The Library of the Surgeon General's Office, later called the Army Medical Library, was the institutional medical literature repository of the U.S. Army Surgeon General from 1836 to 1956 when it was transformed into the National Library of Medicine.

History

The 19th century

The Library of the Surgeon General's Office was established in 1836 when Joseph Lovell, then Surgeon General, purchased reference books and journals for his office. In 1840 the library published its first list of publications in a manuscript notebook. In 1864, the library printed its first catalog containing 2100 volumes. In 1867, the Library, along with the new Surgeon General's office, was moved to Ford's Theatre, site of the tragic assassination of President

Abraham Lincoln Abraham Lincoln (February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was the 16th president of the United States, serving from 1861 until Assassination of Abraham Lincoln, his assassination in 1865. He led the United States through the American Civil War ...

in April 1865. (The theater had been closed and remodelled in the intervening two years.) The new Office/Library site was taken over by the U.S. Army to house a cluster of important post-Civil War medical activities of the Surgeon General's Office. The most significant were the archive of Civil War medical records (essential for verification of veterans' pension claims), the Army Medical Museum (now the National Museum of Health and Medicine), the editorial offices for preparation of the multi-volume '' Medical and Surgical History of the War of the Rebellion'', and the Library of the Surgeon General's Office. The library published its first list of bibliographies in 1869 and in 1871, the decided to develop its collection nationally. The library's goal was to "contain every medical book published in this country and every work relating to public health and state medicine." This collection would be "as complete as possible in all publications relating to military organizations, medicine, and allied sciences." The library strove to provide "an universal library of references". In 1879 the library began publishing ''

Index Medicus ''Index Medicus'' (''IM'') was a comprehensive bibliographic index of life science, biomedical science, and medical research articles, published from 1879 to 2004. Medical history experts have said of ''Index Medicus'' that it is “America's ...

'', a periodical listing the titles of current medical articles, books, reports, and other medical literature. This achievement, as well as the creation of the '' Index Catalogue of the Surgeon General's Office'' (1880), was largely the legacy of Dr. John Shaw Billings, Director of the Library from 1865 to 1895. When the Army's needs outgrew the capacity of the former theater, several of the units were moved in 1887 to a new building, the Army Medical Museum and Library, on the nearby

National Mall The National Mall is a Landscape architecture, landscaped park near the Downtown, Washington, D.C., downtown area of Washington, D.C., the capital city of the United States. It contains and borders a number of museums of the Smithsonian Institu ...

(7th Street and South B Street Independence Avenue">Independence Avenue (Washington D.C.)">Independence Avenue SW, the present site of the Smithsonian's Hirshhorn Museum).

The 20th century

From 1920 to 1925, the library was directed by Major General Robert Ernest Noble. In 1922, the library was renamed the "Army Medical Library" (AML). In 1927, using funds from the Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh, ''Index Medicus'' merged with the '' Quarterly Cumulative Index'' forming the '' Quarterly Cumulative Index Medicus''. From 1937 until 1942, the library ran a program, "Medicofilm," which provided microfilm access to medical literature to patrons. In 1941 the library published '' The Current List of Medical Literature'' a "rapid finding aid" to all current articles and microfilm copies in the library's possession. Handwritten subject card

The AML administration opposed a proposed reorganization and created the Association of Honorary Consultants to the Army Medical Library as a lobbying group to keep the facility within the U.S. Army. Chauncey Leake headed the group and important contributions were made by Michael DeBakey, Joseph McNinch and Harold W. Jones. A transfer to the

Public Health Service The United States Public Health Service (USPHS or PHS) is a collection of agencies of the Department of Health and Human Services which manages public health, containing nine out of the department's twelve operating divisions. The Assistant Se ...

(PHS) was strongly opposed, with one alternative being incorporation under the

Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums, Education center, education and Research institute, research centers, created by the Federal government of the United States, U.S. government "for the increase a ...

. In 1952, the facility was renamed the "Armed Forces Medical Library". On 13 March 1956, Senators Lister Hill and John F. Kennedy submitted Bill S.3430 to Congress, which promoted "the progress of medicine and advanced national health and welfare by creating the National Library of Medicine". On 3 August 1956 President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed the legislation which transformed the "Armed Forces Medical Library" into the "National Library of Medicine". The Library collection was thus transferred from the control of the

United States Department of Defense The United States Department of Defense (DoD, USDOD, or DOD) is an United States federal executive departments, executive department of the federal government of the United States, U.S. federal government charged with coordinating and superv ...

to that of the PHS of the Department of Health, Education and Welfare. Several collections of the library's papers are held at the National Library of Medicine.

References

Sources

* *Miles, Wyndham D., ''A History of the National Library of Medicine: The Nation's Treasury of Medical Knowledge''; U. S. Government Printing Office, 1992.

External links