Some Knipp Family Ephemera

One of our favorite members, Dr. Harry Knipp, sent me pictures of some ephemera he'd recently come across as he was packing for a move. You can read about the many generations of physicians in his family here.

From Dr. Knipp:  I found his certificate from Med Chi noting my great-grandfather was a delegate to the AMA in 1900.

My great grandfather’s original membership certificate for MedChi, which if I decode the Roman numerals correctly was dated April 27, 1898 a full 10 years after he finished med school. It’s all in Latin of course. The best I can make out the president’s handwriting looks like Charles M. Ellis and the “scribe” J Williams Lord.

On the left side is a list of names, many of whom we recognize. The interesting thing is that all but the top two names are in Marcia Noyes' writing. At that point, 1898, she would have only worked for the Faculty for two years, but it's an indication of the level of responsibility she had. 

New to me were his and my father's and grandfather's registration certificates to practice in Baltimore City, distinct from their Maryland Board of Medical Examiners licenses. That was a thing of the past by the time I was licensed in 1977.

We thank Dr. Knipp for sharing these precious documents with us! 

More Mencken

You may remember that a few months ago, I found a cache of letters from the noted writer, H.L. Mencken to Max Brödel, the first non-physician member of MedChi. You can read the letters here.

While I was poking around today, I found another Mencken-related piece. Dr. John Ruhräh was a long-time member of MedChi and very active in the organization. 

What I found was a book of Mencken's quotes personally inscribed to Dr. Ruhräh, with Dr. Ruhräh's bookplate, illustrated by Max Brödel, on the front cover. 

I love how this one little book is emblamatic of our town, Smalltimore!   

I did authenticate the Mencken signature by comparing it to other signatures, including one on a letter we have here from Mencken to Marcia Noyes.  

Recent Finds

I was poking around the stacks the other day with our summer intern, and because she's taller than I, she was helping me pull out some of the folio size books on the upper shelves. These tend to be the books illustrated with beautiful engravings. So, I thought I'd share some of the more interesting illustrations, created in 1771 and 1784.

I have to confess that I am completely fascinated by engravings. The skill it takes is incredible. Here's how an engraving is made: 

Engraving is an intaglio printmaking process in which lines are cut into a metal plate in order to hold the ink. In engraving, the plate can be made of copper or zinc. The metal plate is first polished to remove all scratches and imperfections from the surface so that only the intentional lines will be printed. Ink is applied and then lightly wiped off so that it only stays in the carved lines. Paper is applied and with pressure, the ink transfers to it. 

It's the engraving into metal or stone that impresses me, and the skill which it takes to accomplish creating a beautifully-detailed image, and as a mirror image, no less!

Here are a few that I chose. 

Here's the detailed engraving.

This is the title page from another of the books I found. It looks like the printer is the same, but one book has his name as Paulo Mascagni and the other Paulus Mascagnius. Hmmm.

I am fascinated that there are engravings of women and babies in this anatomical book. And these are some pretty healthy looking babies!

Usually, it's just men. Of course, this made me think about the logistics of making the engravings.

In an earlier image in the book, I could discern the word "cadaver" in Latin... The detail in these images is astonishing.