The National Library of Medicine (NLM) announces Fifty Years Ago: The Darkening Day, a new online exhibition recognizing the 50th anniversary of The Darkening Day, an NLM exhibition on the health aspects of environmental pollution, which opened at the library in 1970 and was subsequently reviewed in the September 29, 1970, issue of the NIH Record, page 11.
Featuring selected works from the NLM collection, Fifty Years Ago: The Darkening Day highlights examples of research, programs and policies, public messaging, and action taken by the U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare and federal scientists from the Public Health Service (PHS), as awareness of pollution’s detrimental impacts on health grew in the years preceding 1970.
The exhibition complements the history explored in Darkening Day: Air Pollution Films and Environmental Awareness, 1960–1972, a critical examination of six public health films from NLM’s historical audiovisuals collection, curation which is part of Medicine on Screen: Films and Essays from NLM.
Explore Fifty Years Ago: The Darkening Day online.
Many government and government-funded pamphlets on pollution encouraged citizens to help create a healthier environment.
Clean Air for Your Community, Public Health Service (PHS) Division of Air Pollution, 1966
Courtesy National Library of Medicine
Uranium miner gets his blood drawn for a PHS study, Scope Weekly, October 16, 1957
Courtesy National Library of Medicine
Some government and government-funded pamphlets on pollution emphasized the need for collaboration between communities and all levels of government.
No Laughing Matter: The Cartoonist Focuses on Air Pollution, PHS, 1966
Courtesy National Library of Medicine
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Last Reviewed: January 25, 2021