Facades and Fashions in Medical Architecture and the Texture of the Urban Landscape

This evening is an introduction to the architectural remains of medical care in the city. While many sites of New York’s medical history have been lost, especially interiors and equipment that we can no longer view except through images, New Yorkers are fortunate that our streets still present lively remnants of the past. History professor Bert Hansen will place numerous NYC sites into the main chapters of medical development for the last 200 years. The lecture invites everyone to wander the city with new eyes for medical heritage. 

This lecture is an optional introduction to places Hansen will share with tour groups on the following two Saturdays (May 13 and May 20). The lecture and the two tours are all complementary, but each event is independent and complete in itself. To join the Friends of the Rare Book Room please click here.

About the Speaker

Bert Hansen, Professor Emeritus of History at Baruch College of CUNY, has been teaching the history of science and medicine since 1974. He holds a bachelor's degree in chemistry from Columbia and a PhD in history of science from Princeton. His 2009 book Picturing Medical Progress from Pasteur to Polio: A History of Mass Media Images and Popular Attitudes in America was honored by the American Library Association and the Popular Culture Association. His recent articles explore the connections between Louis Pasteur and the art world of 19th-century Paris. 

Professor Hansen is a long-time Friend of the Rare Book Room of The New York Academy of Medicine Library and a member of the Library Advisory Committee.