Margaret and J.J. Longacre

As part of the bequest of Dr. Jacob James Longacre (1907-1976), a 1932 graduate of Harvard Medical School, the Boston Medical Library received the Margaret and J. J. Longacre Memorial Library of Plastic Surgery in January 1977, as a component of the National Archives of Plastic Surgery in the Countway. Dr. Longacre specialized in plastic and reconstructive surgery, particularly reconstruction of the breast, along with cleft-palate surgery and the healing of wounds.

Collected over a twenty-year period, the Longacre Library contains over 400 items on the history and development of plastic surgery, and includes beautiful editions of most of the classic texts in this specialty, along with works on the associated subjects of infection and wound healing, teratology, anatomy, surgery, and physiology, from the earliest years of printing through the 20th century. Classical and modern authors as diverse as Albucasis, Charles Bell, Vilray P. Blair, Celsus, J. F. Dieffenbach, William Harvey, A. J. Jobert, Charles Nelaton, Joseph Roux, and Alfred Velpeau are all represented, and the collection includes three incunables.