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Founders and Early Benefactors
Historical Librarians and Benefactors
John
Farquhar Fulton |
Of the three founders who agreed to
combine their collections to form the basis of the Historical Library, only John
Fulton, younger by a generation, was on hand to oversee the project through. Fulton oversaw the Historical Library as
head of an Advisory Committee, in addition to serving as Sterling Professor of
Physiology. In 1949, when both the General Medical Library and the Historical
Library came under a single director, Fulton took the title Keeper of the
Medical History Collections. It was at this time that Yale’s medical books were
transferred to the Medical Library from Sterling Memorial Library (the journals
had already been transferred). Fulton became Sterling Professor of the History of Medicine in 1951.
John Fulton was photographed in this rotunda showing Vesalius editions to a
guest. This photo was taken for the New Haven Register in 1948. |
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 |
Madeline
Earle Stanton
Secretary of the Historical Library, 1939-1949 Librarian of the Historical Collections,
1949-1968 |
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. |
| Madeline Stanton in the Historical Library office. |
Madeline
Earle Stanton |
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 |
Toby Anita Appel
Historical Librarian, 1994-2004
John Robinson Bumstead Librarian for Medical History, 2004-
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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
Henry Bumstead
1897-1957
Father of John Robinson Bumstead |
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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