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John Shaw Billings Papers at New York Public Library [microform]

 Collection
Identifier: MS Film 25

Abstract

When John Shaw Billings left the Army in 1895 to become first a professor at the University of Pennsylvania and shortly thereafter the director of the New York Public Library, he took with him many of his personal and professional papers.

Dates

  • Creation: 1854-1913

Extent

61 Microfilm Reels

Creator

Physical Location

Materials stored onsite. History of Medicine Division. National Library of Medicine

Language of Materials

Collection materials primarily in English

Restrictions

Collection is not restricted. Contact the Reference Staff for information regarding access.

Copyright and Re-use Information

NLM does not possess copyright to the collection. Permission of the Manuscript Division, New York Public Library, required to quote, publish, or reproduce material in the collection. Archival collections often contain mixed copyrights; while NLM is the owner of the physical items, permission to examine collection materials is not an authorization to publish. These materials are made available for use in research, teaching, and private study. It is the user's responsibility to research and understand any applicable copyright and re-publication rights not allowed by fair use. NLM does not grant permissions to publish.

Privacy Information

Archives and manuscript collections may contain materials with sensitive or confidential information that is protected under federal or state right to privacy laws and regulations. Researchers are advised that the disclosure of certain information pertaining to identifiable living individuals represented in any collection without the consent of those individuals may have legal ramifications for which the National Library of Medicine assumes no responsibility.

Collection Summary

Correspondence and papers relating to Billings' work with the United States Army Medical Department, 1861-1895; Johns Hopkins Hospital (especially building plans), 1873-1890; National Board of Health, 1879-1881; the 10th and 11th Census, University of Pennsylvania Hospital and Laboratory of Hygiene, 1890-1895; as first director of the New York Public Library, 1895-1913; Committee of Fifty on the Liquor Problem, 1893-1904; Carnegie Institute, 1902-1913; National Academy of Science, 1875-1911; and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Family correspondence, including letters from Billings to his wife regarding his Civil War experiences; texts of lectures and addresses; notes; and miscellaneous papers. Also, scrapbooks about the Civil War, National Board of Health and health issues, 1861-1903; diaries; photographs and travel notebooks; and material about infectious diseases and epidemics. Correspondents include Alexander Agassiz, Alexander G. Bell, John Bigelow, Henry P. Bowditch, Henry C. Burdett, John L. Cadwalader, Andrew Carnegie, Melvil Dewey, Robert Fletcher, Francis Galton, Daniel C. Gilman, Silas W. Mitchell, William Pepper, Stephen Smith, and George Sternberg.

When John Shaw Billings left the Army in 1895 to become first a professor at the University of Pennsylvania and shortly thereafter the director of the New York Public Library, he took with him many of his personal and professional papers. These records are now located in the New York Public Library. In 1969 Dr. Peter Olch, Deputy Chief of the History of Medicine Division, had many individual letters in the collection duplicated for the library; these now form MS C 276, "Correspondence in the New York Public Library, 1866-1913."

In 1983 the National Library of Medicine began a project to systematically acquire microfilm copies of almost all the Billings' papers in the New York Public Library. While it is the library's intention to acquire microfilm copies of most of the Billings' papers in the New York Public Library, certain material is of limited researcher value and will probably never be filmed.

Abstract

When John Shaw Billings left the Army in 1895 to become first a professor at the University of Pennsylvania and shortly thereafter the director of the New York Public Library, he took with him many of his personal and professional papers.

Physical Location

Materials stored onsite. History of Medicine Division. National Library of Medicine

Provenance

Purchase from NYPL.

General

Processed by
HMD Staff
Processing Completed
1988
Encoded by
John P. Rees
Title
Finding Aid to the John Shaw Billings Papers at New York Public Library [microform] 1854-1913
Status
Unverified Partial Draft
Author
HMD Staff
Date
1988; 2008
Language of description
English
Script of description
Code for undetermined script
Language of description note
Finding aid is written in English
Edition statement
1.0

Collecting Area Details

Part of the Archives and Modern Manuscripts Collections Collecting Area

Contact:
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