Weill Cornell Medical Center under construction. Photograph by Sigurd Fischer, c. 1932.
Medical Center Archives of New York-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell is pleased to become a contributor to the Medical Heritage Library. A digitization micro-grant from the Metropolitan New York Library Council (METRO) has funded the digitization of historical annual reports from both the New York Hospital and the Lying-in Hospital of the City of New York, as well as announcements from the Weill Cornell Medical College, and the now-defunct Cornell University-New York Hospital School of Nursing.
New York Hospital reports from 1834 to 1962, and Medical College announcements from 1898 through 1960 are already online. Reports from the Lying-in Hospital and announcements from the School of Nursing will be added soon.
The New York Hospital (now New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell) was chartered in 1771. As the oldest hospital in New York City, its history is bound with the city’s history. The Annual Reports are thus an invaluable resource for studying the history of health care, as well as social history, treatment of immigrants and the poor, and the social and architectural development of New York City. Reports of the Lying-in Hospital illustrate the history of women’s health care, and document changes over time in practices surrounding labor and delivery. They are a resource for demographic studies, as the reports present aggregate data on details such as the national origins and occupations of patients.
Weill Cornell Medical College has an equally rich heritage. Early faculty included prominent New York physicians such as Lewis Atterbury Stimson and founding donor Oliver Hazard Payne. It was among the first medical schools in the United States to admit women on an equal basis with men. The Medical College Announcements document developments and changes in medical education throughout the 20th century, such as those brought on by the Flexner Report of 1910, and the post-war expansion of bio-medical research.
The School of Nursing was founded in 1877 as the New York Hospital Training School for Nurses. It became Cornell University-New York Hospital School of Nursing in 1942. Many of its faculty went on to become leaders in the field of nursing. The announcements are a resource for studying women’s history, the history of health care, and nursing education in New York.