrations include medicine, both broad and specific, biology, and natural history. The collection had its origins in the early years of the University when medical faculty purchased landmark works to expand the research materials for medical students. Dr.Wangensteen, who was a teacher, researcher, historian, and chief of surgery at the University of Minnesota, was instrumental in the development of endowments which support the continued growth of the collections. Because of these generous donors, works continue to be acquired in areas such as surgery, ophthalmology, cardiology, mycology, tuberculosis, nursing, radiology, pediatrics, and obstetrics and gynecology.