The rare book collections of the Edward G. Miner Library date from the very beginnings of the School of Medicine (est. 1925) when George W. Corner (1889-1981), chairman of the Dept of Anatomy (and chair of the Library Committee), coaxed a local surgeon to establish a fund for the acquistion of historically important books for the new Medical Library. Over the next fourteen years Corner personally supervised the selection of titles for the history of medicine collection. During the economic crisis of the 1930s, Corner took advantage of the depressed antiquarian book market to acquire more than 1,000 titles, laying the foundation of a collection that the Miner Library has continued to support for more than seventy-five years.
The rare book holdings of the Edward G. Miner Library are comprised of some 15,000 titles in all fields of medicine, dentistry and nursing published between the late 15th century and 1950. Rare books that are not part of one of our special subject collections are part of the General Rare Book Collection. Researchers will find the basic works in almost any medical specialty represented in the collection. It does include, however, specific subject strengths. The collection is very strong, for example, in 16th-20th century obstetrics and gynecology. The collection also includes an important anatomical component. George W. Corner, M.D., the first chairman of the Dept. of Anatomy, was avid in acquiring for the Medical Library early printed anatomies. As a result, the Miner Library has an outstanding collection of pre-1800 anatomical books and atlases that includes works by such authors as Mondino dei Luzzi, Berengario da Carpi, Charles Estienne, Andreas Vesalius, Realdo Colombo, Giulio Casseri, Fabricius ab Aquapendente, Govard Bidloo, B.S. Albinus, Jan L'Admiral, Antonio Scarpa, Felix Vicq-d'Azyr, Paolo Mascagni, S.T. Soemmerring, etc.
Although there was probably never an incidence of yellow fever in Rochester or the Genesee Valley, the Miner Library is the repository for one of the nation's finest collections on this subject. The Yellow Fever Collection consists of nearly 600 titles published between 1741 and 1915 that fully represent the development of medical thought on the disease, i.e., the confusion of 18th-century physicians confronted with a new and deadly malady, the debates between contagionists and non-contagionists during the 19th century, early attempts to identify a bacterial pathogen, and the consequences of Reed's discovery of a mosquito vector. The occurence of yellow fever in the Caribbean, the Middle Atlantic States, the Mississippi Valley and several European ports is abundantly documented.
In 1990 the Miner Library published An Annotated Catalog of the Miner Yellow Fever Collection, describing the 415 titles then in the collection. Copies of this ninety-five page catalog are available (gratis) from the Rare Books & Manuscripts Section.
The Cholera Collection consists of more than 600 books and pamphlets published during the 19th century. Given the global range of cholera's many outbreaks, it is not surprising that the collection is strong not only in English language materials, but in French, German, Dutch and Italian literature on cholera as well. More than half this collection remains uncataloged, and thus it is not fully accessible on WorldCat or on Voyager, the University of Rochester's bibliographic database.
In the autumn of 1994, Edward C. Atwater, M.D. made the Miner Library the respository for his personal collection of books, periodicals, pamphlets, almanacs, trade cards, printed ephemera and manuscript material pertaining to American "popular medicine." The Atwater Collection not only includes materials written for a lay audience on the self-diagnosis and treatment of disease, but manuals providing advice on personal hygiene (i.e.,, diet, exercise, rest, bathing, etc.); sexual physiology and hygiene; sexual ethics; eugenics; contraceptive practice; the management of pregnancy and labor; infant care; the consumption of alcohol and tobacco; medical botany; juvenile textbooks on physiology and hygiene; first aid, etc. Much of this literature was written by physicians for the lay public, and much of it by authors vehemently opposed to the medical profession. Much was also generated by members of the alternative schools of medical practice that flourished during the 19th century, including Thomsonians, eclectics, homeopaths, hydropaths, naturopaths, etc. In addition, the Atwater Collection includes thousands of printed pieces advertising the proprietary medicines, therapies and devices marketed to the American public throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries.
The Atwater Collection presently numbers more than 7,000 titles. This collection is fully cataloged and is accessible through OCLC's WorldCat and through Voyager, the University of Rochester's bibliographic database. An invaluable guide to the Atwater Collection (and to the literature of American popular medicine generally) is provided in An Annotated Catalogue of the Edward C. Atwater Collection of American Popular Medicine and Health Reform published in two volumes by the University of Rochester Press. The first volume of this alphabetically arranged catalog (Authors A-L) was published in 2001; the second volume (Authors M-Z) was published in 2004. A third and supplemental volume (Authors A-Z) is in preparation.
Russell Plato Schwartz, M.D. (1892-1965) spent the greater part of his career as an orthopod and researcher on the mechanisms and problems of human gait at the University of Rochester Medical Center. During this period Dr. Schwartz also collected historically significant books on orthopedics. Upon his death, the Schwartz Collection was left as a bequest to the Dept. of Orthopaedics, which in turn presented it to the Miner Libary. The collection numbers some 500 titles and includes classic texts by such authors as Wm. Adams, Albee, Andry de Bois-Regard, H.J. Bigelow, Boyer, Dieffenbach, R. Jones, W.J. Little, A. Lorenz, Lovett, Marey, J.L. Petit, Pott, Sayre, H.O. Thomas, etc. This collection is not to be confused with The Papers of R. Plato Schwartz, M.D., a faculty manuscript collection in our archives.
Basil Glover Bibby (1904-1998) was director of the Eastman Dental Center (EDC) from 1947 to 1970. During the course of two decades, Dr. Bibby actively acquired historically significant books in the field of dentistry, oral medicine and oral surgery for the EDC library. When the EDC merged with the University of Rochester Medical Center in 1997, the Basil G. Bibby Library became part of the Edward G. Miner Library, and its rare books holdings were transferred to the latter’s Rare Books & Manuscripts section for improved security and bibliographic control.
The Basil G. Bibby Collection in Dentistry includes many of the classics of dental literature, from Eustachi’s 1563 Libellus de dentibus to the works of Pierre Fauchard, A.L.B. Jourdain, Joseph Fox, Samuel Sheldon Fitch, Thomas Bell, Richard Owen, A.M. Desirabode, C.A. Harris, Robert Arthur, J.E. Garretson, Jonathan Taft, etc. In addition to some 500 monographic titles, the Bibby Collection includes more than twenty 19th- and early 20th-century dental periodicals.
There are some 600 titles in the Rare Medical Periodicals Collection. When the Medical Library was established in 1925, the faculty committee that directed the Library went to great efforts to obtain as many 19th- and early 20th-century foreign language periodicals as could be obtained on the European market. The result was the formation of an outstanding collection of German, French and Italian medical periodicals. The majority of these titles began publication in the 19th century, but some date from as early as the 18th century. The collection is as strong in its European holdings as it is American and English medical periodicals.
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