Browse Items (186 total)
- Collection: Manuscripts and Archives
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American Ambulance Hospital
Picture Postcards: "The Morning Rounds", "Wounded Awaiting their Turn for Dressing", and "Fresh Air Cure on the Verandas."
The postcards, part of a series, may have been used as part of a fund-raising effort for the hospital; the originals along with the passport are preserved in a scrapbook kept by Lyman G. Barton, along with a collection of photographs from his service…
"Cinema: the new pictures," August 7, 1950.
An MGM film originally intended as a documentary on the work of the Department of Legal Medicine was later recast as a fictional drama—Mystery Street (also known as Murder at Harvard.) The plot concerns a police detective (Ricardo Montalban)…
"Dean explains dropping Dept. of Legal Medicine" from the Boston Sunday Advertiser, August 13, 1967.
The Medical School's new dean, Robert H. Ebert, here announces the dissolution of the Department of Legal Medicine, stating that the training of medical examiners would be handled better by hospitals, and the appointment of William J. Curran, as…
Mary Ellen Avery papers, 1929-2002 (inclusive). H MS c201
The Mary Ellen Avery papers, 1929-2002, consist of personal and professional correspondence, teaching materials, professional activities records, grant records, articles and drafts, lectures and speeches, diaries, photographs, and other records from…
Summons to Charles T. Jackson and others, January 1, 1850. Page 01-02.
Following the discovery of charred human bones and some artificial teeth in the laboratory of John White Webster, Harvard's Erving Professor of Chemistry, scientific experts were called in to provide anatomical and chemical analyses of the remains on…
A group of Saxon soldiers and their composite
Bowditch reproduced and described this composite image of Saxon soldiers, as well as a composite image of Wend soldiers, in his article, “Are composite photographs typical pictures?” printed in McClure’s magazine in September 1894.…
A group of Wend soldiers and their composite
Bowditch reproduced and described this composite image of Wend soldiers, as well as a composite image of Saxon soldiers, in his article, “Are composite photographs typical pictures?” printed in McClure’s magazine in September 1894.…
Final inspection of the Harvard Unit at Fort Totten, N.Y.
Photograph of the final inspection of the Harvard Unit at Fort Totten, N.Y.
Photograph of W. T. G. Morton.
Photograph of W. T. G. Morton.
Argument before the Tewksbury Investigation Committee
A state almshouse for paupers at Tewksbury was founded in 1852. In the 1880s, charges of theft and abuse of the inmates–including the sale of bodies of the deceased to Harvard and other medical schools for anatomical dissection–were…
After-Order by Lieut.-Colonel Hugh Cabot, C.M.G., R.A.M.C., February 1919
At the conclusion of service with the British army in France, the personnel of the Harvard Unit were given this printed communication, extending the thanks of Field Marshall Sir Douglas Haig as well as the commendation of Hugh Cabot:
The months…
The months…
Admission ticket to the lectures on the theory and practice of midwifery and medical jurisprudence for E. W. Pierce, November 6, 1839.
Admission ticket to the lectures of Walter Channing on the theory and practice of midwifery and medical jurisprudence for E. W. Pierce,
Laudate Dominum
Harvard's Assistant Professor of Music, F. S. Converse, composed this choral work for the dedication of the new Medical School buildings on September 26th. A chorus of alumni under the direction of Harvard's choir-master performed the piece. A…
First Ether Charts
As a medical student Harvey Cushing, along with classmate, Ernst Amory Codman, resolved to improve the technique for giving ether and created the first known ether charts, (front of one chart reproduced here) carefully recording patient pulse,…
First Ether Charts
As a medical student Harvey Cushing, along with classmate, Ernst Amory Codman, resolved to improve the technique for giving ether and created the first known ether charts, (back of one chart reproduced here) carefully recording patient pulse,…
Women in medicine
Soon after his appointment as Dean of Harvard Medical School, though before he assumed that office, Robert Higgins Ebert (1914-1996) delivered this address at Vassar, at that time still a women's college. Ebert states, "I believe in education for…
Medical Case Sheet (Army Form I. 1237), August 15-17, 1917.
As wounded soldiers were evacuated from the battlefield for hospital treatment, each was issued a field medical card for identification with a brief diagnosis or assessment; the card was in a window envelope and tied to the individual, with red-edged…
Photograph of Charles T. Jackson.
Photograph of Charles T. Jackson.
Report on the desirability of an electron microscope for the Harvard Medical School
Drs. Fawcett, for the Department of Anatomy, and Sognnaes, in the School of Dental Medicine, along with Professor Solomon in the Biophysical Laboratory outlined the need for an electron microscope at HMS, a report probably addressed to the dean.…
Plan of Base Hospital No. 5.
The plan of the hospital, drawn by Private Paul R. Frost, depicts the impact sites of the five bombs.
Map showing the bomb impact sites at Base Hospital No. 5, September 13, 1917.
The plan of the hospital, drawn by Private Paul R. Frost, depicts the impact sites of the five bombs.
Letter of Appreciation to the Harvard University Hospital Unit.
The British Embassy transmitted this document to the U.S. Secretary of State, who then sent it to President A. Lawrence Lowell of Harvard.
Ornithine experiment graph
Ornithine, genetics, data
Student laboratory dissection exercises
First-year medical students, DeWitt Allen Green, Ernest Bingham Oliver, Harold Bengloff, and Bruce Robinson Merrill, produced these drawings as part of their assigned course work on a cadaver in the fall of 1934.
According to the description in…
Matriculating book
During the 19th century, every incoming medical student signed this volume at the beginning of the academic session and so agreed to follow the statutes of Harvard University and the direction of the Faculty of Medicine. On the page on the right can…
Annual Circular
This first circular from the new location advertises the opportunity for students to examine patients at the Boston Almshouse on Leverett Street and announces the new professorship in clinical medicine.
The faculty was also concerned about the cost…
Dedication of the New Buildings of the Harvard Medical School
This is a program from the two-day exercises at the dedication, September 25th and 26th, 1906. The faculty speeches and the formal dedication of the Longwood campus were followed the next day by an academic session on the Cambridge campus, with a…
Invitation to the Dedication Ceremonies
This invitation was sent to Dr. Joseph Grindon, the Professor of Clinical Dermatology at Washington University, in St. Louis.
Dedication of the New Buildings of the Harvard Medical School
This extended version of the dedication program contains transcripts of the speeches and address of Dr. William H. Welch. The dean of the Medical School, William L. Richardson, said, "In these new buildings all that one could ask for has been…
The Medical School of Harvard University, Class of 1906
The Aesculapiad, the yearbook for Harvard Medical School, first appeared in 1924, but it had this unique precursor in 1906, in conjunction with the opening of the new buildings. The yearbook contains photographs of the faculty and the 68 graduating…
The Harvard Medical School, 1782-1906
Although Thomas Francis Harrington published a three-volume history of the Medical School in 1905, the dedication of the new buildings prompted the appearance of this shorter commemorative work, with a history of the individual departments and a…
The Aesculapiad
These photographs show members of the Class of 1971 in anatomy lectures and the dissecting room.
Laboratory guide for gross dissection
The Department of Anatomy produced and distributed this step-by-step manual for dissection "to help the student in the important task of displaying for study the structure of the human body. It represents one plan for completing each day's work with…
Committee to Consider the Future of Legal Medicine in Harvard University. Minutes, April 13, 1936. Pages 01-04.
Following the gift of the Magrath endowment, the Medical School formed a committee to examine the scope, nature, and activities related to legal medicine. These minutes of the committee’s initial meeting outline the proposed activities, association…
Seminar in Legal Medicine. Advanced Session for Medical Examiners, Coroners and Pathologists. Program. Page 01-02.
In 1945, the Department began to offer these educational seminars. The advanced session for medical examiners, coroners, and pathologists was conducted in association with Boston University and Tufts College.
The fall 1945 seminar in homicide…
The fall 1945 seminar in homicide…
News Letter of the Harvard B.E.F. Association, February 1946.
In 1937, the men and women of the Harvard Surgical Unit formed the Harvard Unit, B.E.F. Association "to keep alive friendships fostered during the years in France and to have a committee through whom information may be obtained." At the first…
Letter to Edward H. Bradford on the bombing of Base Hospital No. 5, September 13, 1917.
Although not present at Camiers during the event, Harvey Cushing sent this account of the air raid and bombing of Base Hospital No. 5 to the Dean of Harvard Medical School a few days after the event. The editorial corrections made by Cushing were…
John Collins Warren
Black and white oval portrait of J. Collins Warren adhered to paper board mat.
Histochemical and cytological techniques
This procedural manual on the preparation of organs and tissue was developed by the Department of Anatomy; the passage displayed outlines work on frozen tissue sections.
Studies for the First Operation under Ether
10 pencil sketches of heads and torsos of physicians made at the time of painting The First Operation under Ether. Two individuals are unidentified.
A poem by Oliver Wendell Holmes, M.D., delivered before the Society for
Medical Improvement
This lengthy poem by Holmes—never published during his lifetime—was probably recited at one of the anniversary dinners of the Boston Society for Medical Improvement; Holmes frequently composed and presented his poetic efforts for its…
Letter by Oliver Wendell Holmes to Alexander Ireland
After the death of transcendentalist Ralph Waldo Emerson in 1882, Holmes was approached to write his biography for the “American Men of Letters” series. After publication, he received this letter from journalist Alexander Ireland…
Letter by Oliver Wendell Holmes reflecting on his career
In this letter to an unknown correspondent, Holmes reflects on his career and activities: “My mode of life is rather solitary than social, though I have contributed my share of hilarity to scores of festivals and am almost entitled to be called…
Photograph of J. Warren White and Paul Dudley White.
Photograph of J. Warren White and Paul Dudley White in military uniform.
Autograph letter signed : Boston, Mass., to Winslow Lewis,
[Boston, Mass.?], December 5, 1849. Page 01-03.
Following the discovery of charred human bones and some artificial teeth in the laboratory of John White Webster, Harvard's Erving Professor of Chemistry, scientific experts were called in to provide anatomical and chemical analyses of the remains on…
Notes on Lectures at Harvard Medical School
Although he never practiced as a physician, William James—philosopher and psychologist best known for The Varieties of Religious Experience(1902)—received a degree from Harvard Medical School in 1869 and taught physiology during the…
