Vaccination

Sir Thomas Lawrence and J. H. Lynch Esq., Edward Jenner, circa 1830

English physician Edward Jenner (1749-1823) was the inventor of the smallpox vaccination. Jenner discovered that individuals who had contracted cowpox, a mild disease often spread to human beings by contact with the teats and udders of cows, were resistant to smallpox infection, and he came to believe that cowpox matter could be transmitted from one person to another, conferring immunity to smallpox. In 1796, he was the first to successfully innoculate a child against smallpox. The rest of his career centered around vaccination research.

This is a lithograph portrait of Edward Jenner by J. H. Lynch Esq., after the original painting by Sir Thomas Lawrence.

Royal Jennerian Society for the Extermination of the Small-pox : at a very numerous and highly respected meeting ... to consider of the best means to be adopted for the extermination of the small-pox, 1803

Following the discovery of Edward Jenner, the Royal Jennerian Society was formed at the London Tavern on January 19, 1803. Under the patronage of the Prince and Princess of Wales, the society's goal was to promote the eradication of smallpox through vaccination. This rare broadside announces the formation of the society and encourages the officials of other cities and towns to adopt similar measures.

A book of the records of inoculation for the kine pock, 1810-1831

A colleague and friend of Harvard's Benjamin Waterhouse, Sylvanus Fansher (1770-1846) successfully vaccinated over 35,000 individuals in New England, New York, and New Jersey before 1816. This register, maintained by the town council of Providence, Rhode Island, records the names and dates of over 5,300 smallpox vaccinations by Fansher, along with physician John Mackie (1780-1833), between 1810 and 1816.

Letter from Moses Younglove to Sylvanus Fansher, 1827

In response to an inquiry from Sylvanus Fansher (1770-1846), New York physician Moses Younglove sent this letter describing his experiences with smallpox and cowpox inoculation. Younglove claims to have inoculated over 1,400 individuals with only six fatalities before the advent of vaccination. The letter is written on the verso of an 1825 broadside describing Younglove's treatment for smallpox patients.

These items are some of the recent additions to the extensive collection of books and manuscripts related to smallpox vaccination in the library collections.

For more on the smallpox vaccine, check out To Slay the Devouring Monster.