Come see the newest exhibit in the 3rd floor Historical Reading Room of the Ebling Library
Pharmaceuticals & Pharmacists: The Evolving Relationship
October 1-November 30, 2008
Guest Curators, Greg Higby and Elaine Stroud of the American Institute of the History of Pharmacy (AIHP)
Drugs and druggists go hand-in-hand in the mind of the public. Yet, over the decades the connection between pharmacists and medicines has shifted dramatically. In colonial America, apothecaries mainly sold British proprietary medicines, small packages of crude botanical drugs, and modest household items. By the early 1800s, pharmaceutists were manufacturing ingredients to be compounded into prescriptions. During the late 1900s, large companies came to dominate the production of medicines at the same time that pharmacists took on greater responsibility for their proper use within the American health care system. This exhibit explores this historical partnership by looking at how medicine production, regulation, and marketing have changed over time in parallel with the development of the pharmacy profession.