Scholarly communication in an analog age

This week's visit from Dr. Charles Grossman brought another reminder of how academic medicine has changed during his 60-plus years of practice. In an exhibit we might call "When I was your age, we had to send away through the mail to get reprints!", we could display the piles of postcards Grossman received--and saved--over the course of his career. The stack of reprint requests for his article on mushroom poisoning alone teeters in at over 3 inches tall. The mail came in from around the country and different corners of the globe. A handful are shown here.



Side note: Dr. Grossman, who attended the celebration of the 60th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China two weeks ago, is writing up his experience for the U.S.-China Review; interested readers should check its pages for that report.