Health in the Time of Marcel ProustA new exhibition from University of Alabama at Birmingham Libraries chronicles the dramatic changes in health sciences during the lifetime of famed French novelist Marcel Proust.

“Health in the Time of Marcel Proust” will showcase literature, medical equipment, archival materials and more from the Belle Époque, France’s golden age. The dramatic changes include technological advances, an increasing emphasis on scientific inquiry and the standardization of medical education, among others. Proust, who was born in 1871 and died in 1922, is best known for his seven-volume novel, “À la recherche du temps perdu,” or “In Search of Lost Time.” The exhibit highlights developments in health and social upheavals across Europe and the United States — even in Alabama.

The exhibition, in the Dennis G. Pappas Historical Collections Gallery, will have a grand opening from 4-6 p.m. Friday, Sept. 19, in the gallery, 1700 University Blvd. Kasia Gonnerman, dean of UAB Libraries, and Bill Carter, Ph.D., Distinguished Professor Emeritus of French in the Department of World Languages and Literatures, will provide remarks beginning at 4:30 p.m., and light refreshments will be served. Parking will be available at no cost in the 9th Avenue Parking Deck.

The exhibit will run through summer 2026. The Pappas Gallery is free and open to the public from noon-5 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday.

UAB Libraries houses one of the largest print collections in the United States relating to Proust, including 21 letters written by Proust to friends and a manuscript collection written by one of the author’s former employees, all housed in UAB Archives. In spring 2025, UAB Archives acquired a rare edition of the first book in “In Search of Lost Time,” a first edition (also known as a Bernand Grasset printing) of “Du cote de chez Swann,” or “Swann’s Way” in English. The book is inscribed by Proust to a fellow French novelist and poet.

The Pappas Historical Collections Gallery is a 3,000-square-foot space on the second floor of Lister Hill Library of the Health Sciences and the exhibition home to the Alabama Museum of the Health Sciences, Reynolds-Finley Historical Library and UAB Archives. The gallery, which opened in 2024, houses rotating exhibitions featuring the UAB Libraries’ historical collections, which boast an invaluable wealth of preeminent historical record and scholarship.