OSLER LIBRARY NEWSLETTERMcGILL UNIVERSITY, MONTREAL, CANADA No. 33 - FEBRUARY 1980

THE OSLER LIBRARY AT FIFTY

The Library Today

ear the end of its fiftieth year,the Osler Library isvery differentfrom what it was at its foundingin 1929. This satisfies a normalexpectation, I think: if it hadnot changed the librariansworking here would not havedone their work. But it is animportant matter to decide if it

has evolved in a way consistent with the impetus presentat its founding and with its changing environment.

In 1979 the Osler Library is a research library in thehistory of medicine and health. This definition needs,perhaps, some elaboration. The Library is not a scientificor a medical one. Although its books and archives aremedical, the approach to them by the Library's users andsubsequently by the Library itself is a strictly historicalone.

The scope of the Library, that is, the history of medicineand health, is at once narrow and broad. In the sense thatmedicine is a tightly-knit body of knowledge, usuallyexercised by a well-defined body of practitioners, whoseactivities are recorded in books and manuscripts, it isnarrowly defined. In the sense that medicine and healthindividually and collectively affect everyone, it is broadlydefined. Even Zeus had a splitting headache.

The word research affirms a conviction held by the OslerLibrary since its founding, that is, that the historicalenterprise rests upon two types of material: documentary(also called source or primary) literature, and interpretive(also called supporting or secondary) literature. Thegreat French historian Marc Bloch argues that historicalstudy without documentary evidence produces studentsand historians "... deprived of that perpetual renewal,that constantly reborn surprise, which only the strugglewith documents can supply, [who] inevitably lapse into aceaseless oscillation between stereotyped themes im-posed by routine."l But work in the archives and the rarebook rooms suffers without consultation of interpretiveliterature: "No longer guided from above, [historicalresearch] risks being indefinitely marooned upon insig-nificant or poorly propounded questions. There is nowaste more criminal than that of erudition running, as itwere, in neutral gear, nor any pride more vainly misplacedthan that in a tool valued as an end in itself."2

At the present time the Osler Library directs its functionsto four constituencies: a) medical students with coursework or a personal interest in the history of medicine;b) physicians with an avocational or philosophical in-terest in the history of medicine, including physicians andscientists who seek to enrich a paper or lecture with his-torical background; c) graduate and undergraduatestudents in history and literature; d) professional his-torians.

The leading article in this issue, "The Osler Libraryat fIfty," is a report prepared by Dr. Philip M. Teigen,Osler Librarian, and submitted to the Board ofCurators of the Osler Library at its annual meetingheld April 18th, 1979, the semi-centennial year ofthe Library. The Curators regarded the report as auseful and interesting document. In the expectationthat it will prove useful and interesting to readersof the Newsletter, it is reproduced here. E.H.B.

There are several important features of these groups. Ofthem physicians and medical students form the largest.The physicians interested in the Osler Library and thehistory of medicine are scattered throughout NorthAmerica. Since they write, visit us, or subscribe to theOsler Library Newsletter, their needs are generally sup-plied by the Library's public service personnel. Somewhatdifferent are the medical students with course work inthe history of medicine. Since they usually come to McGillUniversity with little background in the humanities, theyalso rely on the Library's public service personnel, whoin turn must rely on an accurate, up-to-date, historicallyoriented card catalogue. The demands of these physiciansand medical students, though heavy, do not require anin-depth collection of materials in the history of medicine.

History students and professional historians (includingphysicians who write extensively in the history of med-icine) are quite a different matter. They are few in number,but their use of the Library is intense and requires greatbreadth and depth in the Library's collections. Becausethe history of medicine is such a wide field, students andprofessional historians tend to range through all lan-guages, geographical areas, and chronological periods.In addition, they assume that historical evidence is in-finite, consisting of anything from the telephone book'syellow pages, to raw census data, to old pathologicalslides. Providing adequate materials and services to thislatter group is time-consuming and labour intensive, butnecessary if the full range of historical research is goingto be undertaken in the Osler Library.

Serving such a disparate constituency even in one subjectarea creates an amazing complexity of purpose, function,personnel, governance, and structure, which is for me thechief existential quality of the Osler Library.

That the Osler Library should have the dual nature ofserving those who are in aim physicians but in methodhistorians (to paraphrase Owsei Temkin),3 as well asthose who are historians in both aim and method, couldnot have been predicted fifty years ago. It is the result ofseveral conscious and far-reaching decisions. From thefounding of the Library until the early 1960s,the primaryintent of the Library was to serve Oslerians (physicianswho followed Osler) and an Oslerian historiography,that is, the viewthat the purpose of the history of medicine

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is to enrich the teaching and practice of medicine.4 Latein the 1950s, mainly with the initiative of Lloyd G.Stevenson, a new dimension was added to the Library,namely, that it should serve the needs of historical schol-arship at large in addition to - but certainly not in placeof - the traditional Oslerian historiography. At thattime Stevenson and others successfully obtained fundingfor both a more active acquisitions program and for amove of the Osler Library, intact with its warm memoriesand associations, to the planned McIntyre Medical SciencesBuilding: thus neatly demonstrating a commitment to thedual nature of the Osler Library. Another step madetowards cementing this dual nature was Stevenson's" AMemorandum on the Future of the Library" (preparedfor the Board of Curators in 1960) in which he arguedthat "Without adequate cataloguing and classification,the new books acquired will be warehouse store... ."5 Athird decision in this regard, made by the Board of Cura-tors, was to integrate William Osler's collection with therest of the Library's books and manuscripts.

Another fundamental change in the conception of theLibrary was the relinquishing of its responsibility forteaching the history of medicine. W.W. Francis came toMcGill with the expectation that he would be appointednot only Osler Librarian but also Professor of the Historyof Medicine and Science. To his disappointment he wasnever promoted to the latter.6 Lloyd G. Stevenson arrivedunder similar expectations but was made Dean of theMedical Faculty before they could be realized. With theappointment of Donald G. Bates in 1966 the distinctionbecame complete. Although he was the Acting OslerLibrarian for a time, he came with the proviso that hisresponsibility for the Library would be temporary. Indeedin 1968 Ellen Wells, a professional librarian with lengthyexperience in research libraries, took charge of the OslerLibrary.

As a consequence of all these developments the OslerLibrary's dual nature was institutionalized, that is to say,all the tasks and the knowledge that had been centered inthe charismatic person of W.W. Francis were taken overby various library organs and a system of job roles. Forexample, W.W. Francis knew every book in the Libraryand its location. This personal expertise was replaced bya complex and sophisticated card catalogue, and formanuscripts, accession lists. Likewise, the associationof Oslerians with the Osler Library was no longer main-tained through contact with W.W. Francis' charm, wit,and ancestry, but rather through the Friends of the OslerLibrary, in particular the Osler Library Newsletter. Thisinstitutionalization was inevitable because W.W. Franciscould not have been replaced. Moreover, the Library wasbecoming too large and complex for anyone person toplan, organize, and operate. Surviving its founding fatherand successfully adopting a historiographical dualismmark the Library's coming of age, a coming of age in-stepwith the study of the history of medicine at McGill, theUniversite de Montreal, and across Canada.

The Shape of the Library's Collections

In 1928 W.W. Francis packed in Oxford and uncratedin Montreal about 8000 books and manuscripts whichSir William Osler had bequeathed to the McGill MedicalFaculty. Over the next fifty years, this private collec-tion was joined by obsolete monographs and journalstransferred from the library of the Medical Faculty. The

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union of these two collections has determined the shapeof the Osler Library's holdings as they exist today. Addi-tions through purchase and gift have reinforced or com-plemented the character of the Library as imparted by itstwo major sources.

Osler's private collection had several features which itpassed to its offspring. First, about one-half of the collec-tion consisted of interpretive (secondary) literature, thatis, biographies and histories of medicine. The other halfwas documentary (primary) literature, materials writtenby doctors and others for use in the medical enterpriseover the centuries. Second, while the interpretive literatureranged over all chronological periods of medical history,the documentary literature was oriented to early modernmedicine, particularly of the fifteenth, sixteenth, andseventeenth centuries. Last, it was an evenly developedcollection in that it included not only books by famousphysicians and surgeons, such as Vesalius, Harvey, andBoerhaave; but also those by less well-known - buthistorically no less important - figures, such as ConradGesner, Robert Fludd, and Sir William Petty.

The library of the McGill Faculty of Medicine, foundedin 1823, has contributed by way oftransfer about 10,000volumes to the Osler Library. Because of the medicallibrary's venerable age and its orientation during thenineteenth century, it also imparted a set of characteristicsto the Osler Library's collections. First, it was strong ineighteenth- and nineteenth- century materials, particularlymedical journals. Second, it was strong in English lan-guage publications from Canada, Great Britain, and theUnited States. Third, being the library of a research-oriented faculty, it leaned heavily towards the medicalsciences and the medical specialities. Finally, it includedvirtually no secondary literature. Looking into the future,the Medical Library will stamp its character even moreclearly on the Osler Library's collection of printed mate-rials, especially since the life of medical and scientificliterature grows shorter and shorter. Indeed, "Paperspublished more than fifteen years ago are almost uselessin many scientific fields; the research 'front' has movedtoo far beyond them."7

In brief, the transfers from the McGill Medical Libraryand the gift of Sir William Osler's private collection com-plemented each other, making a new, versatile, and gen-erally well-rounded collection of research materials inthe history of medicine.

Maintaining and expanding this well-roundedness hasbeen the task of the gift and book-purchasing policy ofthe Library. Some examples might prove illustrative.Several years ago, the Queen Elizabeth Hospital inMontreal, founded in 1894 as a homeopathic hospital,gave the Osler Library its collection of nineteenth-centuryhomeopathic literature. More recently, Dr. HaroldGriffith, the second generation of his family connectedwith the Queen Elizabeth, contributed books, journals,and a particularly important collection of manuscriptsrelating to the history of homeopathy in Montreal andQuebec. Each of these gifts consisted of a type of materialnot found in either Osler's donation or in Medical Librarytransfers.

Strengthening ~he Library's holdings in quite a differentarea were the gifts of several thousand nineteenth-centuryFrench monographs from the Universite Laval and theUniversite du Quebec - Chicoutimi. In still anotherarea, the Women's Pavilion Library of the Royal Victoria

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Hospital in Montreal gave the Library a collection ofmanuscripts relating to its history during the nineteenthcentury, together with a goodly number of nineteenth-century monographs and journals in obstetrics and gy-naecology. In themselves these and other similar giftsmay not seem large. But multiplied over the nearly fiftyyears the Osler Library has existed, these contributionsof archives and printed books, now medically and admin-istratively obsolete, are of the utmost value for the his-tory of medicine.

Besides receiving gifts, the Library systematically pur-chases books and, occasionally, manuscripts. This isdone by identifying particular areas of medical historywherein the Library needs development and then con-centrating financial resources on them. At the presenttime, for example, these are the four areas in which theLibrary is buying books and manuscripts: a) secondaryliterature in the history of medicine and health; b) booksand manuscripts dealing with the history of medicine inCanada; c) materials produced in the area where healthand medicine interact with society; d) books and man-uscripts produced by practitioners of phrenology, ho-meopathy, chiropractic, and other unorthodox medicalsystems. I should think that a and b will always have firstcall upon the Library's acquisition budgets. The othertwo areas will change from year to year as different mate-rials are available and as the Library's needs change.

The thousand or so books that the Library adds each yeardoes not seem large - nor does the fifteen percent of itsbudget going for book purchases. However, the ability ofthe Osler Library to expend money regularly and sys-tematically over fifty years has been crucial to consol-idating the strength which the Library's two originalsources imparted. It is through this kind of nurture overlong periods of time that sound research libraries develop.Unifying the development of the Osler Library's collec-tions during its first fifty years has been a commitmentto collect comprehensively by chronology, by geography,by subject matter, and by language; together with theintention to hold materials useful to the interests of thewide range of students and scholars who study the historyof medicine - whether physicians, medical students, orprofessional historians, and whether their interests in-clude intellectual, social, biographical, political, or eco-nomic aspects of the history of medicine.

The Conservation and Preservation

of the Library's Materials

The conservation and preservation of the Library's mate-rials have always been a concern of the Osler Library'sstaff and Board of Curators. Minutes of past Curatormeetings contain frequent references to these matters,mentioning, for example, reports of repair to deterioratedbooks and manuscripts. Interest in conservation andpreservation will no doubt increase as the Library addsto its collections more books and manuscripts producedafter the Industrial Revolution. It is these materials, notthe oldest materials in the Library, which require exten-sive care and often repair.

For an evaluation of the Library's collections, I invitedMr. George M. Cunha, Director Emeritus of the NewEngland Document Center, to visit the Library. Mr. Cunhais the author of a two volume work, Conservation ofLibrary Materials: A Manual and Bibliography on theCare, Repair, and Restoration of Library Materials

(1971-72). An engineer, he has become the most effectivedisseminator of information on the conservation of li-brary collections. Here I summarize his lengthy report.The temperature throughout the Library was found to beunder superb control. It remains within the acceptablelevels and varied insignificantly over the nine monthsduring which records had been kept. The overall condi-tion of the collections ranges from fair to good at thepresent time. Materials such as folders, boxes, and en-velopes, used to store the Library's material, were foundto be archivally sound, with one minor exception sincecorrected. The building seems fire-resistant and has agenerous number of smoke and heat detectors and nowater-sprinkling system to damage the books in case offire. The housekeeping in the Library is excellent. Theongoing restoration of unique items in the Library suchas Harvey's De Motu Cordis, Osler's pathological notes,Robert Fludd's Utriusque Cosmi, and the like, is impor-tant in making fragile materials available for consultationand research.

There are several areas where improvement is needed.The humidity in the Library changes frequently and tendsto be either higher or lower than is recommended for theplant and animal products of which books and man-uscripts are made. Within the Osler Library this is a verycomplex matter. For one thing, the Library belongs totwo separate air filtration and air conditioning systems.For another, humidity in the air during the winter freezeson windows and within the concrete walls. When theoutside temperature rises above 00 C, this water melts,damaging the window frames and increasing the speedwith which the concrete and other materials on the exte-rior of the building deteriorate. Finding a localized solu-tion to this problem will be difficult. To my mind thesolving of this problem has the highest priority for theconservation and preservation of the Library's materials.Mr. Cunha found that materials in the Osler Library aresubject to too much ultra-violet energy, mainly fromfluorescent lights, but also to a degree from the outsidesunlight. Ultra-violet screens are available and relativelyinexpensive, and I have pursued the purchase of suchmaterials through the University Library System.

Mr. Cunha also recommended the inhouse repair oflibrary materials. After a short period of training, andwith relatively simple materials, a library staff membercould inexpensively make many of the repairs which nowrequire the costly services of a professional. What is need-ed is an additional staff member, the proper workingspace, including countertop sinks, materials, and a fewextremely simple bits of technology.

Underlying all these recommendations is Mr. Cunha'sbelief that the prevention of deterioration, disrepair, andcatastrophe, is more effective and more economical thanrepair after the fact.

Staffing

During its lifetime, the Osler Library has been able toattract and retain staff members who are self-motivated,energetic, and well-educated. Without conducting a so-ciological survey, I would speculate that the Library itselfhas much to do with this fact. Many find it an interestingplace to work, both for the materials in it and for the Li-brary's nature and history. Besides, it is small enoughthat workers can know each other and integrate theirwork with that going on in the rest of the Library. Then,

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too, some are drawn to the history of medicine and to SirWilliam Osler himself, or at least find him a benevolentspecter to have at one's elbow.

W.W. Francis worked in the Osler Library for thirtyyears and Cecile Desbarats for twenty-five. This was sodespite the fact that both were ill-paid and receivedattractive offers from other places.8 Francis, indeed, wassought as a candidate for Director of The Institute of theHistory of Medicine at The Johns Hopkins University.9

While records of the current staff cannot match these,they present a picture of admirable stability and longevity.Marilyn Fransiszyn, the Manuscripts/ Reference Librar-ian, and Zlata Blazina, the Selection/ Acquisitions As-sistant, have both worked here nearly ten years. Longevityin these two positions is particularly important becauseboth require an enormous amount of knowledge aboutthe history of medicine and the Library's collectionsthat can be gained only by working with them.

The Osler Librarian has been here five years and is onlymoderately restless, this being the longest time he hasever stayed in one position. The Osler Librarian's sec-retary, Karin Waterhouse, has worked in the Library forfour years and her familiarity with the operations of theUniversity, of the Friends of the Osler Library, and ofthe Osler Library Newsletter increases yearly. The Act-ing Technical Services Librarian, Olga Werbowyj, hasbeen here for one year and has proven herself knowledge-able and energetic. We very much need stability in thisposition, and we would be fortunate indeed to have herstay with us for five or ten years.

Yvonne Chackal has been with us for a year and a halfas Public Services Assistant and Rose Atherley, for sixmonths, as Technical Services Assistant. Both of thesepositions are low on the pay scale and, although the in-cumbents perform well, we expect them to move on tohigher paying and more challenging positions after a fewyears with us.

Throughout the fifty-year history of the Osler Librarythere has persisted a serious problem with continuity inthe History of Medicine Librarian/ Osler Librarianposition. I would guess that the lack of a successor wasone of the reasons why W.W. Francis remained as OslerLibrarian until he was eighty-one years of age. In the1950s Lloyd G. Stevenson was appointed, among otherthings, Assistant Librarian of the Osler Library, but,as we know, he was pre-empted as Dean of the MedicalFaculty. After Francis died in 1959, Library income re-mained unspent, the University's appropriation was notpursued, books were not bought, and the Board of Cura-tors did not meet to carryon necessary business. Dif-ficulties were compounded by the Library's move fromthe Strathcona Building to the McIntyre Medical SciencesBuilding and by the Board of Curators' decision to extendthe Library's usefulness to professional historians as wellas Oslerians (chiefly by increasing acquisitions and pro-viding modern cataloguing for the books). The questionof Francis' succession was solved only later in the 1960s.In 1966Donald G. Bates arrived as an Associate Professorof the History of Medicine and as the Acting Osler Li-brarian, but with a clear understanding that he wouldteach and that the Library would soon operate with astaff and budget of its own. In 1968 Ellen Wells came tothe Library and remained until 1972, when she took apost at Cornell University. Had she remained longer,

she would have been named, no doubt, the Osler Librarian.After she left there was no History of Medicine Librarianuntil 1974, when I came. The interim years between 1972and 1974, although less traumatic than the years imme-diately after Francis died, none the less cost the Libraryheavily.

Against this background, it is clear that the positions ofTechnical Services Librarian and Manuscripts/ ReferenceLibrarian should serve as training and testing grounds forpotential History of Medicine and Osler Librarians. Thisis important because the Osler Library is complex andneeds carefully trained and experienced people. Second,it needs strong leadership, and strong leadership can onlybe demonstrated in action. Third, both Ellen Wells andmyself came here from universities in the United States.The continuing of that practice may not always be advis-able or possible. If there is one thing that is certain inlooking to the future, it is that the Osler Librarian willhave to be replaced. The best way to prepare for that, andto avoid the past difficulties with succession, is to continuethinking and planning for that eventuality. Waiting tofill the vacancy when it occurs is too late, as the history ofthe Osler Library amply proves.

Financing

During the past fifty years, the Osler Library has beenfunded by McGill appropriations and a miscellany ofother funds, primarily the endowed funds such as what isnow called the Lady Osler Fund and the Wellcome Fund.The percentage of the Library's budget provided by eachsource has varied over the years. For example, during the1958-1959 fiscal year, the University provided abouttwelve percent of the Library's budget, while in 1978-79I estimate that it will provide eighty percent. As I havepointed out earlier, it is over this same twenty-year periodthat the Osler Library has added a second dimension toits nature: that of providing materials and services forundergraduate teaching in the history of medicine andfor advanced research in the history of medicine. Whileit was Lloyd G. Stevenson and the Board of Curatorswho initiated this development and secured the initialfunding, it was the dramatic growth in the University'ssupport of the Library which sustained that vision.

Looking into the future, I see four goals that might beachieved concerning the financing of the Library: a) thecontinuation of University funding which enables theLibrary to serve its varied and complex constituencies;b) the establishment of a $25,000 to $30,000 fund, theincome from which would pay for the publishing of theOsler Library Newsletter, thus freeing all donations fromthe Friends to go towards the purchase of books and thefinancing of other special projects; c) the endowment ofthe History of Medicine Librarian/ Osler Librarian posi-tion which would free dollars for use elsewhere in theLibrary; and d) in general, an effort to match the Univer-sity's appropriations with dollars from other sources sothat both would contribute about fifty percent to theLibrary's budget.

Space

One of the most complex subjects to consider here is theprovision of space for the Library, Our immediate needs,of course, have been met through the construction of theW.W. Francis Wing. But looking further into the futurethe problems seem insurmountable. As each year passes

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more and more medical and scientific materials becomehistorical, quite independent of whether the number ofstudents and historians decreases, increases, or remainsthe same. The obsolescence of those materials is fixed andpredictable, and it is clear that even the rate of obsoles-cence will increase. In contrast, space is allocated accord-ing to variable factors such as numbers of students. Likeall other libraries and educational institutions, we willbe caught between the fixed increase in historical mate-rials and a variably-based allocation of space.

There are a number of solutions to this dilemma, all dras-tic, although none face the Library in the immediate fu-ture. The first would be to expand the scope of the Li-brary, enlarging its collections and broadening its activ-ities, thereby attracting enough new scholars and studentsto increase the Library's allocations of space and re-sources. This could be done by including in the Library'sscope such relevant subjects as the history of dentistry,the history of nursing, or even the history of all the lifeSCIences.

A second possibility would be to narrow the Library'sscope, thereby reducing the amount of incoming historicalmaterial. The Library could limit itself, for example, tothe history of medicine to the end of the eighteenth century,or to the history of Canadian medicine. One researchlibrary has adopted a similar strategy by establishing anearly nineteenth-century cutoff date for collecting mate-rials on European history (excluding British history).Narrowing the scope of the Osler Library, however,would reduce the number of people able to use it, thusfurther limiting the Library's allocation of space andresources. Besides, it would then be necessary to establishanother history of medicine library to take up where theOsler Library would leave off.

A third solution would be to reduce the Library's services.For example, like most libraries at McGill and otherurban universities, the Osler Library serves as a study hallfor the use of materials other than those in the Libraryand of materials in the Library which can be taken home.Eliminating space for studying any materials but thosethat must be used here would provide more room forhousing the evergrowing collections.

The last solution would be to build a separate history ofmedicine library analogous to the William L. ClementsLibrary at the University of Michigan.This discussion is meant to demonstrate the kind of think-ing that will have to go on during the next fifty years.Although this type of discussion will not be peculiar tothe Osler Library, that fact does not make the problemless forbidding, nor does it hide the reality that such deci-sions are intimately related to the overall scope, purpose,and long-term survival of the Library.

Will the Library Remain Relevant?

It is a truism that most institutions, including univer-sities, departments, and libraries, have short useful lives.What is striking is the large number of irrelevant institu-tions that manage to cling to life long after their useful-ness has ended. Like all other institutions the Osler Li-brary can become irrelevant, its only difference being theways in which it could arrive at that state.

Earlier in this paper I described the two general kinds ofpeople that use or are drawn to the Osler Library. The

first were those who are in aim physicians but in methodhistorians, and the second were those who are both in aimand method historians. One of the strengths of the Li-brary, and certainly one of the chief interests it has forme, is the successful way in which it has been able to serveboth groups. This manifestation of the Janus-faced natureof the history of medicine seems to me to be as effectivelyrealized in the Osler Library as in any other history ofmedicine library I know of.

The first way for the Osler Library to become irrelevantwould be to over-emphasize either one of the two groupsof users, sending the other away in search of a differentinstitution. Although different in purpose, the two con-stituencies are closely related and over a long period oftime each would be harmed by a reduction in service tothe other. For example, to drive away the nonhistorianswould mean that the historians would lose an importantaudience for their work. Conversely, to drive away thehistorians would mean that the nonhistorians would havefewer and fewer histories and biographies to read. Anoth-er instance of this delicate balance can be seen in theFriends' support of the Library. Although priII}arilycomposed of nonhistorians, the Friends provide fundsfor the purchase of research material~ that the Librarycould not otherwise afford. It is sometimes difficult andfrustrating to maintain the equilibrium between the two,and the pressures to tip it arise frequently. They mustbe resisted.

The second way the Osler Library could become irrelevantwould be to fail to respond to changes in the medical andhistorical environment in which it exists. Attitudes to-wards Sir William Osler have changed in the sixty yearssince he died. His popularity has waxed at some periodsand at others waned, accordingly increasing or decreasingthe amount of interest given the Osler Library. Likewisethere have been many changes among professional histo-rians since the Library was founded fifty years ago. Newviews towards what constitutes fruitful questions andwhat constitutes historical evidence are the most dramaticof these. The growth of the social sciences, for example,has increased the number of questions which historiansnow consider their responsibility to answer. This in turnhas vastly increased the kinds of evidence which historiansexpect to examine and which now includes city directories,hospital archives, foot-notes and references, and theliterature of unorthodox practitioners such as phrenol-ogists and chiropractors. This is a far cry from fifty yearsago when books, particularly printed ones, were held tobe the chief source of historical evidence. While printedsources are not now and should never be neglected, theyare no longer enough. Historians tend to view their ev-idence as infinite. To collect materials or to offer serviceswhich satisfy the demands of fifty or even twenty-fiveyears ago is to become irrelevant.

A third way for the Osler Library to become irrelevantwould be for its collections to stop growing. Already thisis a serious problem that raises questions about the Li-brary's relevance today. From its beginning the OslerLibrary has relied on the Medical Library as its largestsource of printed books and journals. This is the naturalconsequence of the obsolescence of medical literature,and occurs in all libraries, although most medical li-braries have no historical library complementing them.It has been ten years since the Osler Library has under-taken any large-scale transfers from the Medical Library.

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At that time between four and five thousand volumesprinted before 1850 were transferred. There are nowtwelve thousand volumes of journals and monographsprinted between 1850 and 1899 that ought to be in theOsler Library, since this period is of intense interest tolarge numbers of historians and students. Unfortunately,this huge body of material is not accessible in the OslerLibrary or through its catalogues. In short, an importantamount of historical activity at McGill is being done out-side and away from the Osler Library. Indeed it is not toomuch to say that the McGill Medical Library has one ofthe largest collection of historical materials in Canada,rivalling the Osler Library itself.Another area of collection development where the OslerLibrary could well become irrelevant is in the matter ofmanuscripts and institutional archives. From its begin-ning it has collected the papers of institutions and indi-v~duals and during the past decade the acquisition of suchpapers has increased, reflecting the interest of historiansin nonprinted sources. Most of these materials have comein haphazardly, without a systematic or very aggressivesearch, although they abound in the Montreal and Quebecarea. If the Osler Library does not have the space or staffto add them, they will be lost or wind up in some largerbut less accessible repository.

The fourth way for the Osler Library to become irrelevantwould be by turning itself into a warehouse. It becomes awarehouse when it holds materials which are not fullyaccessible to the people who wish to use them. Earlierin this report I noted Lloyd G. Stevenson's initiative andthe Board's action in the 1960sto overcome the Library'swarehousing of materials, by establishing a programwhereby the Library's holdings were catalogued andclassified consistent with modern library practice. It isdifficult to provide access to printed books and man-uscripts in any historical library. Different types of histo-rians approach the materials in quite different ways.Furthermore, it is hard to find a simple method to encom-pass all the materials since they come from all parts ofthe last thousand years of history. The cataloguing ofbooks and the accessioning of manuscripts are thus com-plex and time-consuming activities. However, it is essen-tial to provide these functions if the existing material is tobe used. It is also clear that we are far behind in the printedbook area. The Osler Library has about six thousandbooks that are uncatalogued. AbolJt two-thirds of themcame to the Library ten years ago in a large transfer fromthe Medical Library. They still sit carefully stored butscarcely accessible. Moreover, there is little or no hopethat these or any other transfers, or any large gifts to theLibrary, will be catalogued.

The easiest way for the Osler Library to become irrelevantwould be for it to choose short-term solutions instead oflong-term ones. Short-term solutions to staffing, to me-diating between the collection and its users, to questionsof space, and to questions of purpose are just that, short-term. They will soon become obsolete and the Libraryirrelevant. There is no substitute for time in developing aresearch collection and the staff to work with it. Short-term solutions that seem to save money but discouragethe retaining of staff members or delay the steady accre-tion of materials are far more expensive in the long runthan retaining a good staff and systematically building acollection.

Questions that require the weighing of long-term gainsversus short-term ones are especially important for theBoard of Curators, I think. It is their continuity as aninstitution, their vision, their rigorous accountability ofthe Osler Librarian, and their preference for long-termrather than short-term survival that will determine wheth-er or not the Osler Library is relevant or even exists fiftyyears from now.

References

1. Marc Bloch, The Historian's Craft (New York:Vintage Books, 1953), p. 86.

2. Ibid.

3. Owsei Temkin, "An essay on the usefulness of medicalhistory for medicine," in The Double Face of Janusand Other Essays in the History of Medicine(Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press,1977), p. 92.

4. Ibid., pp. 25-26.

5. "Minutes of the 30th Meeting of the Curators of theOsler Library," 13 May 1960.

6. "Report of the Librarian to the Curators,"16 May 1938.

7. Diana Crane, Invisible Colleges: Diffusion ofKnowledge in Scientific Communities (Chicago:University of Chicago Press, 1972) p. 8.

8. "Report of the Librarian to the Curators,"5 April 1934.

9. "Report of the Librarian to the Curators,"30 September 1931.

Editorial Committee for the Newsletter: E.H. Bensley, Editor;Philip Teigen, Osler Librarian; Karin Waterhouse, Editorial Assistant.

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Trandek Printing limited! Imprimerie Trandek limittfe, Montreal

Legal Deposit I / 1980ISSN 0085-4557

The initial letter on the first page was produced in 1849 by Wells and

Webb, manufacturer of decorative wood type.

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BETHUNIANA

During recent years, visitors from the People's Republicof China have greatly enriched the Osler Library's holdingsof Bethuniana by a varietyof generous gifts. Last Novem-ber, during a conference in Montreal sponsored by theBethune Foundation (Osler Library Newsletter, October1979), the Library was visited by a delegation whichincluded Dr. Ma Hai-teh (George Hatem), an associateof Bethune and a leader in the battle against venerealdisease in the People's Republic. The delegation furtherenriched our holdings of Bethuniana by the gift of anelegant volume, profusely illustrated, provided with aChinese text, and published this year in memory of NormanBethune. Dr. Ma and his associates also gave the Librarya number of other items relating to the observance by thePeople's Republic of the 40th anniversary of Bethune'sdeath. These comprised copies of Chinese newspapers,Bethune badges, two colourful 1979 postage stampspicturing Bethune, and an attractive Bethune souvenirplate.

Another important contribution to our holdings ofBethuniana has been received from Roderick Stewart,author of Bethune, New Press, Toronto, 1973. Mr.Stewart has given the Osler Library the research materialswhich he collected for use in the writing of his biographyof Norman Bethune. The thanks of our Board of Curatorshave already been offered to Mr. Stewart (Osler LibraryNewsletter, no. 16).

OSLER DAY - 1980

Osler Day this year falls on Wednesday, April 23rd. TheOsler Lecturer is to be Dr. George Wald, Professor ofBiology at Harvard University. Dr. Wald is a Nobellau-reate, having been the co-recipient of the Prize in Medicineand Physiology in 1967. His lecture will be entitled "Lifein a lethal society."

Other events of Osler Day are the annual meeting of theBoard of Curators of the Osler Library in the morningand the Osler Banquet in the evening. Dr. Wald will bethe honoured guest at the Banquet and will respond toquestions from the floor about his Osler Lecture deliveredthat afternoon.

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THE DANISH OSLER CLUB

For several years, one of the regular and generous contri-butors to the Friends of the Osler Library has been theDanish Osler Club. It occurred to the Editorial Committeeof the Newsletter that readers might like to know some-thing of the origins and activities of this Club. The fol-lowing information was supplied by one of its memberswho asked that he be designated only as E. S. The Clubwas founded in 1973 by a few physicians, dentists, andpharmacists, interested in medical books and book-collecting. There are now about 30 members who meetvery informally once a year at various places in Denmark.Each meeting is devoted to a topic in the fields of thehistory of medicine and science. The Club honours "thememory of Sir William Osler and his bibliophilic ideals"and meets, when possible, on Osler's birthday.

E. Y.DAVIS- AGAIN

"Old soldiers never die; they only fade away," accord-ing to an army ballad of World War One. It would seemthat old soldier Egerton ¥ orrick Davis (ex. U.S. Army)never dies or fades away. He continues to contributeletters to medical journals and his immortality is furtherassured by his classic contribution to the literature onvaginismus (Medical News, Philadelphia, December 13,1884). Recently notice has again been taken of this contri-bution in an article entitled "Penis captivus- did it occur?"published in the British Medical Journal of October 20,1979. The author, F. Kraupl Taylor, does not cite theMedical News article as a reference. He instead statesthat Kisch, in his Sexual Life of Women, "mentions anaccount [of penis captivus] by a medical man calledDavis, not otherwise identified, ... ." Quite clearly the"medical man" was indeed Osler's friend and colleague,E. ¥. D.

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1979-80 CONTRIBUTORS TO THE

FRIENDS OF THE OSLER LIBRARY

The Library gratefully acknowledges the support it received from Friends both old and new who have responded to the appeal for funds forthe 1979-80 academic year. To date 188 Friends have contributed a total of $6,355. The names of Friends whose contributions are receivedafter December 31, 1979 will be listed in the June issue.

L.J. Adams, Montreal, PQt K.B. Andras, Toronto, ONt W.S. Atkinson, Watertown, NY (bequest)

G.F. Bacon, Moraga, CAJ.e. Ball, SI. Catherines, ONH.e. Bailon, Montreal, PQ.J.A. Barondess, New York, NY.R. Barr, Montreal, PQD.G. Bates, Montreal, PQW. Baumgarten, Jr., SI. Louis, MO.W.B. Bean, Galveston, TXW.K. Beatty, Evanston, ILJ. Beaudoin, Quebec, PQI.A. Beck, East Providence, RIBedriftslege Arvid Vatle, Stord, Norway.R.W. Bell, Salmon Arm, BCE.H. Bensley, Montreal, PQR.S. Berry, Tweed, ONW.L. Birkett, Montreal, PQ

t S. W. Boone, Presque Isle, ME.F. Braun, Bellingham, WA.H. Burchell, SI. Paul, MNF. Cantero, Montreal, PQE.T. Carlson, New York, NYG.S.T. Cavanagh, Durham, NCT. W. Challis, Kingston, ON

t G.A. Cole, Rochester, MND.L. Collins, San Diego, CAR.V. Colpitts, Houston, TXH.M. Constantin, Worcester, MA.R.F.P. Cronin, Montreal, PQD. Davidson, Burlington, ON

. F.A. Davis, Langley, BCR.B. Davis, Omaha, NEE. Desjardins, Montreal, PQ

. J.P. Dewar, Carefree, AZ+ J. Diner, Montreal, PQ

W.R. Dorsey, Beverly, MA.J.e. Douglas, Montreal, PQ.F.E. Dugdale, Branford, CTP.G. Dyment, Cleveland, OH

t M.A. Entin, Montreal, PQ.e.M. Feindel, London, ONt W. Feindel, Montreal, PQ

J.P. Finley, Halifax, NSJ.e. Fisher, La Jolla, CAH.B. Fletcher, Sherbrooke, PQ (in memoriam)R.A. Forse, Montreal, PQF. Forster, Victoria, Australia.R.A. Fortuine, Washington, DC

t S.O. Freedman, Montreal, PQ.L.P. Fulton, Harnden, CTP. H. Futcher, Philadelphia, PA.W.B. Fye, Marshfield, WIJ.M. Gawoski, Arlinj(ton, MAH.W. Gillen, Wilmington, NC

t S.A. Gillespie, London, ONP. Gloor, Montreal, PQP. Gold, Montreal, PQM.S. Goldstein, Highland Park, ILJ. T. Goodrich, Englewood, NJW.E. Goodwin, Los Angeles, CAS.H. Gottlieb. Baltimore, MDW.B. Gough, Solihull, England

t W.F. Gough. Drummondville, PQ. B.F. Graham, Montreal, PQ

G.S. Granger, Montreal, PQ.P. Greig, Ottawa, ONF.N. Gurd, Ottawa, ONe. Hamann, Baltimore, MDP.J.S. Hamilton, Port of Spain, TrinidadE.O. Hampson, Ottawa, ON.J. Hanaway, Webster Groves, MDG.T. Harrell, Timonium, MD.H.A. Heggtveit, Ottawa, ONJ. W. Hickman, Tampa, FL.S. Hinohara, Tokyo, Japan.History of McGill Project, Montreal, PQF.D. Hoeniger, Toronto, ON.K.G. Huston, Los Angeles, CAB. Hyams, Montreal. PQ.R.W. Hyde, Las Vegas, NVM. Ivey, Jr., Payson, AZS. W. Jackson, New Haven, CTe.H. Johnston, Los Angeles, CAO.N. Jones, Portland, ORE.D. Joseph, Scarsdale, NYA. Kelen, Ormstown, PQM.F. Kelen, Ormstown, PQA. R. Kerr, Jacksonville, FL.R.A.H. Kinch, Montreal, PQ.D.G. Kinnear, Montreal, PQD.G. Lawrence, Montreal. PQe.P. Leblond, Montreal, PQS. leBlond, Sillery, PQ.S.S. Lee, Montreal, PQ

J. Levitan, Montreal, PQ. J.A. Lewis, London, ON. Lister Hill Library, Birmingham, AL

J.E. McAuley, Hartley Wintney, EnglandD.W. MacEwan, Winnipeg, MB

t J.P. McGovern, Houston, TXL.e. McHenry, Jr., Winston-Salem, NCF.e. Macintosh, Montreal, PQH.E. MacMahon, Cambridge, MAR.E. McMahon, La Crosse, WI

t D. W. MacMillan, Los Angeles, CAW.K. MacMillan, Nepean, ON.F.L. McNaughton, Montreal, PQD.E. McPherson, New York, NYW. McShane, Brampton, ONJ.J. Massarelli, Worcester, MAE.F. Mauer, Los Angeles, CAW. d'A. Maycock, Watford, EnglandMayo Clinic Periodicals, Rochester. MNE. Meyerhoff, New York, NYJ. Miller, Montreal, PQR. Moes, Los Angeles. CA.J.F. Muirhead. San Rafael, CAM. Nathanson, New Hyde Park, NY.E.F. Nation, Pasadena, CAA. Nicholls, London, ON.R.T. O'Kell. Kansas City, MOP.D. Olch, Bethesda, MDR. Oseasohn, Montreal, PQ.E.B. Osler, Winnipeg, MBD.M. O'Sullivan, Victoria, AustraliaH. Oxorn, Ottawa, ONW.D. Parsons, SI. John's, NFJ. Patrick, Montreal, PQ

t P.A. Peterson, Salt Lake City, UT.I.J. Pincus, Beverly Hills, CA.J.D.E. Price, Vancouver, BCR.H. Prince, Montreal, PQS.X. Radbill, Merion, PAH. Rakatansky, Providence, RIH.A. Raphael, Sherman Oaks, CA

t P. Redpath, Montreal, PQ (in memoriam)M.A. Revere, Chestnut Hill, MA

t H.R. Robertson, Mountain, ONB.H. Robinow, Hamilton, ONJ.B. Roche, Sydney, AustraliaA.E. Rodin, Xenia, OH.e.G. Roland, Hamilton, ONH.J. Rosen, Montreal, PQN.P. Rosman, Newton, MA.M. Roxanas, Eastwood, AustraliaM.K. Russel, Montreal, PQM.H. Saffron, New York, NYE.P. Scarlett, Calgary, ABR. Schlaeger, New York, NY.J. B. Scriver, Montreal, PQ

t H.N. Segall, Montreal, PQP. Sekelj, Montreal, PQ

t J.e. Sharp, Jr., Corpus Christi, TX.H. Sheldon, Montreal, PQR.T. Shields, Jr., Staunton, VAJ. L. Shugar, Ottawa, ONS.A. Siegal, Oceanside, NY.E.K. Smith, Reno, NVK.e. Smith, South Lake Tahoe, CA.T.L. Sourkes, Montreal, PQ.W.B. Spaulding, Dundas, ON.D.H. Starkey, Montreal. PQ.R.A. Starrs, Ottawa, ONF.M. Swaine, Belleville, ON.H.L. Tanenbaum, Montreal, PQG.T. Tanselle, New York, NY

t P.M. Teigen, Montreal, PQ.M. Terrin, Baltimore, MDB.E. Thomas, N. Palm Beach. FL.W.D. Tigertt, Baltimore, MDR.e. Tilghman, Baltimore, MDS.R. Townsend, Montreal, PQW.W. Tucker, Denver, COUniversity of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center Library,Oklahoma City, OK

S. Wachter, Bronx, NYG.e. Walsh, Vancouver, BCO.H. WangenSleen, Minneapolis, MNE.B. Wells. Alexandria, VAJ.W. Weryho, Montreal, PQW.A. Whitelaw, Calgary, AB

. F.M. Wiegand, Montreal, PQB.R. Wilcox, Chapel Hill, NCWilliam Boyd Library, Toronto, ONH. Williams, Baltimore, MDW.K. Kellogg Health Sciences Library, Halifax, NS

t Patron.Supporting Friend- 8 -