Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween from Everyone at MedChi!

We hope that you are able to celebrate with all of your friends!

Stonestreet Museum of 19th Century Medicine

On Saturday, October 26, the Stonestreet Museum of 19th Century Medicine will re-open in Rockville, Maryland. 

Dr. Edward Elisha Stonestreet of Rockville, graduated from the University of Maryland medical school. He served as one of the town’s doctors until his death in 1903. During the fifty-one years of Dr. Stonestreet’s practice, medical knowledge and technology underwent many radical changes. 

During 1862–1863, Dr. Stonestreet served with the U.S. Army as an Acting Assistant Surgeon (Contract Surgeon). During late 1862 and early 1863, he treated the living wounded after the Battle of Antietam in a temporary Army General Hospital, in Rockville, while they were en-route from Frederick, MD to long term care in new Army pavilion style, state-of-the-art, hospitals in Washington, DC, and in Alexandria, VA. During the first half of 1863, Dr. Stonestreet attended the ill soldiers of the 6th Michigan Cavalry Regiment prior to their involvement in the Battle of Gettysburg.

The Stonestreet Museum contains a small office vignette, and changing exhibits that highlight our extensive 19th and early 20th century medical collections including books, instruments and tools, pharmaceutical items, and more.

The office was originally situated in the front yard of the Stonestreet home on East Montgomery Avenue. Some years after the doctor’s death the office was moved to the Rockville fairgrounds (now the site of Richard Montgomery High School), and it was thus spared demolition during the city’s urban renewal project in the mid 20th century. In 1972, Dr. Stonestreet’s office was donated to the Montgomery County Historical Society and moved to the grounds of the Beall-Dawson House.

A book about Dr. Stonestreet, "Send for the Doctor" was written by Clarence Hickey, who portrays Dr. Stonestreet at the Museum and at Civil War events around the region, is available, here. You can read the Historic Buildings & Architecture Survey report here. 

Jewish Baltimore by Gilbert Sandler

I happened upon a copy of the late (great) Gilbert Sandler's book, "Jewish Baltimore" the other day.

Of course, the first thing I did was to check the index for names I recognized. In a section about schools, I saw a listing for School No. 49. I was not surprised, as I'd heard it referred to as the "Jewish Private School."

Here is the section on School No. 49. Click on each image to enlarge.

Even all these years later, School No. 49's legacy continues in Baltimore. 

Podcasts on Medical History

Luckily, my commute to work averages less than ten minutes, and on a good day, it's even shorter (but not by much!). So, it's pretty hard for me to listen to podcasts on my commute. As soon as I get involved and up to speed, I arrive home. 

However, I do make a longer drive about every two weeks, but lose radio reception pretty quickly. I have discovered a series of podcasts that I really enjoy - and many of them have medical topics.

The BBC World Service, which is home to high quality radio, broadcasts a series called The Forum. There is a host and generally three guests who are experts on the week's topic. The guests are leading thinkers, academics, artists, philosophers or writers.

I first heard The Forum last year when I was driving around England. They were doing a deep dive into Moby Dick. 

I was immediately hooked and have been listening to it ever since. Locally, it's broadcast on WYPR-HD's BBC channel at 10:00 a.m. on Saturdays.

As I mentioned, there is a serious and scientific aspect to these shows, each of which lasts about 45 minutes. Some of the medical topics have included:

• Leeuwenhoek: The fabric seller who discovered bacteria.
• Pioneers of Surgical Hygiene 
• Life Support: The Story of the Red Cross

Other recent topics are Imhotep: The Man Behind the Mummy; James Watt: The Power of Steam; Balloons and How They Changed the World, and many, many more. The show has been broadcasting weekly since 2008, so they have accumulated quite an archive of a vast range of topics.

I hope you'll take a listen, here.

Vision: A Biography of Harry Friedenwald

One of our board members recently lent us the book, "Vision: A Biography of Harry Friedenwald" by Alexandra Lee Levin. The Friedenwalds were a prominent Jewish family of physicians here in Baltimore. 

Our hallways are filled with portraits of members of this family: Harry, Aaron, Edgar, and others. In fact, there are so many family members and so many portraits, we're never sure whether we've matched the right name to the right person. (Click the link to see more information on each portrait.)

Aaron Friedenwald, MD

Edgar Friedenwald, MD 

Edgar again.

Harry Friedenwald, MD

As I said, they're a little hard to tell apart, and since they're not labeled, it's even harder!

Vision is the story of a man and his family and the impact this American Jewish family had on the world. From the book's cover, comes this:

From Jonas Friedenwald who crossed the sea in search of political freedom and economic opportunity, to Jonas Friedenwald [not the same one] who enjoyed a worldwide reputation as an ophthalmologist, we have four generations that, as a family, progressively exemplified personal and cultural adjustment, professional achievement, and devotion to public service of the highest order. 

The Friedenwald family led active lives in both the general and the Jewish fields; they were individualists in whom Americanism and Judiasm were harmoniously blended, each aspect enriching the other.

The family were active for decades here at MedChi, serving on numerous committees, as orators, and as presidents of the Faculty. Jonas, Aaron and Harry served as Presidents, and Harry served on the Centennial Committee, which included the publication of The Medical Annals of Medicine, a compendium of the Faculty's first 100 years. 

It is really amazing to read about this incredible American family who did so much in Baltimore over four generations.

Happy Belated Birthday, Sir William

This summer is going by so quickly, that Sir William Osler's 170th birthday on July 12 just blasted by me. But in this special Oslerian year, I wanted to acknowledge it. 

Sir William was born in Bond Head, Ontario, north of Toronto. If you can imagine the territory, NORTH of Ontario in the middle of the 19th century, you might realize what an isolated childhood Osler had. 

He went to school at Trinity College in Ontario after attending local religious schools in the province. He studied medicine at McGill University in Montreal, the place he always considered his spiritual home.

Following several years of travel on "the continent", he returned to Montreal to become a professor of medicine. 

In 1884, Osler left Canada for America, and a professorship of medicine at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, where he stayed for four years.

In 1888, he came to Baltimore to help establish the medical school at Johns Hopkins and become the first physician-in-chief at the newly opened hospital.

His teaching style, based on the European mode of working at the patients' bedside, revolutionized medical education in America. 

At the same time, Osler began work on his seminal book: The Principles and Practice of Medicine, which would remain in print for the next half century. He served as the President of MedChi in 1896, and was responsible for recruiting our long-time librarian, Marcia C. Noyes, and for establishing one of the top medical libraries in the country. 

In 1905, Osler and his family left Baltimore for a new life in Oxford, England,

where he had accepted the position as Regius Professor of Medicine at Oxford University. He lived there until his death in December of 1919, 100 years ago. 

Sir William Osler

12 July 1849 – 29 December 1919

Cultural Exchange: Sheppard Pratt

I recently found out that Sheppard Pratt has a museum, a library and archives. So I contacted the curator/librarian/archivist and made an appointment to visit. 

Many years ago, I had volunteered at SP. Nothing psychiatric, but playing tennis with the teenagers who were in residence. While there, I got a great appreciation of the Victorian-style architecture, designed by Calvert Vaux, who was an associate of Frederick Law Olmsted, who is responsible for the look of some of Baltimore's notable inner suburbs.

While the hospital has greatly changed since I was last there, the bones are still familiar. New buildings have been added, some of the land is now home to "University Village," the dorm community of Towson University. 

While the Museum was small, it was quite charming, with a number of artifacts from Moses Sheppard's life there. His old book cases were still filled with his books, 

his old statistics book was on display, 

and the silver service from the former Nursing school was shining and polished. 

Although the buildings have been extensively renovated over the decades, there are still glimpses of the original details, including this beautiful Victorian tile work.

For many years, Sheppard Pratt advertised in the Maryland Medical Journals (the pre-1900 ones are on-line here), and I remembered that I had scanned one. This is probably from the late 1800's or very early 1900's, and describes the hospital in detailed terms.

My most sincere thanks to Lisa Illum, the curator/librarian/ archivist for spending the morning with me and showing me her treasures!