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Re: Question from a patron (ie Civil War records_



I stand corrected and am prepared to take 20 lashes with a
sphygmomanometer....great way to start the weekend. I know I can always
count on the collective genius of this list serve to provide authoritative
info. I guess Billings stands out so, that I gave him too much credit.
Good weekend to all.

Sharon Lee Butcher
Reference Librarian
AEDC Technical Library
100 Kindel Drive, Ste C212
Arnold AFB, TN  37389-3212
931-454-4430
Fax:  931-454-5421
sharon.butcher@arnold.af.mil

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Michael Rhode [SMTP:RHODE@AFIP.OSD.MIL]
> Sent: Friday, May 04, 2001 7:56 AM
> To:   ARCHIVES@LISTSERV.MUOHIO.EDU
> Subject:      Re: Question from a patron (ie Civil War records_
>
>         I'm afraid memory didn't serve.  The Union Army physician was
> Surgeon General William Hammond, the top medical man in the Army.  He
> established the Army Medical Museum to examine medicine, surgery and
> resulting mortality during the war (See Robert Henry's Armed Forces
> Institute of Pathology: The first 100 years).  The Surgeon General's
> Library
> was already in existence (See Wynn Miles book).  The resulting publication
> was the 6 volume set _Medical and Surgical History of the War of the
> Rebellion_.  John Shaw Billings, later head of the NYPL, was an agressive
> builder of the SGL in the later 19th century.  He did such a good job that
> the SGL eventually became the National Library of Medicine in the early
> 1960s.  The MSHWR was reprinted as MSH of the Civil War and does have some
> mortality figures in it.  I think there is probably a Congressional report
> on Southern camps as well, since the commandant of one was hung as a war
> criminal.
>
> Michael Rhode, Archivist
> Otis Historical Archives
> National Museum of Health and Medicine
> Armed Forces Institute of Pathology
> Washington, DC 20306-6000
> 202-782-2212; FAX 202-782-3573
> http://natmedmuse.afip.org/
> http://natmedmuse.afip.org/collections/archives/archives.html
>
>
> > ------------------------------
> >
> > Date:    Thu, 3 May 2001 16:54:56 -0000
> > From:    Butcher Sharon L Contr AEDC/ACS <Sharon.Butcher@ARNOLD.AF.MIL>
> > Subject: Re: Question from a patron
> >
> > If memory serves me correctly, a Union Army physician, so appalled by
> the
> > incredible mortality he observed in the Civil War hospitals, and so
> > appalled
> > by the difficulty in obtaining medical literature during the conflict,
> > took
> > it upon himself to establish a collection of medical literature after
> the
> > war. This collection, I recall, was done at his expense and with his
> time,
> > so concerned was he about the availability and organization (or lack
> > thereof
> > up to that time) of medical literature. (And he probably had the
> financial
> > wherewithal to do this). His dedication did not go unnoticed, and I
> recall
> > he approached Congress to take over this collection and help fund it.
> > Congress thought it a good idea, and the seminal work had already been
> > done
> > by the good doctor (I think his name was Billings, Billig....something
> > like
> > that).  Thus, the origins  of the National Library of Medicine.
> > "Andersonville", by McKinley Kantor, vividly portrays that camp,
> including
> > its hospital. The book garnered a Pulitzer Prize in Literature for
> Kantor
> > some years ago.
> >
> > Sharon Lee Butcher
> > Reference Librarian
> > AEDC Technical Library
> > 100 Kindel Drive, Ste C212
> > Arnold AFB, TN  37389-3212
> > 931-454-4430
> > Fax:  931-454-5421
> > sharon.butcher@arnold.af.mil
> >
>
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A posting from the Archives & Archivists LISTSERV List!

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Problems?  Send e-mail to Robert F Schmidt <rschmidt@lib.muohio.edu>