Mary H. Teloh Biographcal File

Mary Frances Hickey Teloh (1946-2020) served as the first Special Collections Librarian at the Eskind Biomedical Library at Vanderbilt from 1977 until her retirement in 2011. Under her direction, she guided the growth of the collection from fewer than 2,000 volumes to nearly 12,000 works that record the history and development of medicine. She oversaw the establishment of the archives of the School of Medicine and Medical Center and solicited the donation of personal papers of faculty members in the School of Medicine. She worked with Drs. William J. Darby and E. Neige Todhunter to establish Vanderbilt as an important resource in the research of the history of nutrition and cookery though their efforts to recruit prominent research scientists in the field of nutrition to donate their papers to the collection.

Born in Menomonie, Wisconsin on March 5, 1946, Mary graduated in 1968 from the University of Wisconsin, Madison with a B.A. in History. She received her M.A. in Library Science from the University of Wisconsin in 1969. She began her career as a staff writer for the publication Badger History that was published by the Wisconsin Historical Society and distributed to elementary schools in Wisconsin. She also worked for the University of Wisconsin as a teaching assistant and a materials analyst, as well as collections development librarian for Public School System in Madison, Wisconsin. She came to Vanderbilt in 1973 where she served as Serials Librarian in the Medical Center Library.

It was in this role as Serials Librarian where she met Dr. Harry Shelley who had recently retired from the Veterans Hospital in Nashville and was working with the History of Medicine Collection where he volunteered as a curator and taught the History of Medicine course to the 2nd year medical students. It was from him she gained knowledge and appreciation of the history of medicine and was introduced to longtime School of Medicine faculty members and staff who shared with her their stories and memories of Vanderbilt. By coincide, preparations were being made to celebrate the Vanderbilt Centennial in 1975. It was through this process of researching and gathering records documenting the history of the School of Medicine and Hospital that the need to formally establish a department to preserve these materials became apparent.

Given her love of history, aptitude for gathering and organizing materials, combined with her positive outlook and engaging personality, Mary was hired in December 1977 as Special Collections Librarian where she worked to build the collection and prepare numerous publications and exhibits highlighting and describing the treasures and stories contained in the collection. At the time of her retirement, she reflected that her work with the History of Medicine collection was her “great good fortune.”

In retirement, she continued to pursue her lifelong love of antiques, gardening, and cooking as well as spending time with her two children and six grandchildren. She died suddenly at her home in Nashville on March 15, 2020.