Owners and Donors: Building the Rare Book Collection at the Countway Library of Medicine

The Countway Library is built from gifts—gifts large and small, made over many years. The collections of the Countway reflect a tradition of generosity spanning nearly two hundred years.

Such generosity is not just a thing of the past, though, and extraordinary gifts continue to complement the already vast array of books, manuscripts, prints, photographs, artwork, artifacts, instruments, and specimens preserved in the collections of the library, archives, and museum here at the Center for the History of Medicine. Owners and Donors honors just a few of the individual men and women who have contributed collections or even single items to enhance the rare book collections here at the Countway over the years.