Collections : [Yale University -Medical Historical Library]

Theordore C. Ruch, physiologist and primatologist, received his Ph.D. at Yale in physiology in 1933. The collection contains both sides of the correspondence between Ruch and his mentor, John F. Fulton, as well as related correspondence to/from Ruch or Fulton and others. Subjects include the publishing of Ruch's Bibliographia primatologica in 1941, Ruch's work with Fulton on editions of William Henry Howell's Textbook of Physiology, and the organization of physiology at Washington University, where Ruch became department chairman, and at Yale. The collection also includes material on Fulton, including a report, committee work, and two photographs of empty animal cages in Fulton's Laboratory of Physiology.

Thomas L. Lentz served as professor of cell biology and associate dean of admissions at Yale School of Medicine. The collection contains autobiographical material on Dr. Lentz, his histories of cell biology and of histology at Yale, and reprints of his articles. Also included are teaching materials for Lentz's laboratory course on histology, published materials related to the Department of Cell Biology, and photographs of faculty members and students.

William Tully (1785-1859) was professor of materia medica and therapeutics at the Medical Institution of Yale College from 1824 to 1842. The collection contains a small amount of correspondence by or to Tully and limited material on Tully's medical career. One subseries concerns settling the estate of William Tully and finding funds to support his daughters Sarah and Elizabeth. The collection contains genealogies, original documents of the Tully family in Connecticut, and also documents related to ancestors of Tully's wife, Mary Potter Tully, particularly her father, the Rev. Elam Potter, and her stepfather, the Rev. Nehemiah Prudden. Photographs include daguerrotypes of Tully's children.

The notebooks contain Orcutt's notes from medical school courses including physiology courses by Russell Chittenden and Yandell Henderson, pathology, bacteriology, pharmacology, histology, therapeutics by Oliver T. Osborne, and clinics by George Blumer and Wilder Tileston. The histology notes contain illustrations colored in pencil. The bacteriology notes are in an illustrated notebook printed especially for the bacteriology course at Yale. The physiology notes contain tracings from a kymograph or similar device.

The collection contains printed ephemera related to medicine and pharmacy either arranged in albums by William Helfand or donated in loose form. These include trade cards (some on marijuana and street drugs), postcards, advertisements in various formats for patent medicines and devices, advertisements for cancer cures, playing cards, cards of famous scientists and physicians, stock certificates for pharmaceutical companies, photographs of old pharmacies, pharmacy prescription envelopes, stereoscopic photographs, and more.

William Van Duyn, a former smoker, collected advertisements and news articles related to tobacco, especially to cigarette smoking. These include cigarette advertisements by company and brand; other forms of tobacco advertisements including billboards (photographs taken by Van Duyn), merchandise catalogs, and sponsorship of racing; and newspaper and magazine articles and ephemera related to the anti-smoking movement and tobacco regulation and litigation.

Correspondence, printed materials, and clippings saved by Madeline Stanton, Secretary of the Historical Library, concerning the building, opening, and formal dedication of the Yale Medical Library on June 15, 1941.

The collection contains papers of the Medical Institution of Yale College (Yale University School of Medicine) including correspondence, committee reports, financial reports, and memorials to the Yale Corporation, especially during the period when Charles A Linsdley served as Dean (1863-1885).