Sandra Martin Parham, MLIS, executive director of Meharry Medical College Library, has authored a newly published book detailing the history of the ground-breaking medical school.

Introducing the college's beginnings, she writes: "During the decade following the Civil War, those charged with the task of providing schools for the freedmen quickly recognized the almost total lack of competent medical service for African Americans, among whom the mortality rate was mounting with alarming rapidity. It was to cope with this situation that Meharry, in 1876, came into being ..."

The book covers the school's fascinating history from the first president George W. Hubbard through today's leadership under the guidance of James E.K. Hildreth, PhD, MD.