Browse Items (187 total)
- Collection: Manuscripts and Archives
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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…
Tremont Street Medical School Prospectus
Holmes was one of the founders and faculty members of the Tremont Street Medical School; he offered courses in anatomy, physiology, and, as attested by this prospectus for the 1848 course, regular instruction in microscopic anatomy, and was one of…
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 Independent Chronicle and the Universal Advertiser
This local newspaper was one of the first to report the formation of the Harvard Medical School following the plan devised by Dr. John Warren for the Harvard Corporation. The article announces the appointment of the first three faculty members and…
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.
Telegram to Charles W. Eliot from Sir William Osler
Although invited to the dedication, physician Sir William Osler—who had just been named Oxford's Regius Professor of Medicine—could not attend, but did telegraph his congratulations.
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…
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.
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…
Sketch of Base Hospital No. 6 by Paul Dudley White.
A sketch of the plan of Base Hospital No. 6 from the diary of Paul Dudley White, May 1918.
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…
Richard Manning Hodges dissecting a cadaver
Animated view of a black and white stereograph exhibiting Harvard Medical School anatomy demonstrator and professor Richard Hodges participating in a research or classroom dissection. Dissection subject stabilized on wooden block.
Responses to the Interrogatories of R. H. Dana
At the request of William T. G. Morton, “to be preserved in perpetual remembrance of the thing,” sixteen physicians--John Collins Warren and Henry Jacob Bigelow among them--with knowledge of the circumstances surrounding the ether discovery and its…
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.…
Record of Patient 2146 at the Harvard University Service,
American Ambulance Hospital, June 1915.
Over 2000 detailed records of patients treated by the Harvard Unit at Neuilly have been preserved along with photographs and X-rays. Patient 2146 had a perforating shrapnel wound of the upper right arm followed by gas gangrene--the first such…
Program from Harvard Medical School centennial celebration
During the 1880s, Holmes was involved with the fund-raising appeals for the Medical School’s Boylston Street building. As part of the centennial celebration and dedication of the new building in 1883, he delivered this oration, tracing the history…
Plan of No. 22 General Hospital (Camiers, France), 1916.
Plan of No. 22 General Hospital drawn by Paul Dudley White.
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.
Photographs of Camp Hospital No. 41.
After initial attachment to General Hospital No. 4 in the British Expeditionary Force, Frank W. Snow was then assigned to Camp Hospital No. 12 in the A.E.F. in April 1918 and appointed officer in command there. He was transferred to Camp Hospital…
Photographs from "The Advent of Anesthesia" Film
In 1933, the Mallinckrodt Chemical Company produced a short silent file, “The Advent of Anesthesia”, depicting the experiments of W. T. G. Morton with ether anesthesia and recreating the first public demonstration of the operation on Gilbert Abbott…
Photograph of W. T. G. Morton.
Photograph of W. T. G. Morton.
Photograph of Medical Ward, Camp Hospital No. 12.
After initial attachment to General Hospital No. 4 in the British Expeditionary Force, Frank W. Snow was then assigned to Camp Hospital No. 12 in the A.E.F. in April 1918 and appointed officer in command there. He was transferred to Camp Hospital…
Photograph of John Fraser and Walter B. Cannon.
Photograph of John Fraser and Walter B. Cannon.
Photograph of J. Warren White and Paul Dudley White.
Photograph of J. Warren White and Paul Dudley White in military uniform.
Photograph of Frederick James Caldwell and Chauncey Nye Lewis, circa 1917.
Photograph of Frederick James Caldwell and Chauncey Nye Lewis at General Hospital No. 22, circa 1917.
Photograph of Frank Whipple Snow.
Photograph of Frank Whipple Snow in uniform.
Photograph of Dr. Varaztad H. Kazanjian leaving Buckingham Palace after his investiture as a Companion of St. Michael and St. George for his services during World War I.
With him are his friends, Mr. and Mrs. W. Warwick James of London.
Photograph of Charles T. Jackson.
Photograph of Charles T. Jackson.
Photograph of bearers removing patient from ambulance at American Ambulance Hospital, circa 1915.
Photograph of bearers removing patient from ambulance at American Ambulance Hospital.
Passport photograph of M. Blanche Wallace, 1918.
Autographed passport photograph of M. Blanche Wallace, April 1918. Mary Blanche Wallace (1892-1979) of Woburn served as a nurse with the third Harvard Surgical Unit, working at General Hospital No. 22 from June 11, 1916, to June 9, 1917. She then…
Passport for Lyman G. Barton.
This passport was issued by the State Department for Lyman Guy Barton (1887-1968), a member of the surgical staff of the Harvard Unit at the American Ambulance Hospital.
Panorama photograph of Camp Hospital No. 12.
After initial attachment to General Hospital No. 4 in the British Expeditionary Force, Frank W. Snow was then assigned to Camp Hospital No. 12 in the A.E.F. in April 1918 and appointed officer in command there. He was transferred to Camp Hospital…
Ornithine experiment graph
Ornithine, genetics, data
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…
Newspaper announcement of the first operation under ether anesthesia.
First announcement of the surgical operation using ether anesthesia at Massachusetts General Hospital.
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…
Needs of the Harvard Medical School in the Immediate Future
As a complement to the fund raising campaign for the new campus, Drs. H. P. Bowditch and J. Collins Warren produced this pamphlet to inspire donations to endow professorships, departments, and scholarships at the school.
Names for Honorary Degrees
As part of the dedication ceremonies, honorary degrees were to be presented to some distinguished physicians. In this memo, the dean of the Medical School, William L. Richardson, canvasses and records the opinions of some of the faculty members on…
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…
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…
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…
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.
Life After 1958: Yearbook on the 65th Graduation Anniversary of the Harvard Medical School Class of 1958
Written contributions from members of the Harvard Medical School Class of 1958 reflecting on their medical education and life experiences on the occasion of their 65th reunion year. Contributions were solicited and gathered by project organizers…
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…
Letter of congratulations from Moscow
The Medical School received formal letters of congratulation on the opening of the new buildings from other medical schools in the United States and from institutions abroad, including this unusual greeting from the rector of the Imperial University…
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.
Letter from J. Pierpont Morgan to J. Collins Warren
Financier and industrialist J. Pierpont Morgan was the most significant benefactor to the construction of the Quad buildings. His magnificent gift of $1,135,000—the single largest donation received by Harvard to that point—underwrote the…
Letter from J. Collins Warren to Harold C. Ernst
Although there was doubt on the part of President Eliot that the Longwood buildings would be ready for the meeting of the American Medical Association in June 1906, as this letter of J. Collins Warren attests, the architects affirmed that, within a…
Letter describing treatment of Cocoanut Grove fire victims at Boston City Hospital
Letter describes the response of medical personnel and the administration of medical treatment following a mass casualty event
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…
Letter : [Glasgow, Scotland], to Frances G. Lee, Littleton, N.H. Page 01-04.
After some weeks abroad, Alan R. Moritz sent these reflections on legal medicine in an academic context to Mrs. Lee to help crystalize the direction and goals of the new department.
My greatest problem to date has been to arrive at some more or less…
My greatest problem to date has been to arrive at some more or less…
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…
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…
John Collins Warren
Black and white oval portrait of J. Collins Warren adhered to paper board mat.
Invitation to the Dedication Ceremonies
This invitation was sent to Dr. Joseph Grindon, the Professor of Clinical Dermatology at Washington University, in St. Louis.
Interior of ward at No. 22 General Hospital.
Glass lantern slide of interior of ward at No. 22 General Hospital.
Identity card for Walter B. Cannon.
Identify card for Walter B. Cannon.
