Help the Office of NIH History save Clinical Center history from the trash and surplus. With many offices and laboratories in the CC moving in the coming months, the time is ripe to sort out which papers, books and instruments you're going to take with you to your new space. Before you throw anything away or surplus it, consider giving it to the ONH instead.

What is the ONH interested in? A better question might be, "What isn't it interested in?" ONH collects scientific instruments and non-scientific objects (such as nurses' uniforms or lapel pins) that document NIH history. Instrument manuals (for instruments you are donating or for those you no longer have) and trade catalogs are also sought. The archival section of the ONH collects documents and correspondence relating to programs, policies and laboratories; scientific notebooks; and photographs or audio-visual material (photos and AV material can be copied and the originals returned). ONH also seeks old telephone books, annual reports, books and other such materials.

Things do not have to be "old" — NIH history covers the present.

These items will be accessioned into ONH's DeWitt Stetten, Jr., Museum of Medical Research and archival collections. The collections are used in exhibits, loaned to other museums and studied by NIH researchers and outside scholars interested in NIH history. They will be searchable online.

If you have the remotest idea that something you have should go to ONH, contact Dr. Sarah Leavitt, (301) 496-8856 or leavitts@od.nih.gov.