McGill Library
McLennan Library Building3459 rue McTavish
Montreal, Quebec
H3A 0C9
Isadore B. Hirshberg Fonds
Fonds
0.2 cm of textual records
60 photographs : b&w (in album)
1 photograph : b&w ; 34 x 44 cm, in frame 37.5 x 48 cm
1 certificate ; 44 x 34.5 cm, in frame 47 x 37.5
Isadore Benjamin Hirshberg (1890-1965) was born in Bay City, Michigan. He began his medical studies at McGill in 1909 and graduated in 1914. In 1913, he trained at the Alexandra Hospital for Infectious Diseases when John McCrae was on staff. In 1914, Hirshberg interned at the Montreal General Hospital. During the First World War he served at the Canadian Explosives plant at Beloeil Quebec and on his return to Montreal served on the staff of the Jewish Maternity Hospital, the forerunner of the Jewish General Hospital and was one of the latter hospital's founders.
Purchased for the Osler Library from Robert Campbell in 2008.
Fonds consists of photographs and other items that document the early career of Isadore Hirshberg while studying medicine at McGill University from 1909-1914, including 60 album-sized photographs, a framed group photograph of Hirshberg and Montreal General Hospital residents, Hirshberg's framed provincial medical certificate, and two certificates of residency. Subjects include Hirshberg and classmates; campus and student life; photographs of staff, doctors, and nurses in hospital settings, including two photographs of John McCrae at the Alexandra Hospital; and various views of McGill medical buildings and hospitals, including the new medical building at the time of construction in 1910, the Royal Victoria Hospital around 1910, and the Western Hospital in 1913. Two photographs features the medical school janitor James "King" Cook, a fixture of the school and a favorite with the students from the late 19th through the early 20th centuries. His wife was Frank Buller's housekeeper during Osler's time. Fonds also includes a large framed group photograph, Resident Medical Staff/Montreal General Hospital/1914-1915 by Wm. Notman & Son and Hirshberg's Quebec medical license issued by the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Quebec and dated July 1914. Descriptions of the photographs where present are in Hirshberg's hand except in cases in which there were additional descriptions in the album. These were copied in pencil on the verso of the related photograph.
The documents are in English.
Items can be requested for consultation online via the Library Catalogue or by email at osler.library@mcgill.ca. Advance notice is recommended.
Complete inventory list available. http://osler.library.mcgill.ca/media/pdf/p198.pdf
Photographs were removed from an original album that was in poor condition and disintegrating. On verso side of most of the photographs are traces of the original album leaves.