Civil War Surgeon General's library and
publications by the Medical Department
SURGEON GENERAL JOSEPH K. BARNES
Dr. Barnes, who had been in the Army
since 1840, was appointed Surgeon General on August 22, 1864. He
retained, with few exceptions, the same standard medical books chosen by
his predecessor for distribution to the medical staff, but early on
during the War, the Surgeon General directed this list of books
purchased and sent out to the hospitals and medical staff. This
list, published in the
article
by W. Miles on the Library of the Surgeon
General's Office, does
NOT represent ALL text books purchased by the Surgeon General's office
for distribution on the behalf of the Medical Department. Many
other books are seen with Medical Department imprinting on the outside
of the book indicating the Medical Department ordered the book from the
publisher.
-
1840 "A Catalogue of the Books
in the Library of the Surgeon General's Office" is compiled.
-
1862 Circular No. 2 establishes
the AMM on May 21.
-
1862 Riggs Bank is first home.
Brinton is curator.
-
1863 AMM moves to Pennsylvania Ave
location. Catalog is issued.
-
1863 AMM moves to Corcoran School
House on H st.
-
1864 George Otis is second
curator.
-
1864 The first printed
catalogue is issued.
-
1865 The second printed
catalogue is issued.
-
1865 Surgeon General Barnes places
John Shaw Billings in charge of the library, a position he would hold
for thirty years.
The
numbers on the left are the number copies of these text books and
manuals which were purchased during the early part of the War, but these
are not the only books ordered, MANY MORE BOOKS WERE ORDERED DURING THE
LATER YEARS OF THE WAR.
7,317 Bumstead on Venereal Diseases,
5,370 Erichsen's
Surgery,
4,850 The
Dispensatory of the United
States,
3,895 Power's
Surgical Anatomy,
3,442 Gray's
Anatomy,
3,254 Watson's
Practice of Medicine,
3,251 Stephen Smith's
Principles of
Surgery,
3,239 Woodward's
Hospital Steward's
Manual,
3,100 Parkes'
Hygiene,
2,671 Sargent's
Minor Surgery,
1,905 Dunglison's
Medical Dictionary,
1,640 Fowne's
Chemistry,
1,542 Bennett s
Practice of Medicine,
1,412 Dalton's
Physiology,
1,333 Parrish's
Pharmacy.
1,237 Hartshorn's
Principles of
Medicine,
1,178 Longmore's
Gunshot Wounds,
1,062
Beck's Jurisprudence,
1,024 Stille's
Therapeutics,
and lesser quantities of Webster's
English Dictionary, McLeod's Surgical Notes, Virchow's
Pathology, Jones' Diseases of the Eye, Bedford's Mid-wifery,
Toynbee's Diseases of the Ear, Wilson's Diseases of the
Skin, and Guthrie's Commentaries
Additional research
regarding American Civil War medical libraries
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