Press Release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Date: February 15, 2005
Contact: Adrian Kinnane
E-mail: akinnane@historyassociates.com
Telephone: (301) 279-9697

HAI Announces Role in New National Library of Medicine Website Exhibit

History Associates Incorporated (HAI), based in Rockville, MD, is proud to have played a major role in helping the National Institutes of Health's National Library of Medicine (NLM) launch a major new website exhibit. The exhibit, part of the NLM's Profiles in Science, a digital documentary editing and historical project, features the life and work of Francis Crick, co-discoverer of the double-helix structure of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA). Crick's 1953 discovery with James B. Watson earned the pair the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1962 and has been likened in scientific importance to Charles Darwin's theory of evolution. Crick and Watson's unraveling of DNA's structural riddle made possible the deciphering of the genetic code and ushered in a new era of research in molecular biology.

HAI digital archivists Kent Woynowski and HAI historian Walter Hickel collaborated with counterparts at London's Wellcome Library, which acquired Crick's papers in 2001. Working on-site in the Wellcome Library, Hickel selected material from among thousands of letters, photos, drawings, and notes, while Woynowski and HAI archivists Meghan Attalla and Gregory Pike focused on making the data compatible with the Profiles exhibit format. Hickel then wrote the historical narrative and captions for the exhibit and later presented the website to an appreciative NLM Board of Regents audience.

The Francis Crick portion of NLM's Profiles in Science exhibit was the first occasion for the NLM-based HAI team to work on an international project, which presented numerous challenges in organizing, conveying, and presenting data in digitized form. Throughout the project, HAI's digital archivists adhered to a careful system of metadata and image quality control so that the data would conform to the highest library and archival standards.

When the Crick exhibit opened on February 14, 2005, Hickel discussed its creation with Neal Conan on the PBS radio show Talk of the Nation. The exhibit at NLM can be viewed at http://profiles.nlm.nih.gov.

History Associates provides business, government, and nonprofit clients with professional historical research, writing, archives, and records management services. For more information, call (301) 279-9697 or visit www.historyassociates.com.