ARMED FORCES MEDICAL LIBRARY FOUNDED 1836 WASHINGTON, D.C., U.S.A. ARMED FORCES MEDICAL LIBRARY HISTORY The Armed Forces Medical Library, now the largest medical collection in the western hemisphere and among the five or six largest medical libraries in the world, was founded in 1836 in the Office of the then Surgeon General of the Army, General Lovell, It grew slowly until after the American Civil War (1861-65) when two things happened: it received a large sum of money remaining from Civil War hospitals, and Dr. John Shaw Billings was named Librarian. At that time he found a collection of about 5,000 volumes. He built it up so well that when he left it, some 30 years later, there were over 100,000 volumes, and the great Index-Catalogue, which Dr. William Welch of Johns Hopkins University once called the most important contribution Americans had made to medicine. Also prepared at the Li- brary but as a private enterprise was the Index-Medicus, which lasted from 1880 to 1927, when it united with the Quarterly Cumulative Index to form the Quarterly Cumula- tive Index Medicus. After the first World War the Library was re-named the Army Medical Library and in the spring of 1952 its name was again changed, this time to Armed Forces Medical Library. From its very beginning, in addition to serving military users, the Library has been available to and extensively used by civilians. Because it is the na- tional medical library, readers come to it from all over the country and foreign visitors are a daily occurrence. Workers from other American government agencies, medical and allied specialists, practicing physicians, dentists, nurses, pharmacists, and private research workers make up the bulk of its users. THE LIBRARY'S COLLECTION TODAY At present (1953), the Armed Forces Medical Library contains about one million titles. Not only does it have over five hundred incunabula and many thousand rare books of later dates, but its collection of theses is unsur- passed . The long runs of periodicals give it a character possessed by few other scientific libraries. Its collec- tion of portraits of medical men and of hospitals is grow- ing daily, and its section of American and foreign govern- ment and statistical documents is probably unique. Over 8,000 serials are received by purchase, gift, or exchange, including about 4,500 journals. Altogether, approximately 100,000 journal and monographic pieces are acquired yearly representing literature on medicine, dentistry, pharmacy, and the allied sciences in all languages and of all times. The Armed Forces Medical Library has long since out- grown the building into which it so proudly moved in 1877. It is hoped that a new building will be erected soon, so that the approximately 40,000 volumes of rare and early works, moved to Cleveland, Ohio at the beginning of World War II can be returned to the main collection, and the staff can have adequate room to work. In the future, as in the past, the original purpose -1- of the Armed Forces Medical Library, service to national and international medicine, will continue to be its first consideration. LIBRARIANS OF THE ARMY MEDICAL LIBRARY 1. Colonel John Shaw Billings, 1868-1895. 2. Colonel David Low Huntington, 1896-1897. 3. Major James Cushing Merrill, 1898-1902. 4. Major Walter Reed, 1902. 5. Brigadier-General Calvin DeWitt, 1903. 6. Brigadier-General Walter Drew McCaw, 1903-1913. 7. Colonel Champe Carter McCulloch, Jr., 1913-1918. 8. Brigadier-General Francis Anderson Win- ter, 1918-1919. 9. Colonel Paul Frederick Straub, 1919. 10. Major-General Robert Ernest Noble. 1919- 1924. 11. Colonel James Matthew Phalen, 1924-1927. 12. Colonel Percy Moreau Ashburn, 1927-1932. 13. Major Edgar Erskine Hume, 1932-1936. 14. Colonel Harold Wellington Jones, 1936- 1945. 15. Colonel Leon Lloyd Gardner, 1945-1946. 16. Colonel Joseph H. McNinch, 1946-1949. 17. Lt. Colonel Frank B. Rogers, 1949 to present. ACQUISITION The Armed Forces Medical Library is restricted in the scope of its collecting only by its subject; hence its acquisition program is determined more by what medical publications exist than by what its readers request. It is the Library's purpose to anticipate all requests fall- ing within its subject scope. The magnitude of the prob- lem is shown by the fact that in the year ending June 30, 1952 the Library acquired 12,700 books, theses, and pam- phlets, of which almost 70% were acquired by purchase, the remainder by gift or exchange. In the same period about 80,000 serial pieces were received, of which 34% were ac- quired by purchase, the rest as gifts and exchanges. Because of the Library's global scope, some three fourths of its incoming publications are in languages other than English. This foreign material is generally acquired directly from foreign sources, most being pur- chased from strategically located dealers. Although at any one time the Library acquires items from all periods and places, current material naturally receives a high priority. Some fifty current bibliographical sources (for example, Publisher's Weekly, British National Bibliogra- phy. Bibliographie de la France! are examined promptly upon receipt, and special efforts are made to keep intact and up-to-date the holdings of medical serials, especially -2- titles indexed in the Current List of Medical Literature. The Library's large stock of duplicates is utilized in an active exchange program carried on with libraries and scientific institutions throughout the world. Some 1500 current journals are acquired by exchanging the Cur- rent List of Medical Literature alone. ARMED FORCES MEDICAL LIBRARY 1952 CATALOG The Armed Forces Medical Library Catalog 1952, the fifth annual volume issued as a supplement to the Cumula- ted Catalog of the Library of Congress Printed Cards, brings together the catalog cards made tor titles of medi- cal interest during the year at the Armed Forces Medical Library. Under the present cooperative agreement with the Library of Congress, a single printing of the Armed Forces Medical Library catalog card copy provides stock needed for the Armed Forces Medical Library's card catalogs, for subscribers to the Armed Forces Medical Library card series, for the annual Catalog, and for future cumulations of the Catalog. Like the 1951 Armed Forces Medical Library Catalog, the 1952 volume is issued in two parts: Part One Authors, and Part Two Subjects. Part One includes 14,247 main en- tries and the two parts together number 813 pages. The scope has been enlarged to include all titles of medical interest regardless of classification. Previous issues have been limited to titles classified within the scope of the Army Medical Library Classification Schedule (QS-QZ and W) and the Library of Congress's UH and VG schedules (the military medical services). In addition to currently received material, the Catalog lists some material re- cataloged from the old collection - those titles for which no entries were found in the Library of Congress catalogs. Pre-1801 titles and Americana titles through 1820, cata- loged at the Armed Forces Medical Library's History of Medicine Division are not included. Part Two, Subjects, is limited to titles published since 1925, with the fol- lowing exceptions; (1) important reference and histori- cal materials; (2) biographies and bibliographies; (3) periodicals; (4) congresses; (5) statistical documents; and (6) works about various institutions, as hospitals, clinics, and such. Together with the Current List of Medical Literature, the Armed Forces MedicaTLibrary Catalog is a continuation of the Armed Forces Medical Library's bibliographical rec- ord begun in 1880 with the advent of the Index-Catalogue of the Surgeon General's Office. It includes all forms of material having entries for monographs, serials, theses, documents, pamphlets, and ephemera. It provides a guide to the suitable form of entry for difficult materials, serves as a name authority, and is a tool for use in the classification and subject heading of medical material. The 1952 Catalog is available at the Card Division, Library of Congress, Washington 25, D. C. at *17.50 per copy. -3- INDEX-CATALOGUE Established in 1880, the Index-Catalogue of the Li- brary of the Surgeon General's Office is a combined cata- logue of the monographs and an index to the other materi- als received in the Armed Forces Medical Library from its foundation to March 1950, when the indexing was discon- tinued . The 57 printed volumes comprise three complete alphabetical sets and a current incomplete 4th series. Together with the unprinted subject and author files, they provide nearly 6,000,000 references to world medical lit- erature arranged in a very detailed system of categories of medicine and allied sciences Although the flow of currently acquired material into the Index-Catalogue files was stopped on the first of April 1950, work continues on the 11th volume which covers subjects and authors from Mi to Mz. On completion of this volume, a supplementary series of 5 printed volumes will be issued covering (by authors and subjects) the books, pamphlets and theses acquired by the library prior to April 1950. Biographies of the authors will also be in- cluded. The form and style will be similar to that of the current series. While the Index-Catalogue makes medicine among the best documented of all the sciences, the users of this reference tool should keep in mind the statement of Bil- lings, "... this is not a complete medical bibliography, and that any one who relies upon it as such will commit a serious error. It is a Catalogue of what is to be found in a single collection, --- a collection so large and of such a character, that there are few subjects in medicine with regard to which something may not be found in it, but which is by no means complete." TIntroduction, v. 1, 1st series 1. In addition to recording author and subject approaches to the actual holdings of a library, it is also a key to the complex subject material published in serial or in book form. In its consecutive sets, the Index-Catalogue contains not only a panoramic view of medical research and progress of the last five hundred years, but also a great variety of biographical and historical data related to ac- tivities of persons and institutions of all countries and of all times. The Index-Catalogue has from time to time published many supplements, the more important of which are: Alphabetical list of abbreviations of titles of medical periodicals in the Index-Catalogue... vol. 1 to vol.16. Washington, 1895. vol. 1 to vol. 21, 2nd series, Washington, 1916. Synopsis of style with a List of abbreviations for serial publications indexed in the Fourth Series of the Index-Catalogue. Washington, 1937. Congresses; tentative chronological and bibli- ographical reference list of national and -4- international meetings of physicians, scien- tists, and experts. Washington, 1941. Jio-bibliography of XVI. Century medical authors, by Claudius F. Mayer, Fasc. 1. Washington, 1941. List of abbreviations for serial publications re- ferred to in the Fourth Series of the Index- Catalogue. Washington, 1948. OCCASIONAL BIBLIOGRAPHIES The Armed Forces Medical Library's policy of publish- ing occasional comprehensive bibliographies on special subjects, stems, in part, from a recommendation made in 1950 by the Committee of Consultants for the Study of the Indexes to Medical Literature, appointed by the Surgeon General. The group was impressed with the great wealth of literature represented in the Armed Forces Medical Library Subject Index, the card file of the unpublished portion of the Index-Catalogue of the Library of the Surgeon Gene- ral's Office, and, concerned lest the values of this vast file be lost to the medical world on the cessation of the Index-Catalogue, they strongly urged that the Armed Forces Medical Library develop methods for its utilization. In partial fulfillment of this recommendation, and in keeping with its tradition of sharing its resources with physi- cians and scholars, the Armed Forces Medical Library began the practice of publishing occasional extensive bibliogra- phies based in part on this file, and in part on other sources of information. Several large bibliographies have already appeared; notably those on the Pituitary Adreno-cortical Function, on Plasma Substitutes, on Burns, and on Military Psychia- try, and others are in progress. Shorter lists have also been compiled. BIBLIOGRAPHIES AVAILABLE June 1953* 1. Fat Embolism. A preliminary List of References chief- ly Covering the Years 1940-1950. 1952. 135 references. Partially annotated. 2. Fibrinolysin, Profibrinolysin and Antifibrinolysin. A Preliminary List of References. 1951. 243 references. 3. Intravenous Injection of Fats and Oils for Nutritive Purposes. A Comprehensive List of References to 27 September 1951. 170 references. 4. Lower Nephron Nephrosis. Selected references in Eng- lish, French and German, 1940-1950. 1951. 241 ref- erences. Partially annotated. -5- 5. Nitrogen15 in Biological Research. A Preliminary List of References to August 1951. 150 references. 6. Pathology and Physiology of Thermal Burns, 1942-1951. An annotated bibliography. 1952. 611 references. 7. The Pituitary-Adrenocortical Function: ACTH, Cortisone and Related Compounds. 1950. 3,431 citations. 8. Plasma Substitutes; Except Those Derived From Human Blood, 1940-1951. An annotated bibliography. 1951. 888 references. 9. Psychopathology of Aging (Cognitive and perceptual as- pects of aging.) A Selective List of References Chief- ly Covering the Years 1948-1952. 1952. 88 references. 10. Foreign Military Medical Serials, 1945-1950. T19511 68 items. 11. Journals on Neurology, Psychology, and Psychiatry Cur- rently Received in the Army Medical Library, Washing- ton, D. C, June 1, 1949. 134 items. 12. Journals on Radiology Currently Received in the Army Medical Library. December 1, 1949. 58 items. 13. Medical Photography and Radiography. A list of recent books and current periodicals in English. 29 August 1952. 38 references. 14. Reference Tools for Hospital Medical Tibraries. A Se- lected List of Reference Tools in Medicine and Allied Fields, in English, emphasizing Publications of the Last Decade. 1952. 121 items. 15. Bibliography of Military Psychiatry, 1947-1952. Lit- erature Relating to U. S. Armed Forces with Selected References Relating to British Forces. 1953. 545 references. ♦Request copies from Director or Assistant Librarian for Reference Services. THE ART SECTION The Art Section, part of the History of Medicine Di- vision, but at present under the direction of the Catalog Division, contains nearly all varieties of visual materi- al, but chiefly prints and photographs, as well as carica- tures, posters, bookplates, negatives, and such. These relate to the field of medical science and to people as- sociated with medicine. The pictures and negative films are kept in large files, cabinets, and print boxes. Material in the picture collection may be copied and used for educational purposes by newspapers and magazines, by editors, historians, research writers, specialists, and by business firms. Inquiries are chiefly for portraits of physicians of the past and present. Next in number are -6- requests for historical material, especially in Civil War times; and for such subjects as hospitals in this country and abroad, anesthesia, stereoscopic pictures of the eye, yellow fever patients in Cuba, illustrations of beriberi, autographs, and insignia of the Medical Corps. Access to the Art Section materials is through use of its catalogs which provide an index to the picture materi- als and to pictures located elsewhere. The card files in- clude records of portraits in the Library's collection; of important artists, hospitals, and general medical subjects There is also a complete index of the negatives. In addi- tion to the Art Section catalogs, there is a Union catalog of portraits, giving references to about 66,000 pictures in journals and in six other medical libraries. THE HISTORY OF MEDICINE DIVISION The formal establishment of a History of Medicine Di- vision resulted from events occurring during World War II, at which time there was severe pressure for spaoe in the main buildings in Washington and special concern for the safety of the irreplaceable treasures of the collection. Hence in 1942 the Library sent its oldest and rarest pos- sessions some 400 miles inland to Cleveland, Ohio. In the first migration about 18,000 books of the 15th-18th cen- turies were transferred, and more recently the collection of about 19,000 monographs from the 1801-1850 period. Many other volumes were sent merely for storage, bringing the total to 60,000 or 70,000. By 1946 the collection was sufficiently well organized to be designated as the His- tory of Medicine Division. The migrant books were in grave need of physical care. In 1943, therefore, a hand bindery was established in which skilled workmen have repaired or rebound nearly 8500 volumes, mostly of the 15th-17th centuries. Under contracts with outside commercial binderies nearly 25,000 later volumes have been bound in cloth. In 1950, a pro- gram was begun for the full cataloging of the 16th-18th century books. The cards for these have followed, in general, the rules adopted by the Library of Congress and the American Library Association. Subject cataloging is not being attempted. Thus far some 2000 editions have been cataloged, the majority of them for the 16th century. The 490 incunabula, with 35 Occidental and 137 Oriental manuscripts, were described in a printed catalog issued in 1950. The oldest and rarest books are microfilmed for safety, after they are cataloged, and the master negatives stored. Each year from 600 to 800 additional books, chiefly of the 16th-18th centuries are added, while for texts not readily available in the market, about 500 microfilm copies, thus far chiefly of the 16th century have been ob- tained from other libraries. Au active reference service is maintained for historical scholars in any part of the world, carried on largely by correspondence, supplemented by microfilming, photostating, or photoprinting of texts when called for. -7- 067824