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Historical Collections hosts two series of public events: the public lecture series sponsored by the Section on the History of Medicine and Public Health, and public programs related to exhibits in the Library's Main Reading Room. Unless noted, events are free and open to the public, and lectures begin at 6:00 PM, with refreshments available at 5:30 PM. CME credit is available for some of the lectures sponsored by the Section on the History of Medicine and Public Health; advance registration for section events is requested but not required.

Contact Miriam Mandelbaum, Curator of Rare Books and Manuscripts, at 212.822.7310 for a current exhibit schedule. For further information about medical history programs at the Academy, please call Christian Warren, PhD, at 212.822.7314 or email history@nyam.org

Thumbs Up: A Celebration of the Development of Hand Surgery and the Work of J. William Littler will be on display from May 5 - July 3, 2008 in the President's Gallery and the Main Reading Room.

This exhibit celebrates the work of J. William Littler, M.D. (1915-2005), one of the most renowned hand surgeons in the United States. A Fellow of the New York Academy of Medicine, Dr. Littler received his medical degree from the Duke University Medical School in 1942, interned in plastic surgery at Johns Hopkins the next year, and entered the U.S. Army in 1943 as a Captain with the 60th Field Hospital. He was promoted to the rank of Major before the war's end while treating the wounded at Cushing General Hospital. Dr. Littler went on to found the hand surgery unit at Roosevelt Hospital. He trained and mentored at least two successive generations of hand surgeons. The inspiration for the exhibit was the gift of Dr. Littler's papers to the Malloch Rare Book Room by Joyce Jones Wells, his long-time secretary and friend.

A gifted artist, Dr. Littler honed his skills as both an artist and a physician during World War II, when he began to focus on the hand and its reconstruction. His notebooks are filled with copious notes and drawings in which he worked and reworked the problems of hand reconstruction occasioned by the traumas of the battlefield as well as the accidents and traumas of birth and daily life. What emerges from even a brief perusal of these remarkable documents is the profile of a man of immense compassion who utilized his artistic talents, erudition, experience, and expertise to perfect and advance his surgical specialty.

ONLINE EXHIBIT

Click here to visit our online exhibit, A Telling of Wonders: Teratology in Western Medicine through 1800.

2007-2008 LECTURE SERIES

The 2007-2008 lecture series is over. Check back during the summer for information about the 2008-2009 series as it becomes available.

For information about past lectures in this series, click here.