20 Facts About Estelle Brodman

Estelle Brodman was an American medical librarian and medical historian.

Estelle Brodman held positions at Columbia University, the National Library of Medicine and the Washington University School of Medicine.

Estelle Brodman had one brother, Keeve, who became a psychiatrist.

Estelle Brodman described them as growing up in a "culture of Talmudic scholars" and said that there was an emphasis on intellectual pursuits in her family that influenced her for the rest of her career.

Estelle Brodman said that she could not relate to those who did not enjoy learning new things.

Estelle Brodman recalled with embarrassment that she had entered a library career almost inadvertently while having a quarrel with her mother.

When her mother suggested becoming a social worker instead of a physician, Estelle Brodman snapped back sarcastically that she would rather become a librarian than a social worker.

When Estelle Brodman was told that she could never become the head librarian at Columbia because she was a woman, she decided to begin work on a Ph.

Estelle Brodman taught courses in library science at Columbia and a nursing history course for nursing students at Columbia-Presbyterian Hospital.

At WUSM, Estelle Brodman became increasingly involved in using computers to increase automation of library functions.

Estelle Brodman authored several biographical papers on historical figures in medicine and she advocated for the development and expansion of the MLA's oral history project.

Estelle Brodman traveled abroad as a consultant and lecturer; she taught librarianship at Japan's Keio University and took a trip sponsored by the World Health Organization to evaluate family planning practices in India.

Much of Estelle Brodman's published writing was inspired by manuscripts given to WUSM.

The William Beaumont Papers, a collection donated to WUSM in 1915 by the granddaughter of army surgeon William Beaumont, spurred Estelle Brodman to write three papers on Beaumont and his work.

From 1949 to 1952, Estelle Brodman was director of the Special Libraries Association ; before that, she had chaired the association's Biological Sciences Group.

Estelle Brodman served on the executive council of the American Association for the History of Medicine and chaired the Biomedical Communication Study Section of the National Institutes of Health.

Estelle Brodman served extensively with the Medical Library Association ; she was the editor of the Bulletin of the Medical Library Association, the predecessor to the Journal of the Medical Library Association, from 1947 to 1957.

Estelle Brodman received the MLA's Gottlieb Award in 1977 in recognition of the best unpublished paper related to the history of medicine.

Estelle Brodman was awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Illinois.

Estelle Brodman died of natural causes in New Jersey in 2007.