Berkshire Medical College (originally the Berkshire Medical Institution, and sometimes referred to as Berkshire Medical College) was a

medical school A medical school is a tertiary educational institution, or part of such an institution, that teaches medicine, and awards a professional degree for physicians. Such medical degrees include the Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS, M ...

Pittsfield Pittsfield is the largest city and the county seat of Berkshire County, Massachusetts, United States. It is the principal city of the Pittsfield, Massachusetts Metropolitan Statistical Area which encompasses all of Berkshire County. Pittsfield� ...

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett language, Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut assachusett writing systems, məhswatʃəwiːsət'' English: , ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is the most populous U.S. state, state in the New England ...

. It is notable for establishing the first

professorship Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an academic rank at universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a "person who professes". Professors ...

in mental diseases at any medical school in the United States, and for granting the first medical degree ever issued to an

African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...

. It originated in 1823 as the Medical Department of

Williams College Williams College is a Private college, private liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Williamstown, Massachusetts. It was established as a men's college in 1793 with funds from the estate of Ephraim Williams, a col ...

, graduated 1138 people, and was disbanded in 1867.Council on Medical Education and Hospitals of the American Medical Association. "Medical Colleges" p. 10, in ''Medical Colleges of the United States and of foreign countries 1918'' American Medical Association, 1918; p. 82

Notable alumni and faculty

* Elisha Bartlett physician, professor and poet who served in the

Massachusetts House of Representatives The Massachusetts House of Representatives is the lower house of the Massachusetts General Court, the state legislature of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. It is composed of 160 members elected from 14 counties each divided into single-member ...

and as the first mayor of

Lowell, Massachusetts Lowell () is a city in Massachusetts, in the United States. Alongside Cambridge, It is one of two traditional seats of Middlesex County. With an estimated population of 115,554 in 2020, it was the fifth most populous city in Massachusetts as of ...

* Paul A. Chadbourne, President of

University of Wisconsin A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, t ...

, Williams College and the Massachusetts Agricultural College (later

University of Massachusetts The University of Massachusetts is the five-campus public university system and the only public research system in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The university system includes five campuses (Amherst, Boston, Dartmouth, Lowell, and a medica ...

) * Henry H. Childs, Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts and President of BMC *

Mason C. Darling Mason Cook Darling (May 18, 1801March 12, 1866) was an American medical doctor, politician, and Wisconsin pioneer. He was a member of Wisconsin's first delegation to the United States House of Representatives after statehood (1848-1849), and was ...

, Congressman *

Pliny Earle (physician) Pliny Earle II, MD (December 31, 1809 – May 17, 1892) was an American physician, psychiatrist, and poet. He was the son of the inventor Pliny Earle of the Earle family. Biography Pliny Earle was born in Leicester, Massachusetts on December 3 ...

, professor of materia medica and psychology at BMC (the first professorship in mental diseases ever established by a medical college in the United States) *

Harvey Willson Harkness Harvey Willson Harkness (May 25, 1821 – July 10, 1901) was an American mycologist and natural historian best known for his early descriptions of California fungal species. Born and raised in Massachusetts and trained as a physician, Harkness ...

, mycologist and natural historian *

Josiah Gilbert Holland Josiah Gilbert Holland (July 24, 1819 – October 12, 1881) was an American novelist and poet who also wrote under the pseudonym Timothy Titcomb. He helped to found and edit ''Scribner's Monthly'' (afterwards the ''Century Magazine''), in which ...

, novelist, poet and newspaperman *

Mark Hopkins (educator) Mark Hopkins (February 4, 1802 – June 17, 1887) was an American educator and Congregationalist theologian, president of Williams College from 1836 to 1872. An epigram — widely attributed to President James A. Garfield, a student of Hopkins � ...

Erasmus Darwin Hudson Erasmus Darwin Hudson, (December 15, 1805 in Torringford, Connecticut – December 31, 1880 in Greenwich, Connecticut), was a physician and anti-slavery organizer in the United States. Starting his career in Connecticut, he also practiced surgery ...

, abolitionist and orthopedic surgeon *

Willard Parker (surgeon) Willard Parker (September 2, 1800 in Lyndeborough, New Hampshire – April 25, 1884 in New York City) was a surgeon of the United States, for many years a professor at the New York College of Physicians and Surgeons and other schools. Biograp ...

, professor of surgery *

Charles L. Robinson Charles Lawrence Robinson (July 21, 1818 – August 17, 1894) was an American politician who served in the California State Assembly from 1851-52, and later as the first Governor of Kansas from 1861 until 1863. He was also the first governor o ...

, physician, abolitionist, newspaperman, California legislator, Kansas Free Stater and first Governor of

Kansas Kansas () is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its capital is Topeka, and its largest city is Wichita. Kansas is a landlocked state bordered by Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the ...

Joseph Pomeroy Root Joseph Pomeroy Root (April 23, 1826 – July 20, 1885) was an American doctor, politician, and leader of the Kansas Free Staters. A descendant of an old New England family, Root was the great-grandson of Revolutionary War General Seth Pomeroy. ...

, abolitionist, Kansas Free Stater and statesman *

James Skivring Smith James Skivring Smith (February 26, 1825 – 1892) was a Liberian politician who served as the sixth president of Liberia from 1871 to 1872. Prior to this, he served as the eighth vice president of Liberia from 1870 to 1871 under President Edward ...

, first African American to receive a medical degree and later President of

Liberia Liberia (), officially the Republic of Liberia, is a country on the West African coast. It is bordered by Sierra Leone to Liberia–Sierra Leone border, its northwest, Guinea to its north, Ivory Coast to its east, and the Atlantic Ocean ...

George Vasey (botanist) George Vasey (February 28, 1822 – March 3, 1893) was an English-born American botanist who collected a lot in Illinois before integrating the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), where he became Chief Botanist and curator of the great ...

United States Department of Agriculture The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is the United States federal executive departments, federal executive department responsible for developing and executing federal laws related to farming, forestry, rural economic development, ...

Chief Botanist and curator of the National

Herbarium A herbarium (plural: herbaria) is a collection of preserved plant specimens and associated data used for scientific study. The specimens may be whole plants or plant parts; these will usually be in dried form mounted on a sheet of paper (called ...

References

External links

Goodhue, Josiah. ''An inaugural address, delivered before "The Berkshire Medical Institution," at the first annual commencement, December 25, 1823'' Pittsfield: Printed by Phineas Allen, 1823?
{{Authority control Educational institutions established in 1823 Educational institutions disestablished in 1867 Defunct private universities and colleges in Massachusetts Medical schools in Massachusetts Williams College