McGill Library
McLennan Library Building3459 rue McTavish
Montreal, Quebec
H3A 0C9
Letter to Henry Barton Jacobs, June 11, 1909
Item
A major figure in modern medical history, Sir William Osler is well known as a scientific researcher, a great medical pedagogue, a humanist, and an advocate for a patient-centered approach to medicine.
Born in Bond Head, Ontario, in 1849, Osler earned his medical degree at McGill University, and later taught at McGill's Faculty of Medicine from 1874 until 1884. Osler then joined the faculty at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, where he was appointed Chair of Clinical Medicine before becoming Physician-in-Chief and one of the "Big Four" founders of Johns Hopkins Hospital and medical school in Baltimore – the first school of its kind to train medical students in a modern residency program. Osler finished his career as Regius Professor of Medicine at Oxford University, where he also devoted time to his passion for book collecting. His library of nearly eight thousand rare and historic works of the history of medicine and science is known as the Bibliotheca Osleriana, documented by a published catalogue of the same title.
Sir William Osler was knighted in 1911 in recognition of his contributions to medical science and teaching. His library of 7600 volumes on the history of medicine and science bequeathed to McGill University forms the nucleus of the present Osler Library of the History of Medicine. His life and contributions to medicine are described in detail in the Pulitzer-Prize winning biography "Life of Sir William Osler" (London: Oxford University Press, 1925) by Harvey Cushing.
Letter to Henry Barton Jacobs from William Osler, University Club, Montreal, Quebec, Canada. He had a strenuous time in Boston, Philadelphia, New York, Buffalo and Toronto. Had a great day at Harvard Medical School, where he sat between the out and the in President. Had a good talk with Lowell about the School and the Hospital in Brigham. Osler made his point that a close affiliation and a joint appointing board was absolutely necessary. There are friction between the M.G.H. and the B.C.H. men about a new large General Hospital. Went to M.G.H. and at Mt. Kisco with the Brewsters. Cole and the new plans of the Rockefeller appear to fit each other. News of Flexner and Mitchell. Kind comment on Miss Noyes. W.W. Francis and Marjorie Howard will come over with him. W.W. Francis brought his new edition. Praises the new buildings at McGill.
Copy or transcription.
Cushing's colour code: White (Correspondence)