Internet and History: Documents, books and photographs related to Moscow medicine now available in the virtual museum "Moscow - Taking Care of History”.

Marking Medical Worker Day on June 20, 2021, the Main Archive Department of Moscow launched a new section "Pages of History of Moscow Health Care" of the virtual museum "Moscow - Taking Care of History". It features documents, photographs and videos about the history of Moscow medicine from the end of the XVIII century to the present day. A brief survey of all materials is available in the virtual museum as an online exhibition.

The new section presents the creation and development of the city health system, construction of hospitals and other medical institutions, work on fighting epidemics and process of vaccinations. The museum documents tell about the history of famous hospitals, the medical faculty of the Imperial Moscow University at Devichye Pole and prominent Moscow doctors: Fyodor Gaaz, Nikolai Pirogov, Sergei Botkin, Nikolai Sklifosovsky. Numerous photographs of medical institutions of the 1930s portray the everyday work of the capital's doctors.

Besides, archival documents tell how the city authorities fought against the plague, cholera, typhus, tuberculosis and influenza, created an emergency care system, developed educational and research medical institutions, and organized health care during the Great Patriotic War. Some materials show the victory over the smallpox epidemic in 1960. At that time, in less than two weeks, almost all residents of Moscow and Moscow Region were vaccinated against smallpox. This activity prevented the spreading of infection. Vaccination in such a short time had never been performed anywhere else.

The museum also showcases a recently found album with photographs of pharmacies and pharmacists from 1973. They provide interiors of pharmacies, their visitors, the work of pharmacists (for example, preparation of medicines). The video of the "Moscow. Everyone's Health" series also tells about the work of physicians in the 1970s. It spotlights the medicine developed in the XX century, the work of doctors during the war, the last achievements of healthcare in the 1970s.

There are also book publications of great interest, including "For the Officials of the Moscow Post Office and Its Subordinate Institutions, as well as for All Persons Living in State Post Office Buildings: Instructions on Measures to Prevent Cholera" (1892), "Red Moscow" (1920), "Labour and the Life of Medical Workers in Moscow and Moscow Province" (1923), as well as the album of the scientific and popular exhibition on the protection of mothers and infancy in Moscow "Mother's Book" (1926).