Archives and Special Collections is the repository for the archival records of Columbia University's four health sciences schools: the College of Physicians and Surgeons (1767), the School of Nursing (1892), the College of Dental Medicine 1916, and the School of Public Health (1922). Archival records date from the 1780s to the 1980s and are largely from the schools of medicine and dentistry, though all four schools are represented. The department also holds records of Presbyterian Hospital (1866-1997), as well as records of hospitals that merged with it including Babies Hospital (est. 1887) and the Neurological Institute of NY (est 1909).

Special Collections include books, periodicals, and pamphlets in the history of the health sciences from 1476 to the 20th century; personal papers of physicians, scientists, and administrators associated with the Columbia University Medical Center; records of the Maternity Center Association and the Visiting Nurse Service of NY; and prints, photographs, and some artifacts. SERVICES: Hours Monday - Friday 9:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m., by appointment. Reference by mail, phone, and email. Photocopying at discretion of department Head.

Holdings:

(Estimates) Incunabula: 24 titles; 1501-1923: 27,00 titles; Bound serials: 6,000 titles; Prints and Photographs: ca. 100,000 (many in negative form); Archives and Personal Papers: ca. 3,300 linear feet.

Named Collections: George Sumner Huntington Collection in Anatomy and Comparative Anatomy; John Green Curtis Collection in Physiology; Jerome P. Webster Library of Plastic Surgery; Hugh D. Auchincloss Collection of Florence Nightingale letters; Lena and Louis Hyman Collection in the History of Anesthesia; personal library of Sigmund Freud; Elizabeth Wilcox Photographic Collection.

Subject Strengths:

History of Anatomy; History of Anesthesiology and Anesthesia; History of Hospitals; History of Medicine; History of Nursing; History of Physiology; History of Psychiatry; History of Public Health

Last Updated:

30 Jun 2015