The Medical Library at Yale
Founding of the Yale Medical Library, 1934-41
The making of a library : extracts from letters, 1934-1941, of Harvey Cushing, Arnold C. Klebs [and] John F. Fulton; presented to John Fulton by his friends on his sixtieth birthday, 1 November 1959. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, c1959.
Project to Build a New Medical Library, 1934
Harvey Cushing broached to John F. Fulton and Arnold C. Klebs the plan of pooling resources and donating their combined rare book collections to Yale. Cushing approached Yale officials concerning an appropriate place to house the collections. Shown here is the text of the first of the series of letters between Cushing, Fulton, and Klebs which were published in 1959 as Making of the Library.
Founders of the Yale Medical Library, Harvey Cushing, 1869-1939
Cushing, internationally renowned for his preeminence in neurosurgery, returned in 1933 to his beloved alma mater, Yale (Class of 1891), as Professor of Neurology. Disciple and biographer of William Osler, Cushing turned to book collecting early in his career. His collection was very broad, but among his special interests were Vesaliana, medieval manuscripts and incunabula. Toward the end of his life, he was working on his Bio-Bibliography of Andreas Vesalius, published posthumously in 1943. This photograph dates from 1933.
Founders of the Yale Medical Library: John Farquhar Fulton, 1899-1960
John Fulton, the youngest of the three founders of the Historical Library, trained in medicine at Harvard and Oxford, came to Yale in 1930 as professor of physiology. He had been a disciple of Harvey Cushing's at the Peter Bent Brigham Hospital in Boston. The two men shared a close friendship based on both scientific and historical interests. Like Cushing, Fulton was a bibliophile, bibliographer, and historian. His special collecting interest was physiological texts from the 16th to 18th century. The Historical Library's extensive holdings of the works of William Harvey, Robert Boyle, Luigi Galvani, Albrecht von Haller, and Joseph Priestley, are among the fruits of Fulton's collecting. This photograph was taken in 1932.
Founders of the Yale Medical Library: Arnold C. Klebs, 1870-1943
Klebs, born in Switzerland, came to the United States in 1896. In 1903, when he was working with William Osler at Johns Hopkins, he first met Harvey Cushing. Klebs spent many years as a tuberculosis specialist in Chicago before settling in his villa in Switzerland. A historian, wide-ranging book collector, and bibliographer, Klebs specialized in works on tuberculosis, inoculation and vaccination, and medical incunabula. Although he had no direct Yale connection, Cushing convinced him to join the "triumvirate" and donate his collections to Yale. Because of the war, Klebs was unable to attend the opening of the Library and his collections did not arrive in New Haven until 1947. This photograph was taken in 1933.
Cushing's Bio-Bibliography of Andreas Vesalius, 1943
Each of the founders of the current Medical Library interspersed historical papers among their substantial scientific output. Each was especially fond of bibliography. Cushing's A Bio-Bibliography of Andreas Vesalius, by Harvey Cushing (New York: Schuman, 1943) provides a biography of Vesalius and a detailed description of all the editions and translations of Vesalius's writings or of works incorporating the plates from Vesalius. It is cited whenever a rare book dealer offers a Vesalius for sale. Similarly, John F. Fulton's A Bibliography of the Honourable Robert Boyle (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1932) remains the authoritative bibliography for works of the famous 17th-century natural philosopher and chemist. Arnold Klebs's best-known bibliography is his Incunabula Scientifica et Medica (Bruges: The Saint Catherine press, 1938), a listing of all medical and scientific books printed before 1501.
Plan of the Medical Library
Dean Milton Winternitz presented a memorandum on the proposed gift to the Yale Corporation and was authorized to employ an architect to draw up plans as a prelude to raising funds. Grosvenor Atterbury, a member of Cushing's class of 1891 at Yale, designed a grandiose plan for a separate building costing over two million dollars. After this proved impractical, Atterbury designed in 1937 a more modest plan for a Y-shaped building to be attached to the Sterling Hall of Medicine. The building was to have wings for the Historical Library and the "General Medical Library."
The University Accepts the Plan, 1939
In June, the University agreed to allocate $600,000 to the project from the Sterling bequest. In October, Cushing died knowing that the Library would be built. By the end of the year, construction began. Shown here is a letter from Cushing to Klebs, June 3, 1939.
Photograph of the Construction of the Medical Library, 1940
Dedication of the Medical Library, 1941
The Yale Medical Library was formally dedicated on June 15, 1941. Marjorie Wildes became Librarian of the "General Medical Library." Fulton was Chairman of the Advisory Board of the Historical Library and Madeline Stanton, former Secretary to Cushing, became "Secretary in Charge" (later Librarian) of the Historical Library.
Pictorial Description of the Yale Medical Library
The Yale Medical Library, Dedicated June 15, 1941. Illustrations Reprinted from Pencil Points, January 1942. (see entire brochure below)
Fireplace Inscription
These lines by the Rev. Dr. George Stewart were carved over the fireplace in the Historical Library. Stewart was a graduate of Yale (B.A., 1915, Ph.D. 1921, D.D., 1939), a Yale lecturer, and the son-in-law of Arnold C. Klebs.