In 1954, in the interest of maintaining communication as their workplace grew beyond a single building, staff at Duke University Hospital began a newspaper. Christened the InterCom through a name-picking contest, the paper would go on to document hospital staff, expansion, research, and events. Issues of the InterCom through 1978 are now shared on DigitalNC by the Duke University Medical Center Archives.

The April 1958 issue of the InterCom reports on 10 new operating rooms in the new wing of Duke Hospital.

The earliest issues of the InterCom include personal news about hospital staff as well as information about new technology and the expanding campus. The paper was also an early way to share hospital statistics and successes; there are even thank you letters from patients. As the Hospital expanded to a Medical Center, later issues move away from personal news and focus more on professional accomplishments of individual staff members, while still including useful news and research for those in the field.

You can view all issues of the InterCom, as well as yearbooks from the Duke University School of Medicine, on DigitalNC.