Collections : [David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library]

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David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library
David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library

The holdings of the Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library range from ancient papyri to records of modern advertising. There are over 10,000 manuscript collections containing more than 20 million individual manuscript items. Only a portion of these collections and items are discoverable on this site. Others may be found in the library catalog.

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Start Over You searched for: Date range 1817 Remove constraint Date range: 1817 Names History of Medicine Collections (Duke University) Remove constraint Names: History of Medicine Collections (Duke University) Repository David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library Remove constraint Repository: David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library
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Collection
Document, signed. John Mitchell petitions the Hospital for admittance. The Hospital receives the promise of John Haighton, physician, to supply the patient with clean body linen weekly and to remove the body at his expense, if the patient should die within the Hospital's care.
Collection
ANS. Requests that bearer be given a copy of his work on mineral waters, as well as his book on the liver. Note is attached to short biographical sketch.
Collection
ALS. Writes regarding the editing of a publication on Parkinson's disease.
Collection
Letter (ALS) informs recipient that Apostoli will send a recent published thesis on his electrical treatment of fibromata.
Collection
Manuscript pages from a proposed, but never published second and revised edition of North's book, "A treatise on a malignant epidemic, commonly called spotted fever". Available are photographs of the title page of North's own copy of the book, which bears marginal notes in his hand. Reader is referred to the article by Pleadwell, "A new view of Elisha North ... ", in Annals of medical history, 6 (1924). The manuscript and North's copy form the basis of this essay.
Collection
Printed burial announcement, Amsterdam, 1775, of the death and remarkable old age of Hermanus van Kleef; silhouette portrait of cut-out colored papers and a lock of human hair, with holograph caption; and autograph translation of both announcement and caption. Collage portrait supposedly of and by van Kleef a few years before his death at the age of 101. English translation by a Dr. Luckhardt, sometime around 1950.
Collection
3 letters (ALS), including a letter of reference, dated May 27, 1839, Edinburgh, for Dr. William Pirrie.
Collection
Letter (ALS) dated Oct. 20, 1830 tendering his resignation as Professor of Physiology at the University of London; a pencil sketch and engravings of drawings by Bell; a copy of a portrait of Bell by J. Stevens and two clippings.
Collection
Document, signed. Certificate of the Massachusetts Medical Society, that Josiah Lamson is qualified to practice medicine. Signed by, among others, Josiah Bartlett and Aaron Dexter.
Collection
Collection comprises 8 medical account journals maintained by Budlong between 1817 and 1839. In addition to treatments provided, most often tooth extractions and bleeding, the doctor noted examinations and prescriptions for pills, oils, powders, elixirs, bitters, ointments, and asthmatics, along with cathartic sugars and throat lozenges. Fees are recorded for each entry and payments and regular audits noted. The entries were irregular in regard to date. Included in the collection is an undated typescript list of more than 100 individuals treated in volume 1, indicating that Budlong served as the primary physician for the area during its early settlement. There are indexes for volumes 2 and 8; and these, along with 76 items laid-in to the volumes, including receipts, blotting sheets, lists, calculations, and other notes have been removed to a separate folder. One item laid in is receipt unrelated to the volumes for a payment dated 1915.

Collection comprises 8 medical account journals maintained by Budlong between 1817 and 1839. In addition to treatments provided, most often tooth extractions and bleeding, the doctor noted examinations and prescriptions for pills, oils, powders, elixirs, bitters, ointments, and asthmatics, along with cathartic sugars and throat lozenges. Fees are recorded for each entry and payments and regular audits noted. The entries were irregular in regard to date. Included in the collection is an undated typescript list of more than 100 individuals treated in volume 1, indicating that Budlong served as the primary physician for the area during its early settlement. There are indexes for volumes 2 and 8; and these, along with 76 items laid-in to the volumes, including receipts, blotting sheets, lists, calculations, and other notes have been removed to a separate folder. One item laid in is receipt unrelated to the volumes for a payment dated 1915. Acquired as part of the History of Medicine Collections.

Collection
4 letters (ALS). Correspondence from Caspar Wistar, Robert Hare and Nathaniel Chapman. Wistar writes regarding quarantine regulations, that, on the one hand, they should prevent the introduction of contagious diseases and, on the other, should not be "burdensome to commerce". Includes transcription of Wistar letter.
Collection
In an ALS to Thomas Poole, Davy inquires after an estate in Nether Stowey he would like to purchase and remarks sadly upon the death of Princess Charlotte. In a holograph note, signed, in French, to the Monsignor de Medici Spada, Davy remarks upon his poor health.
Collection
ALS, in French. Humboldt writes to P.H. Azais and Jules Berger de Xivrey on politics, philosophy, his expeditions, ethnology, natural history and the influence and inspiration of French thought. In 1966 Fritz Lange, of the Alexander-von-Humboldt-Kommission, writes to the Duke Medical Center Library regarding the Kommission's project to locate world-wide all correspondence to and from Humboldt.
Collection
Material includes a letter (ALS), reprints, holograph notes. All material relates to the letter, from Commodore Thomas Macdonough to B.W. Crowninshield, Secretary of the Navy, recommending William Beaumont for service in the Navy.
Collection
A collection of letters (ALS) from Brown, including a letter from Brown's grandfather, the Rev. John Brown; photostats, including one of the first page of the first edition of Brown's "Horae subsecivae"; and holograph notes in an anonymous hand.
Collection
Letter (ALS) to Nahum Capen, restating the argument of Caldwell's book, Phrenology Vindicated, and Anti-Phrenology Unmasked, and a letter (ALS) to Reverend Samuel Gilman, relating to personal matters.
Collection
Papers include a receipt of payment for attendance by Wistar upon a Wm. Cohen, and an 1839 invitation card to a Wistar Party.
Collection
ALS to and from Cooper. Includes two notes from Catherine Cooper, Cooper's daughter, to Mr. and Mrs. Balderson and an anonymous recipient, and a note from W. Smith to Ann Cooper, Cooper's wife. Among Cooper's correspondents are well-known English physicians, scientists, and his patients. They include: A. Marcet, H. Halford, C.M. Clarke, J. Ingles, R. Leston, Sir C. Locock, Sir J. McGregor, A. Monro, Dr. Browne of Glasgow, Sir W. Lawrence, Sir C. Aldis, B. Travers, Dr. J.C.W. Lever, W.F. Montgomery, Dr. J. Kidd, Dr. Balderson, Dr. W. Prowl, H.S. Seton, J. Soogood, and B. Whittaker. Letters relate to personal and professional matters. The letters are in English. However, an ALS from Charles de Greti and an ANS from Pierre Moquet are in French. In his letters to Marcet, Cooper expresses strong opinions regarding the political situation in England and on the Continent during the Napoleonic wars. In his letters to Cooper, Kidd discusses the subject of medical reform. Seton's gossipy, personal letters relate to the royal family.
Collection
ALS to his sister, Helen, and her husband, Henry F. Jones, in which he describes his legal career and life in New Orleans. He refers to epidemics of yellow fever and cholera and notes that the climate is considered to be beneficial to tuberculosis patients.
Collection
Holograph documents, signed. Receipts of payments made by the town of Salisbury to Dr. Asahel Humphrey, as well as Drs. M.A. Lee and William Walton.
Collection

Admittance cards, 1811-1880 0.2 Linear Feet — 98 cards; 1 box

.Admittance, matriculation, and "Order of Lecture" cards are from a number of medical students from 1811-1880 in the University of Pennsylvania, Jefferson Medical College, Long Island College Hospital (Brooklyn, N.Y.), Harvard University Medical School, Philadelphia School of Anatomy, New Hampshire Medical Institution, Berkshire Medical Institution, and St. Bartholomew's Hospital (London, England). They contain the autographs of the most eminent professors of the day: i.e., Samuel Gross, Franklin Bache, Benjamin Rush, Austin Flint, Samuel Jackson, S. Weir Mitchell, J. K. Mitchell, Charles D. and James A Meigs, John Barclay Biddle, et al. The St. Bartholomew's Hospital card is signed by Ludford Harvey, John P. Vicent, and John Abernethy, the latter (1764-1831) being an eminent English surgeon and founder of the Medical School of St Bartholomew's. The "Order of Lecture" cards from Jefferson Medical College and the University of Pennsylvania list curricula, faculty and their residences, schedules of lectures and texts.Admittance cards, 1850-1853, are for courses at the Jefferson Medical School in Philadelphia. They include two matriculation cards for William D. Watson of Chatham County, N. C., dated Nov., 1850, and Oct., 1852, and an examination card Oct., 1852-1853, which is signed by Dr. S. Weir Mitchell as professor of Anatomy, Surgery and Physiology. Dr. Watson returned to Chatham County after his graduation. His house was destroyed during the Civil War. The portion of his medical library saved and stored in a neighboring attic eventually was placed in the historical Collection of the library of the University of Pennsylvania Medical School.

.Admittance, matriculation, and "Order of Lecture" cards are from a number of medical students from 1811-1880 in the University of Pennsylvania, Jefferson Medical College, Long Island College Hospital (Brooklyn, N.Y.), Harvard University Medical School, Philadelphia School of Anatomy, New Hampshire Medical Institution, Berkshire Medical Institution, and St. Bartholomew's Hospital (London, England). They contain the autographs of the most eminent professors of the day: i.e., Samuel Gross, Franklin Bache, Benjamin Rush, Austin Flint, Samuel Jackson, S. Weir Mitchell, J. K. Mitchell, Charles D. and James A Meigs, John Barclay Biddle, et al. The St. Bartholomew's Hospital card is signed by Ludford Harvey, John P. Vicent, and John Abernethy, the latter (1764-1831) being an eminent English surgeon and founder of the Medical School of St Bartholomew's. The "Order of Lecture" cards from Jefferson Medical College and the University of Pennsylvania list curricula, faculty and their residences, schedules of lectures and texts.

Admittance cards, 1850-1853, are for courses at the Jefferson Medical School in Philadelphia. They include two matriculation cards for William D. Watson of Chatham County, N. C., dated Nov., 1850, and Oct., 1852, and an examination card Oct., 1852-1853, which is signed by Dr. S. Weir Mitchell as professor of Anatomy, Surgery and Physiology. Dr. Watson returned to Chatham County after his graduation. His house was destroyed during the Civil War. The portion of his medical library saved and stored in a neighboring attic eventually was placed in the historical Collection of the library of the University of Pennsylvania Medical School.

Collection
ALS. Mease writes to John Jones of New York, on business matters; to Thomas Young of Savannah, on horticulture; to John Thompson, regarding the life of Charles Thomson; and to John F. Watson, with a reference to William D. Williamson.
Collection
ALS. Correspondence from Jesse Foot and his nephew, Jesse Foot, Jr., who succeeded him in his practice, to the publishers and printers John Nichols (1745-1826) and his son John Bowyer Nichols (1779-1863), relating to the publication of Foot's work. Foot, Jr., informs Nichols of his uncle's death. In a pair of letters Foot inquires into the date of birth of William Johnstone Strathmore.
Collection
Undated ALS informs Orfila that he cannot continue his course because of illness. Holograph document, signed, attests that Sieur France is fit for military service.
Collection
Business and professional correspondence of Pliny Earle, Sr., (1762-1832), inventor and cotton textiles manufacturer, and of Pliny, (1809-1892), physician and alienist, including a few personal letters to Miss Earle. Correspondence addressed to Earle, Sr., touches on politics, patent rights and carding machines. Correspondence addressed to Earle relates to mental illness and the institutional care of the mentally ill. He received letters from physicians, institutional administrators, and philanthropists, including a number of letters of introduction. Items, mostly ALS and 10 addressed envelopes, are arranged in roughly chronological order.
Collection
Autograph letters and documents, signed. Includes letters to his father and brother from England, on British politics towards the United States and on the Continent; to Dr. Pollock informing him that he is unable to find a copy of his (Mott's) eulogy on Dr. John Revere; letters of recommendation; and receipts.
Collection
ALS and holograph document, signed. Document is a receipt for a rent payment by William Jenks to Jennison. ALS to Jenks relates to a pamphlet to be given to the Massachusetts Historial Society.
Collection
Document, signed, attests that he has declared all goods on entering the Port of New York; ANS names someone to enter with the duty collector any parcels addressed to him from Europe.
Collection

Edward Jenner papers, 1800-1822 and undated 1.4 Linear Feet — 70 items

The collection features 63 letters, dated 1800-1822 and undated. Topics include progress of various vaccination programs, at home and abroad, as well as his recognition in Parliament and the Royal Jennerian Society; impact of illness in local families; preparations for war, which he opposes; an inscription for his brother's tombstone; gifts and food sent to family and friends; illness among his family members; comments on various printing jobs; settling of accounts, lending money, and dealing with unfavorable tenants and farm managers; fossil collecting; requests for positions on behalf of others and for the return a prisoner of war who is a relation; medical cases and consultations; and his appointment as physician extraordinary to George IV. Included are letters to Dr. [Thomas] Pruen; Charles Henry Parry; James Smith (1771-1841); Dr. S.B. LaBatt; and to Nigel Kingscote. Many items are copies of family letters, they were probably made during the life of Jenner's nephew, William Davies, and contain annotations by him. In addition to the letters, there are a few miscellaneous papers, including poems, a prescription and a recipe, and a receipt for the Royal Jennerian Society. There are four holograph prescriptions and two recipes (1807-1821), four with initials "E.J.," mounted and bound in a volume with an engraved portrait of Jenner. Collection also includes a manuscript diary (188 pages) maintained by Jenner in 1811 and the Fall of 1812, primarily containing notes on his patients and their treatments for various illnesses, from syphilis to gout to heart ailments (including prescriptions) along with records of many vaccinations. There is a note of receipt of a letter (1812 Sept 12) from Dr. Alex Crichton stating that vaccination flourished throughout the Russian Empire. Also contains reports on the dissection of organs from a cow, horse, and sheep, along with two sets of notations regarding diabetes, and one on "pulmonary affections." There are occasional notes with weather observations, recipes, lists of letters written, patient charges or payments, and a few comments on his house repairs using stucco. At the end of the volume are a number of poems and epigrams.
Collection
ALS from naturalist James de Carl Sowerby and from the founder of the Linnean Society, Sir James Edward Smith, on botany.
Collection
Correspondence of both Felix Hippolyte Larrey and his father, Dominique Jean Larrey. Includes notes from Jean-Antoine-Claude Chaptal and from Marie Guillaume Alphonse Devergie.
Collection
34 ALS, including 2 photostats. Most are addressed to Spalding. Correspondents include: Ezekiel Porter, Arthur Livermore, S.L. Mitchill, Nicholas Rousselet, B. Waterhouse, S. Ricketson, W.H. Woodward, Clement Storer, G. Richards, W.D. Peck, N. Potter, Ebenezer Lerned, J.C. Warren, C. Wistar, J. Langdon, J.A. Smith, G.C. Shattuck, H.U. Onderdonk, J.L.E.W. Shecut, J. De La Motta, William Eustis Langdon, and S.N. Trevett. Matters discussed include: the cause and prevention of yellow fever and the promotion of the Pharmacopoeia. Reference is also made to medical periodicals, e. g. The New England journal of medicine, The medical repository, and the Medical and philosophical journal and review. Letters from U. Parsons, Sir Robert Perceval and M. Rouviere offer a view of European medicine, referring to J. Abernethy, Sir E. Home, Sir C. Bell, Sir W. Lawrence, W.T. Brande and J.P. Frank, and of the influence of books by Americans such as J. Gorham, P. Cleaveland and B. Rush.
Collection
ALS. Letters to surgeon Valentine Mott, horticulturalist William Robert Prince, to auditor and naturalist William Lee relate to natural history. Papers also include verses from Le Brun dedicated to Mitchill by Francesca Pascalis and a letter to her from her father Felix Pascalis Ouviere. Mitchill also receives a letter of introduction from Roberts Vaux. In 1928 Mary Mayes writes Dr. Braislin regarding the sale of Mitchill papers in her possession.
Collection
Holograph receipt, signed, for forage. ALS relating to Cochran's orders to Dr. John Warren. Cochran explains that he was unaware that his orders conflicted with those issued by the addressee. A reprint of an article by T. Wood Clarke from the New York State Journal of Medicine gives biographical information.
Collection
Letters (ALS) to Thomas Cadell, Sr. (1742-1802), Thomas, Jr., and William Davies (d. 1820), publishers and booksellers, from James Makittrick Adair, regarding his essay on regimen; from John Aikin; from George Armstrong, regarding his Essay on the diseases most fatal to infants; from Alexander Peter Buchan, regarding a book on sea-bathing; from Thomas Cogan, regarding his Theological disquisitions; from Quintin Craufurd; from James Currie; from William Hey, regarding his Practical observations in surgery, and from Benjamin Rumford, regarding the second edition of his Seventh essay. A letter written by William Buchan was removed from this collection and placed with the William Buchan collection.
Collection

Benjamin Waterhouse papers, 1782-1841 and undated 0.5 Linear Feet — Approx. 250 Items

U.S. physician; pioneer of vaccination in the U.S. Collection chiefly consists of photostatic copies of correspondence written to Waterhouse, and brings together material from various U. S. collections. Includes some original letters acquired by Duke University. The bulk of the material, correspondence and minutes of meetings of the Corporation of Harvard College, relates to vaccination and Waterhouse's removal from his Harvard professorship. Correspondents include: J. Warren, J.C. Warren, J. Jackson, J. Gorham, W. Jenks, J.R. Coxe, B. Lincoln, S. Williams, J. Sullivan, B. Silliman, J. Redman, W. Cogswell, J. Lathrop, J. Monroe, J. T. Kirkland, H. Dearborn, H.A.S. Dearborn, J. Tilton, J. Winthrop, T. Jefferson, D. Webster, J. Sparks, L. Cass, and R. Elton. Collection also includes photostatic copy of Waterhouse's 1794 journal describing a trip to Saratoga Springs. Forms part of the Trent Manuscripts Collection and was acquired as part of the History of Medicine Collections at Duke University.

Collection chiefly consists of photostatic copies of correspondence written by and to Benjamin Waterhouse, and brings together material from various U. S. collections. The copies seem to have been made in the 1940s. Includes some original letters acquired by Duke University. The bulk of the material, correspondence by and to Waterhouse, and minutes of meetings of the Corporation of Harvard College, relates to vaccination and other medical practice, and Waterhouse's removal from his Harvard professorship. Correspondents include: John Warren, J.C. Warren, James Jackson, John Gorham, William Jenks, John Redman Coxe, Benjamin Lincoln, Samuel Williams, James Sullivan, Benjamin Silliman, John Redman, William Cogswell, John Lathrop, James Monroe, J. T. Kirkland, Henry Dearborn, Henry Alexander Scammell Dearborn, James Winthrop, Thomas Jefferson, Daniel Webster, Jared Sparks, Lewis Cass, and Romeo Elton. Collection also includes photostatic copy of Waterhouse's 1794 journal describing a trip to Saratoga Springs. Materials arranged chronologically.

Transcriptions of some of the original correspondence are present. Forms part of the Trent Manuscripts Collection and was acquired as part of the History of Medicine Collections at Duke University.

Collection
Papers include ALS, a receipt for taxes paid, and a statement of service for Jacques Francois Baron. The fourth item is an English translation of a missing item.
Collection
Papers include a receipt for the sale of land signed by Physick's father, Edmund Physick, and receipts signed by Physick himself. Physick writes a letter of recommendation for William Milnor; responds to West Point cadet Ellis' inquiries regarding a thigh injury; and writes to Jaspar Yeates about the unsatisfactory progress of Physick's student and Yeates' relative, J. Hand. Yeates' biography is detailed in a letter from Whitfield J. Bell to Henry Schuman.
Collection
Autograph dedication in Italian by Morgagni. On the reverse of this is a note in German by Sigismund Breit. A letter in English from the Army Medical Library authenticates the signature to be that of Morgagni.
Collection
William Helfand is a scholar of pharmaceutical history and art, and collector of ephemera and art related to medicine. The William H. Helfand Collection of Medical Prints and Posters consists of 34 prints and posters realted to the history of medicine and pharmacology, dating from 1695 to 1991, with the bulk of the prints dating from 19th century. Paris, France is the provenance for many of the posters, but several hail from England and the United States. The posters are represented in two formats: lithographs and engravings, some of which are hand colored. Ranging in size from 5"x8" to 19"x23", the prints include caricatures, political satire, comics and advertisements, dealing with a range of subjects from quacks, alchemy, charlatans and cheats, to pastoral and hospital scenes. George Cruikshank and Honoré Daumier are represented amongst the artists. Acquired as part of the History of Medicine Collections at Duke University.

The William H. Helfand Collection of Medical Prints and Posters consists of 34 prints and posters realted to the history of medicine and pharmacology, dating from 1695 to 1991, with the bulk of the prints dating from 19th century. Paris, France is the provenance for many of the posters, but several hail from England and the United States. The posters are represented in two formats: lithographs and engravings, some of which are hand colored. Ranging in size from 5"x8" to 19"x23", the prints include caricatures, political satire, comics and advertisements, dealing with a range of subjects from quacks, alchemy, charlatans and cheats to pastoral and hospital scenes. George Cruikshank and Honoré Daumier are represented amongst the artists. Acquired as part of the History of Medicine Collections at Duke University.