President's Brunch and Celebration of Gene Ransom's 30th Anniversary!

 

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We hope to see you then!

AOS 2026

I recently returned from the Annual American Osler Society meeting in Toronto where I presented a paper on Sir William Osler's support of the writing of the Medical Annals of Maryland, 1799-1899. 

I thought I'd share the paper with you, along with my slides.

Eugene Fauntleroy Cordell, MD:
Dr. William Osler’s Other, Other, Other Librarian

There are two librarians, well-known to Oslerians, who played important roles in Dr. Osler’s life. He hired Marcia Crocker Noyes to be librarian at the Medical & Chirurgical Faculty (the Faculty) in Baltimore in 1896. Much later, he hired his second cousin, William Willoughby Francis, who curated his medical library and wrote the Bibliotheca Osleriana. Dr. Osler played a significant role in both of their lives, and Dr. Francis and Miss Noyes remained life-long friends.

Miss Noyes was one of the founders of the Medical Library Association, she edited their Bulletin and subsequent publications, and worked at the Faculty until her death in 1946. Dr. Francis was born in Montreal in 1878, and earned his medical degree from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore in 1902. After interning at Montreal's Royal Victoria Hospital and spending some time in Europe to pursue postgraduate studies, Dr. Francis returned to Montreal where he opened a practice in 1906.

However, there was a less well-known third librarian, Dr. Eugene Fauntleroy Cordell, who was, among other roles and most importantly, the author of The Medical Annals of Maryland, 1799-1899, published in 1903.

Dr. Cordell was born 1843, in Charlestown, which was then in the state of Virginia, He was the son of Dr. L.C. Cordell. He received his M.D. in 1865 from the University of Maryland.

He was a clinical reporter at the University Hospital, then Attending Physician at the Baltimore General Dispensary. Dr. Cordell was one of the founders and a Professor of Materia Medica and Therapeutics at the Baltimore Women’s Medical College, beginning in 1882. His interest in medical education helped extend the course of study from two to three years and led to the standardization of medical schools and the organization of the Association of American Medical Colleges in 1876.

Dr. Cordell twice became Librarian of the Medical and Chirurgical Faculty, and also served the standard one-year term as President. Along with Dr. Thomas A. Ashby, Dr. Cordell was the co-editor of the Maryland Medical Journal and frequently submitted articles on a wide range of topics.

When Dr. Cordell arrived as the librarian of the Faculty in 1870, he found a collection of old books and pamphlets in great disorder and of little value. The Faculty had gone dormant during the Civil War, Maryland being a border state, and no work had been done there for nearly a decade. Dr. Cordell began to reorganize the library and increase its usefulness to the Faculty’s membership.

After a significant move into a larger building in 1895, Miss Noyes found that in the intervening decade since Dr. Cordell had moved on, the library had returned to its former state of disorganization.

Even though he was no longer the librarian, Dr. Cordell understood there was that a significant amount of the Faculty’s history tucked away in the library and the archives. Old membership applications, and membership rolls from the early decades, letters to and from the secretary of the Faculty, and so much more.

The idea of a centennial volume first arose during Dr. Osler’s Presidential speech at the April 1897 annual meeting. A large and influential committee was assembled and preliminary work began.

At the Annual Meeting in April of 1898, the centennial committee suggested that the “Medical Annals of Baltimore,” which was edited by the late Dr. John R. Quinan in 1884, be revised by Dr. Eugene Cordell, who had been appointed by the Faculty’s Executive Committee to bring the work up to date and issue it as a centennial volume of the Faculty in 1899. Dr. Quinan’s work contained a large amount of material which was a great help to Dr. Cordell and to the committee.

To manage the Annals, a sub-Committee of the Centennial was appointed, with Dr. Osler as chair and Drs. Thomas Ashby, Harry Friedenwald, Henry Hurd, and George Preston as members. An invitation was sent to membership requesting they subscribe to the Centennial Volume for $2.00. Quickly, more than 200 members responded positively, even before the work was written or published.

Throughout the centennial year of 1899, Dr. Cordell presented snippets from his Annals, which would eventually run to “a portly 889 pages.” The Annals included:

• ·     year-by-year history of the Faculty dating from Maryland’s settlement in the early 1600s;
• ·        biographies, some brief and some quite detailed, of every physician who practiced medicine in Maryland between 1799 and 1899; and
• ·        longer biographical sketches of distinguished members of the Faculty.

The work was beyond extensive. We have more than ten card file boxes, each with hundreds of postcards sent to thousands of physicians, who filled out their details and then returned the cards by mail. Some are handwritten and some typed, with information about each physician. It’s extraordinary to realize that all of this work was done without the help of Google, Newspapers.com or any digital source!

The short biographies included the physician’s name, date and place of birth, year they joined the Faculty, educational and professional accomplishments, various publications, and other relevant biographical details. If the physician was deceased, as the earliest ones were most likely to be, the date and place of the death was included.

The cards needed to be ordered, either alphabetically or chronologically, and then transcribed onto a master list, which was then put into the final manuscript. It is suspected that Miss Noyes and her staff provided a great deal of help with this, and that the work was actually completed at the Faculty’s building on Hamilton Terrace.

Dr. Cordell later said it included, “a vast body of information collected from thousands of sources and extensive correspondence.” It is, as the author intended it to be, "a volume which will be regarded as authoritative in all matters relating to the medical history of the State."

One of Dr. Cordell’s biggest regrets with the Annals was the complete and utter lack of documentation about the Faculty’s first meetings at the State House in Annapolis, Maryland. Dr. Cordell elegantly surmised how the Founders arrived at the first meeting in June of 1799.

“We may fancy the founders preparing to sit in council, grave and reverend, deliberate in act and speech, still clad in the antique style, wig, cue, frilled shirt, high-necked coat with large brass buttons, knee breeches, stockings, shoe buckles, and not least, gold-headed canes. Having alighted from coach and stage, having disembarked from vessels which lay moored in the Severn River, and having dismounted from their horses, we can imagine them assembling for the business before them.”

Dr. Cordell suggested that the Centennial Committee write something to be left in the archives to be opened at the 200th anniversary of the founding.

“To feel that we were in some degree in touch with them, and that through the long vista of years we were thinking of them and their times, would certainly have been proven an inspiring circumstance.”

Unfortunately, as far as I’ve ever seen or understood, there was no such document left by the Centennial Committee, except for the special centennial souvenir program, which includes a “brief sketch of the Faculty’s first 100 years” which runs more than 25 pages.

In Harvey Cushing’s book on Sir William Osler, several letters mention Osler’s frustration with the low number of subscriptions to the Annals. Meanwhile the book continued to grow in scale. The cost of the printing was significantly more than anticipated, and in the end, Osler made up the entire deficit of two or three thousand dollars. While there are no written records of this, and we do not have copies of the accounts from that time, Osler settling the debt is mentioned in Cushing’s book.

In 1903-04, Dr. Cordell assumed the office of President of the Faculty. In a note in 1903, Dr. Osler says that the Committee should host a reception at the Faculty Hall for Dr. Cordell as an appreciation for his centennial volume, “which by now had appeared, a somewhat overgrown and expensive child for the committee of five who had fostered it.” A reception and supper were held at the Faculty’s building.

A contemporary article about the book and the reception in the Baltimore Sun states “The work is handsomely bound. As evidence of the appreciation in which the faculty holds the work of Dr. Cordell, he was presented with a certified check.” It is not stated who the check was from. Possibly Osler?

Around the same time, Dr. Cordell was appointed as the first ever professor of the History of Medicine at the University of Maryland’s School of Medicine and got busy creating an endowment for the medical school.

Dr. Osler was one of the first to make a donation, although most other contributors were faculty or alumni of the University. During his Presidency of the Faculty and his time in Baltimore, Dr. Osler worked to alleviate the animosity between the two largest medical schools in the city.

It was Dr. Osler’s intention that Dr. Cordell would profit from the sales and royalties of the book, and he did what he could to support Dr. Cordell in myriad ways. It was always a source of great regret that the low sales of the book deprived Dr. Cordell of an adequate income for his long-time work on the volume. The book was and continues to be a monument to Dr. Cordell’s dedication to the medical profession and his unselfish devotion to historical work.

As an additional gesture of his gratitude, Dr. Osler commissioned a portrait of Dr. Cordell in 1911. The portrait was painted by Baltimore artist, Waldemar Franklin Dieterich, a second-generation portrait painter. It portrays Dr. Cordell in his academic robes with his hand on the Annals, his magnum opus. The portrait was presented at the Faculty’s annual meeting in April of 1912.

For the University of Maryland’s Centennial, Dr. Cordell researched, wrote, and published a two-volume history of the University’s School of Medicine, which was founded by members of the Medical & Chirurgical Faculty, hence, the Faculty. One volume focuses on the University’s history, influence, equipment and characteristics, and the other is solely biographical sketches of the University’s founders, benefactors, regents, faculty, and alumni.

A second and similar portrait of Dr. Cordell was commissioned by the University of Maryland School of Medicine on the occasion of their centennial in 1907, and was painted by the Baltimore artist, Irving Ward. The book in Cordell’s hand is possibly a copy of the University’s Centennial Volume.

Dr. Cordell continued to research and teach at the University of Maryland School of Medicine. After a brief illness, he died unexpectedly in August of 1913. The following year, the University, the Faculty, and friends put together a memorial fund in his name.

My sources are listed here.

Save the Date: First Annual President's Brunch

At the suggestion of MedChi President, Eric Wargotz, MD, we are initiating the First Annual President's Brunch to Benefit the MedChi Museum of Maryland Medical History. 

We hope that you can join us!

Please Join Us for Coffee and a Private Tour

Please join us for coffee and donuts, and a private tour of MedChi's historic building on Saturday, February 7, 2026 at 10:00 a.m.

Director of the History of Maryland Medicine will conduct a tour of MedChi's historic buildings, along with its art collection, rare books, stacks library and Museum of Maryland Medicine.

Parking is available in our private lot at 1204 Maryland Avenue.

Please click or scan the QR code below for tickets, which will be used for the on-going preservation of MedChi's archives.

We hope to see you then!

Please Join Us for the Third Annual Ghost Tour and Evening of Spooky Stories

For decades, there have been stories of staff members and others hearing footsteps echo in the hallways or on the stairs, finding items which appear with no explanation, or catching a glimpse of a figure out of a corner of an eye...

On Wednesday, October 29 and Thursday, October 30, from 6:30 to 7:30, MedChi will be hosting a Ghost Tour of MedChi's Historic Headquarters Building in Mount Vernon, which is reputed to be one of the five most haunted buildings in Baltimore. 

While we can't guarantee that you will see Marcia, we will tell you stories of her haunting of the building, show you our extensive stacks library, our timeless art collection and the historic medical equipment our physicians have used for the past 226 years. 

Copies of the recently published biography of Marcia will be for sale that evening. Tickets are $10 per person and will support the preservation of our archives. Click here for tickets!

Reservations are required. And don't forget to select which date you'd like to attend!

Women's Suffrage at MedChi

As part of our symposium earlier this month, Nicole Diehlmann discussed Women's Suffrage at MedChi. We wrote about her research here, she expanded on it for the group. Here's her "slide show."

Thanks again to Nicole for participating in the Women's History Month Symposium!

MedChi & The BSO Present: Raiders of the Lost Ark!

MedChi has secured a very limited number of tickets to the sold-out movie “Raiders of the Lost Ark” with a live orchestra. Along with our friends at the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra on Sunday afternoon, March 30, 2025, we will be hosting a fundraiser for the MedChi Museum and Archives.

Start the afternoon with a visit to the MedChi Museum of Maryland Medical History, learn about our treasures which date back to the 1500s, tour the historic Osler Hall building, and have a pre-movie snack. Walk across Cathedral Street to take in the sold-out movie, "Raiders of the Lost Ark" at the Meyerhoff Symphony Hall, complete with live orchestrations. 

Experience the first on-screen adventure of everyone's favorite archaeologist/action hero like never before! Follow along with the adventures of Indiana Jones as he travels across the globe to secure the Ark of the Covenant, accompanied by endearing companions and facing notorious villains. The BSO performs John Williams’ legendary score live from stage while the full-length film plays on the big screen.

Reservations are $100, which includes one ticket to the movie, pre-movie snacks, a tour of the MedChi Museum, and a tax-deductible contribution to support MedChi's Museum and Archives. Unfortunately, there are no discounted tickets to this event, as the event is sold out, and this is a fundraiser for the Museum and Archives. To purchase tickets, please scan the QR code below.

Parking is available in MedChi's private lot at 1204 Maryland Avenue. Public transportation is also available. 

This event is brought to you by the MedChi Museum of Maryland Medical History and the Office of the History of Maryland Medicine and Archives.

Women in Medicine - A Brief History

As you may know, we hosted a Women's History Month Symposium on March 1. I am going to share each of the speakers' talks, starting with mine. 

In 1885, the Medical & Chirurgical Faculty of Maryland, now known as MedChi, changed its constitution from “gentlemen” members to “persons” because of the number of Blacks and women who were being nominated for membership.

Within 15 years, at least 13 women had become members. This pre-dated the admission of women to Johns Hopkins School of Medicine by seven years, to the AMA by almost 30 years, and to the University of Maryland’s School of Medicine by more than 35 years.

In 1886, MedChi welcomed its first woman member, Dr. Amanda Taylor Norris. In addition to being the first woman member, Dr. Norris was the first woman with a medical degree to practice in Baltimore.

She graduated in 1880 from the Women's Medical College of Pennsylvania and returned to Baltimore where she began her career. The Baltimore Medical College, a small school, offered her a faculty position as a demonstrator of anatomy, which she readily accepted.

As with most physicians of the day, Dr. Norris was a generalist. She taught materia medica, or the pharmaceutical aspects of medicine, practical obstetrics and gynecology, and throat and chest medicine. Dr. Norris was also the physician to several women’s clinics including the Female House of Refuge and the Evening Dispensary for Women and Girls, which I will talk about shortly.

Before 1911, there were eleven medical schools in Baltimore. That changed when the Flexner Report was published. This compared all medical schools in the US to Johns Hopkins, a new and well-funded medical school. Most other med schools were small and ill-funded and paled in comparison.

One of these smaller schools was the Women’s Medical College in Baltimore, founded in 1882. The two main founders, as well as the others, were all members of the Medical & Chirurgical Faculty of Maryland, known then as the Faculty, and at the time, 99% male. They wanted a medical school for women that was equal to that of other medical schools.

Originally located on Eutaw Street, the college moved several times in its nearly 30-year lifetime. It was one of the earliest schools to require either a college diploma or an entrance exam to attend. Because of the scarcity of women’s medical schools, women from around the world attended the college.

The most famous alumna was Claribel Cone, who, along with her sister, Etta, established what is now known as the Cone Collection of Modern Art, housed at the Baltimore Museum of Art, and worth more than one billion dollars.

The Women’s Medical College closed in 1910, mainly due to lack of an endowment to keep it going. In the Flexner report, it was stated that the laboratories were scrupulously well-kept and showed a desire to do the best possible with meager resources. It also mentions the Women’s Dispensary at the College. The College would probably have closed regardless, due to paring down of medical schools after the Flexner report.

From the beginning, women were admitted to the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. The men at Hopkins hated the fact that women were students, but since philanthropist,

Mary Garrett had given the school the funds to open, but with the provision that women had to be admitted, there was no choice.

The most well-known early female student was Gertrude Stein, who actually never graduated. The prevailing thought process at the time was that women would take up space at the school, only to leave and get married, and never practice.

The first woman to graduate from Hopkins was Mary Packard, who had two other women in her class, neither of whom graduated. To add insult to injury, she was left out of the class photo!

The University of Maryland’s School of Medicine did not admit women until 1919, just before women received the right to vote. There had been a shortage of physicians for a few years due to World War One, and so it was more of a necessity that women were admitted to medical schools.

As I mentioned, The Evening Dispensary for Working Women and Girls provided outpatient medical care and advice to women, and was almost exclusively staffed by women physicians. The idea for a women’s dispensary originated at the Women’s Medical College of Philadelphia. The Dispensary was especially important for two reasons: women could not leave work in the daytime to go to a doctor’s appointment; and many women disliked having a male physician.

The Dispensary also provided an opportunity for female medical students to gain practical experience.

In addition to providing free care for poor women, it also provided a clean milk distribution system for sick babies, social services, a visiting nurse program, and public baths.

The women who founded the Baltimore’s Evening Dispensary were mainly graduates of the Women’s Medical College, both here in Baltimore and in Philadelphia. Many of them were also among the Faculty’s earliest female members.

Dr. Lillian Welsh and Dr. Mary Sherwood, both on the faculty of Goucher College, were two of the most well-known members. Contemporary accounts note that these early physicians were friends with the Suffragettes and were proponents of women on bicycles.

In the late 1800’s and early 1900’s, there were a number of hospitals for women and children.

The ones for women in the late stages of pregnancy were called “lying-in” hospitals.

The Maryland Nursery & Child’s Hospital was also for foundlings.

Some of the hospitals had very descriptive names, including this one: St. Vincent’s Infant Asylum for Unfortunate Women Needing Reformatory Influences and the Care of a Lying-in Hospital. At the time, asylum had a different meaning than it does now. It was a benevolent institution affording shelter and support to the afflicted, the unfortunate, or destitute. 

There one additional woman I’d like to briefly talk about: Marcia Crocker Noyes.

She was not a physician, but the librarian at MedChi for 50 years. She was recruited by Dr. William Osler, one of the “Big Four” at Hopkins in 1896.

She was required to live in the building, so that she could find books for physicians at any hour of the day or night. She and Dr. Osler founded the Medical Library Association and its highest award is given in her name.

In 1904, Marcia became the Executive Secretary of the “Faculty” and oversaw all of the numerous activities in the buildings and for the members. She was highly respected by the physicians of the day.

She owned her own car in the mid 19-teens, and was a member of the suffrage movement, which you just learned about.

She traveled extensively in the US and abroad. She owned a “Camp” in the Adirondacks and would sail to England to visit her friend, now-Sir William Osler.

In 1946, Marcia became ill, so the physicians advanced her 50th anniversary party by a few months.

She died just a few days after her 50th anniversary in November of 1946 and is buried at Greenmount Cemetery.

She remains here in the building as our friend and sometime companion.

Thank you so much.