It is with great sorrow that I report that Kathryn Hammond Baker passed away on Tuesday, November 17, after a prolonged illness. As so many of you know, Kathryn was remarkable, deeply invested in the Countway and its audiences as a whole, as well as with the role of libraries and archives more broadly. She had been a beloved teacher at Simmons College, and a Past President of New England Archivists.
At the Countway, she had been responsible for developing the Harvard Medical School records management program, and for catalyzing the development of the Archives for Women in Medicine, well before I arrived at the Center for the History of Medicine (CHOM) in 2006. Upon becoming deputy director of CHOM, Kathryn’s energy and intelligence transformed our center, whether in advancing our acquisitions, cataloging, and educational programs, or in developing such collaborations as the online Medical Heritage Library (whose governance committee she chaired), through which millions of users worldwide have accessed the Center’s collections. She was largely responsible for our receiving multiple grants – from the Sloan Foundation, the Council on Library and Information Resources, and the National Endowment for the Humanities – that enabled us to extend the reach of our program and to enable the history of medicine to inform contemporary medicine and society. Perhaps most importantly, she developed a remarkable team at CHOM, whose ongoing important work is a tribute to her sincere investment in their education and efforts.
Not only was Kathryn smart, strategic, and funny, but she was the most stoic person I’ve ever met. She was private about her illness, but that paralleled her long refusal to allow it to interfere with her work. She was truly inspirational, and will be deeply, deeply missed.