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Letter to Howard Atwood Kelly, January 4, 1910
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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 Howard Atwood Kelly from William Osler, From the Regius Professor of Medicine, Oxford, Oxfordshire, England. Sends him the photograph for the Residents 'room at the John Hopkins Hospital. Thinks that it is a capital idea to get together the pictures of the men who had been connected with the Hospital. Mentions a dream that he had where Kelly was a plenopotentiary of England and America, dealing with two Chinese about an overflow of the Chinese into Europe. Asks news of his biography. Hopes that Kelly will arrange with the American Medical Association. Greetings to his wife, children, and Miss Waterson.
Copy or transcription.
Cushing's colour code: White (Correspondence)