Happy Birthday to Us!

It's our birthday! 

To read about the founding of the organization, the first meeting of which was in June 1799, and the 101 founders, please click here. 

Edgar Allan Poe's Birthday

Edgar Allan Poe was born on January 19, 1809 in Boston. After a peripatetic life, he eventually landed in Baltimore, where he died in October of 1849. His death has been attributed to alcoholism, substance abuse or suicide, but our friends at the University of Maryland's Historic Clinico-Pathologic Conference conducted a deep review and suggested that he actually died of rabies.

After being found on the streets of Baltimore, Poe was taken to the historic Church Home Hospital, which although still standing, is no longer a functioning hospital. At the time of Poe's death, Church Home was the hospital of the Washington Medical College. The physician who attended Poe in his final days was Faculty Member, John Joseph Moran. 

Poe's funeral was very short and very simple, with his uncle providing a coffin, and Dr. Moran's wife sewing his shroud. The Reverend W.T.D. Clemm, a cousin of Poe's late wife Virginia, presided. Poe was buried in the Westminster Burying Ground (directly adjacent to the University of Maryland Medical School). His original grave was towards the back of the graveyard, but the gravestone was eventually moved to the front because it became a tourist attraction. 

In 2009, a group of Poe groupies conducted a funeral fit for the man.

Actors portrayed contemporaries of Poe's and a horse-drawn caisson would through the streets of Baltimore from Poe's House to the burying ground. Here is a little video I took of the event. 

Happy New Year!

 Happy New Year!

Happy Holidays!

 From Everyone at MedChi and
 the Center for a Healthy Maryland

Laying Flowers

Wednesday, November 24, 2021 was a blustery sunny day, but we don't have a record of what the weather was like on the day that Marcia Noyes was buried at Baltimore's historic Green Mount Cemetery 75 years ago. 

M.J. Tooey, past winner of the Noyes Award at the Medical Library Association, and current head of the Health Sciences and Human Services Library at the University of Maryland, and I met at Green Mount Cemetery to lay flowers on Marcia's grave on the 75th Anniversary of her death. 

We know that the members of the Faculty frequently gave Marcia bouquets of flowers for small favors that she did for them. There are cards from Sir William Osler and others in her files noting flowers that they'd sent to her. 

It's only fitting that bouquets of flowers are the way we memorialize Marcia Crocker Noyes today, both by giving a bouquet of flowers to the winner of the Noyes Award, and commemorating the date of her death. 

Happy Thanksgiving!

 The staff at MedChi, along with Marcia Noyes, 
wish you a very Happy Thanksgiving. 

We all know that Marcia is a "sturdy girl" and here she is, leading her Thanksgiving dinner right to the table. And afterwards, she'll make a pumpkin pie from her carriage!

Marcia's Anniversary Updated

In my last post, I mentioned that we will be meeting at Baltimore's historic Green Mount Cemetery to commemorate the 75th Anniversary of the death of Marcia C. Noyes. 

In anticipation of this, I made a reconnaissance mission to the Cemetery this morning, so I could be sure where her grave is located. 

To enter the cemetery, you must either call them (the number is conveniently located on the front gate) or buzz them. The gates will open and you can drive in. The gates are not as narrow as they look!

The easiest thing is for everyone to meet just inside the cemetery a little before 11:00, and then we can all drive over together. Her grave is located in the north-east quadrant of the property. 

If you come in after we've left to drive over to the grave-site, the staff will give you directions to her grave. Once you get close, you should see cars parked near-by. 

The instructions I got were to drive up the drive about 100+ feet, take a left and then follow the stone wall around until you come to a long stretch of the wall along your left. It's just beyond that. There is a tall angel and two huge yew (or similar) bushes. 

Marcia's family's graves are to the left of the big bushes. Once you find it once, it's easy to find again. But having cars parked close by will be a big clue.

I will be leaving my office at about 10:45, so email me before then if you have any questions. 

We will look forward to seeing you at 11:00 on November 24 to celebrate the life of Marcia Noyes!