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John Fulton in
the Historical Library with British historian of medicine, F. N. L. PoynterFulton’s
office was opposite the offices of the Historical Library. |
 John Fulton and F.N.L. Poynter |
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Madeline E. Stanton, Harvey Cushing’s Secretary at Peter Bent Brigham Hospital since the 1920s who came with him to Yale in 1933, knew all the founders and benefactors in this exhibit very well. From the outset of the Historical Library, although her title was Secretary, the legendary “Miss Stanton,” the Lady of the Books, was effectively in charge. Named Librarian of the Yale Medical Historical Collections in 1949, Stanton carried on the legacy of the founders with energy, devotion, bibliographical skill, and an intimate knowledge of the collection, until her retirement in 1968 and beyond. She could not see the point of a retirement party when she was coming back to work as a volunteer the next week. This photograph probably dates from the 1940s. |
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| Madeline Stanton in the Historical Library office. |  Madeline Earle Stanton |
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 Madeline Stanton Fund bookplate 5 x 8 cm |
Bookplate of the Madeline Stanton Fund,
used to purchase current books for the Historical Library.
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| Ferenc Gyorgyey came to the Historical Library as a cataloguer of rare books
under Madeline Stanton. When Miss Stanton retired in 1968, Frank began a twenty-six
year tenure as Historical Librarian. Frank, who still visits regularly, is known
for his vast knowledge of the collection and of rare books in general, his great
generosity in assisting patrons, and his wonderful sense of humor.
This photograph appeared in Yale Medicine in 1979. Courtesy of Yale Medicine. |
 Ference Gyorgyey Historical Librarian, 1968-1994 |
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 Toby Anita Appel Historical Librarian, 1994-2004 John Robinson Bumstead Librarian for Medical History, 2004-2010 |
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| We know very little about John R. Bumstead, who, by his will, donated the funds to the Medical Library that are being used to endow the Historical Librarian position. He was the only child of John H. and Katherine MacAlister Bumstead and had no children of his own. His interest in the Medical Library probably derived from his father, a prominent New Haven internist associated with the Yale School of Medicine. Enjoying considerable wealth, probably through inheritance, the younger Bumstead retired by about the age of 40. For about twenty years, he served as a regular volunteer, managing government documents at the library of Mystic Seaport. With people he knew well, he was known as a fine storyteller – he had loved acting when he was a student. Bumstead resided in Hamden before moving to Madison in 1985. In addition to the bequest to the Medical Library, he left major donations to St. Thomas Church in New Haven and to Mystic Seaport. | ||
John H. Bumstead was a well-known and highly esteemed New Haven clinician, an Associate Clinical Professor of Medicine in the Yale University School of Medicine and an Assisting Physician in the Yale University Health Department. A native of New Haven, where his father taught physics at Yale, Bumstead graduated from Yale College in 1919 and took his M.D. at Johns Hopkins in 1923. After his internship and residency at New Haven Hospital, he opened a very successful practice in internal medicine in New Haven. In World War II, he served as a lieutenant-colonel with the Yale Medical Unit (39th General Hospital) and was awarded the bronze cross. Dr. Bumstead is especially remembered for his pivotal role in the first use of penicillin in America at New Haven Hospital in March 1942. Bumstead was the physician of 33-year old Ann Miller, wife of Ogden Miller, Sr., the Yale athletic director. Following a miscarriage, Mrs. Miller developed a life- threatening streptococcal infection. Neither transfusions, surgery, nor sulfa drugs helped. Her fever had reached between 104 and 106.5 degrees for 11 days in a row when Bumstead, in desperation, visited his friend and patient, John F. Fulton, who was also in the hospital, and asked for help in obtaining penicillin through Fulton’s long association with Howard Florey. Fulton was able to arrange for a small amount of the new drug to be sent by the Merck plant in New Jersey. It arrived on Saturday, March 14 and was administered that day. By the next morning, Mrs. Miller’s temperature was normal. Under the continued care of Dr. Bumstead, Mrs. Miller made a complete recovery and lived until the age of 90. The original of this oil portrait, painted by S.L. Abbott, is located one flight down in the Medical Library. |
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 John H. Bumstead Book Fund bookplate 10 x 7 cm |
Frederick Kilgour, director of the Medical Library, announced the creation by the Library Associates of the John H. Bumstead Memorial Fund in 1958. A special bookplate was designed. Over one hundred of his colleagues, friends, and former patients contributed. The fund is used for purchasing current books for the Medical Library. | |
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