Our organization’s name is Minnesota Veterinary Historical Museum but we are about a lot more than old tattered books, or dusty retired surgery instruments. We make connections to living “people” that are classmates, family of classmates and veterinarians graduating from other states.
I thought it would be nice to start sharing some stories, showing we stay busy and interested in the history of vet-med. It is a fun place to volunteer.
This week we received a monetary donation from Elaine Pritchard. It is always exciting to get a donation but rare for that person to be shrouded in mystery. Most donations arrive with our annual solicitation letter each fall.
Consulting our museum publication, “One Hundred Years of Progress”, I found many entries for a William R. Pritchard. He was at the CVM from 1949-1953, eventually leading the Division of Clinical Medicine. And Elaine’s husband.
Now - I was getting excited as I related my detective work, when our curator Paul Maravelas told of the recent museum purchase of “Memoirs of the Luckiest Man in the World by William Roy Pritchard”.
Please visit the museum to see our entire collection of books authored by veterinarians with a connection to Minnesota. Dr. Pritchard had an amazing life and was honored by UCD with the renaming of the Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital in his honor in 2007. Read More
Bennett Porter DVM
Dr. Bill Pritchard (L) Dr. John Campbell (R). Reveal Susies Trouble