The End of the 225th Anniversary

I often wonder what the 101 original founders of the Medical & Chirurgical Faculty of the State of Maryland would have thought if they knew that their organization would still be thriving after 225 years. 

Those of us who work at MedChi, serve on the boards and committees, and volunteer in myriad other ways, are proud to continue the tradition that was started in 1799. 

We keep to the original mandate from the original charter documents, which we were pleased to have with us at our celebration at the Maryland State House: To prevent the citizens from risking our lives in the hands of ignorant practitioners and pretenders to the healing art.

As we wind down this celebratory year, we thank you for being a part of it, celebrating our history, and continuing to support our work. 

Happy New Year!

Happy Holidays!

All of the very best wishes for the holiday season!

Marcia and the rest of the team at MedChi hope that your holidays are warm and bright! 

Mrs. Forbes-Robertson Hale and Med-Chi

Strictly speaking, this is not a medical post, but one about a woman who once spoke here at MedChi. Her name was Beatrice Forbes-Robertson Hale, and she was an actress and suffragist in the first quarter of the 1900s.

At that time, many of the private schools were located in close proximity to the Faculty, so our Osler Hall would have been a prefect place for a gathering lead by a woman who was known as a champion of women!

Bryn Mawr and Roland Park Country are both all-girls schools, and the others are co-ed. It's sure that someone from Bryn Mawr knew Marcia Noyes, as their respective buildings were located across Cathedral Street from one another. 

Marcia had somewhat of a history with the suffrage movement, as evidenced in this blog post from earlier in 2024. 

I stumbled across this article from the Baltimore Sun while searching for something else.  Mrs. Forbes-Robertson Hale was lecturing at Osler Hall on Tuesday, March 2, 1926.   

We Need Your Support!

This has been a big year, for many reasons:

• In January, we started the 225th Anniversary year with a ceremony at the Maryland State House, where we were lucky enough to have the original charter documents on display. 
  
• In March, we held a reception for local non-profits, foundations and friends to show off the Museum of Maryland Medical History. 
  
• In June, on the exact 225th anniversary of the first meeting of the Founders of the Medical & Chirurgical Faculty, we hosted the Grand Opening of the Museum.
  
• In September, the Director of the History of Maryland Medicine became a full-time, privately-funded, one-year position.
• In October, we launched our social media accounts on YouTube and Instagram, and reached 300,000 unique visits on this blog!
  
• In December, we are adding a significant amount of information on our portraits collection, gleaned from searching our historic Maryland Medical Journal.

This is what we've done, but now we need you to step up and help us with some funding, and with donations of items to be added to our Museum. 

Here's what we need funding for:

• The History of Maryland Medicine Director's position.
• Preservation of the art collection and archives.
• Acquisitions for items for the museum, which come up at auctions with some frequency.

Click the QR code below to make a financial donation. You will be able to select where you want your donation to be directed. 

We are also looking for material donations to the Museum.

• Items should be 100 years or older and have some relevance to our current collections. 
• Portraits of Founders or Past Presidents.
• 1700s and 1800s medical equipment.
• Pre-1900s medical books.
• Smaller medical collections.

If you would like to discuss making a material donation to the Museum, please contact Meg Fielding. 

Thank you for considering our request!

Afternoon Light

I love the afternoon light in our offices, and the way the details are highlighted.

I also love the paint color, which is called Turtleback in homage of our founding of what is now the University of Maryland School of Medicine in 1807. The paint was donated to us by C2 Paint, an American-made brand comparable to Farrow & Ball.

Giving Tuesday

Black Friday.    Cyber Monday.    Giving Tuesday.

You might know what the first two are, but do you know about the third - Giving Tuesday?

Giving Tuesday is touted as a "global generosity movement unleashing the power of people and organizations to transform their communities and the world." It means giving to others, after you've shopped in person on Friday and on the internet on Monday.

We hope that you will consider a gift to the MedChi Museum of Maryland Medical History, and the MedChi Archives this Giving Tuesday!

Thank you so much!