« OIOSS COLLBCTIOW IK 5BE 
ARMY poacss MEDICAL LIBRAS* """The Picture Collection 
in the Army Medical Library 
By Miss H.H. Cambell 
from I 
Bulletin of the Medical || 
Library Assn., vol.37, no.ill 
January 1949 The Picture Collection In The Army 
Medical Library 
By Helen Homans Cambell, Registrar, 
Art Section, Army Medical Library 
THE Army Medical Library Picture Collection, begun many years 
ago, is now being re-cataloged and developed, in order that it may be 
of greater use to those seeking pictorial material on medicine and on 
people associated with medicine. 
At present the collection consists of some 15,000 items, chiefly prints 
and photographs, including over 12,000 portraits of medical men of all ages 
and countries. 
Nearly all the great names in the history of medicine are represented 
in this portrait collection. For example, there are likenesses of such noted 
men of the past as Aristotle, Galen, Guy de Chauliac, Hippocrates, and 
Harvey, to pick at tandom some of the earlier names; as well as those of a 
later date such as Billings, Currie, Darwin, Pasteur, Reed, and many others. 
There are also to be found portraits of little known subjects, and certain 
rare prints, which may be just what some research scholar is seeking. One 
individual is often portrayed by various engravers, in different media 
(woodcut, etching, lithograph, etc.), in different poses, and at various ages 
—sometimes as many as 15 to 30 likenesses of a single subject. The catalog 
gives details about each print, including full name, dates if possible, medium 
and inscription, brief description of subject, size (if oversize), and identifi- 
cation number. 
Besides these portraits in prints and photographs, the Army Medical 
Library has a collection of over 30 large portraits in oil, most of which hang 
in the .reading room. An article entitled, “A Portrait Gallery of Physicians” 
by Colonel Harold W. Jones, first published in 1937, in Annals of Medical 
Historydescribes the portraits of such physicians as Joseph K. Barnes, 
John Shaw Billings (painted by Cecilia Beaux), Fielding Garrison, 
William Gorgas (by Alexander James), Philip Syng Physick (by Benjamin 
West), and others who “have done something in the world ” 
A series of 19th Century caricatures of “Men of the Day,” from 
Vanity Fair, published by Vincent Brooks, Day & Son, represent the clever 
1 Jones, Harold W. A portrait gallery of physicians. Ann. Med. Hist., 9: 517-532, 
1937. 
52 53 
THE PICTURE COLLECTION IN THE ARMY MEDICAL LIBRARY 
work of the cartoonists Spy, Ape, Quiz, Imp, Ray, and Stuff, in mimicking 
great doctors of that period. 
„ • 
There are ovci 300 medical caricatures, chiefly French and English, 
depicting miseries of human life, quackery, mesmerism, facial distortions 
(grimaces), customs of the time, ridicule of the doctor, etc. The carica- 
tures are for the most part hand-colored lithographs and etchings—by artists 
like Boilly, Cruikshank, Daumier, Hogarth, and Rowlandson, to mention 
the best. 
Among the medical subjects, the following categories may be mention- 
ed : illustrations of operating techniques, of effects of diseases; diagramma- 
tic and cutaway illustrations of the anatomic structure of the human body; 
“fugitive sheets”; early woodcuts; a 17th century broadside entitled Dance 
of Death by Altenbach; photostat of the 16th century broadside Map of 
Mortalite in the Huntington Library; pictures of medical institutions, 
medical instruments and apparatus; pictorial records of medical work during 
the Civil War (including lithographs in color by Charles Magnus and 
photographs by Matthew Brady), the Spanish-American War, and World 
Wars I and II; posters, maps, and charts. 
As an historical record of medicine, the picture collection offers 
material not readily available elsewhere. The operations required to catalog 
the pictures, such as editing captions, deciphering the terms and abbrevia- 
tions used on early prints, identifying the names of engravers, and establish- 
ing correct name entries, require a considerable amount of research, even 
for a person well acquainted in the field of art. 
The Army Medical Library Manual (arranged under 14 different 
headings) covers the operations followed in the Art Section. In many 
instances these procedures may be practical help in cataloging and servicing 
other collections of similar pictorial material. The following quotations 
are taken from the Manual: 
Scope of the Art Section 
The Art Section will include all varieties of pictorial material 
(oil paintings, watercolors, sculpture, prints, photographs, carica- 
tures, cartoons, posters, broadsides, maps, charts, negatives, cuts, 
slides, etc.) relating to the field of medical science and to persons 
associated with medicine. 
Posters, advertisements, etc., which arc not of artistic or 
historic value, but which arc to be preserved, will be processed as 
“boxed material” in the general collection. 54 
In addition to its art books, the Section will contain also such 
reference books as are required for its work. 
The catalogs of the Section will provide an index to the 
materials in the Art Section and to related material located 
elsewhere. 
HELEN HOMANS CAMBELL 
General outline of work 
Receiving 
a. New material will be examined for suitability of inclu- 
sion in collection. 
b. If unsuitable, (i. e. substandard in physical form or 
outside the scope of the collection) the material will be segregated, 
pending decision to discard or replace. 
c. If suitable, the pictures will be searched to determine 
which are duplicates (these will be segregated pending exchange). 
d. Non-duplicates will be sorted roughly by type of material 
and counted. 
Recording 
a. Information about each picture w’ill be added to prelim- 
inary work card. A sample is given below: 
PORTRAIT: 
MEDIUM: 
DATE: 
POSE: 
NOTES: 55 
b. A temporary identification number will be assigned to 
the picture and added to its card record. 
c. Identification labels will be prepared by typist from work 
cards. 
d. Cards will be filed. 
THE PICTURE COLLECTION IN THE ARMY MEDICAL LIBRARY 
Mounting of pictures 
General 
Pictures will be cleaned and repaired by the Binding Studio 
at the time they are mounted. 
Picture mounts will measure 11W' x 15Vi" and 14" x 18". 
As each picture is mounted its temporary identification 
number will be pencilled lightly on mount. The picture label will 
be pasted on back of mount in upper left corner and stamped with 
special AML stamp. 
Photographs 
a. Photographs will be pasted on four edges when there is 
no factual information on the back of the picture. A name not 
in the autograph of the subject will not be regarded as factual 
information if the picture is autographed* on the front. In the 
absence of an autograph, a name on the back will be preserved 
and any additional information regarding the person pictured 
will also be preserved. 
b. Whenever there is information oa the back of the picture 
which must be preserved, the picture will be hinged either at the 
top or at the side, 
c. Information which may accompany a portrait will be 
pasted on the back of the mount. 
d. Portraits on heavy mounts, or so large that mounting is 
unnecessary, will be preserved “as is.” 
Prints 
a. Prints will be tipped on mount at top edges of prints. 
b. The finest prints will be mounted with hinged face mat 
and hinged at top to back of mount with gummed linen tape. 56 
HELEN HOMANS CAMBELL 
Catalogs and special files in Art Section 
Union catalog of portraits 
This union catalog now contains references to portraits in 
the John Crerar Library, New York Academy of Medicine 
Library, The College of Physicians Library (Philadelphia), 
Northwestern University Medical School Library and the Jeffer- 
son Medical College Library, Philadelphia. The catalog was 
begun in 1941 by filming copies of the portrait files in the first 
three libraries. 
Cards for portraits in journals, prepared in the Index- 
Catalogue Division, also are included in the Union Catalog. 
Portrait catalog 
This catalog contains a record of each portrait in the AML. 
The portrait catalog will include cards for subject of por- 
traits and for artists, engravers, etc., as needed. 
Picture catalog (exclusive of portraits) 
This catalog will contain cards for all Picture Collection 
material, except portraits. 
Cards will be made for medical subjects, subjects related to 
medicine, for artists, engravers, etc. 
Book catalog 
Cards for books in the Art Section will be made in the 
Catalog Division. (This catalog will later be incorporated into 
the catalog of the History of Medicine Division.) 
Autograph file 
A card will be made for each autograph signature represented 
in the Picture Collection. These cards will eventually be com- 
bined with those for autographs in AML books. 
Hull ding the picture collection 
Gifts 
a. Portraits of well-known medical men will be requested 
by personal letters. . THE PICTURE COLLECTION IN THE ARMY MEDICAL LIBRARY 
57 
b. Whenever the Library has a call for a contemporary 
portrait not in its collection, a request will be sent by letter either 
to the individual or to some known source of supply. 
c. Letters of request (in standard form already approved) 
will be prepared by the Director’s secretary from lists supplied to 
her by the Registrar. 
d. Publicity releases on the Picture Collection will include 
information on pictures desired for the Collection. 
Purchases 
a. Purchases of single pictures and of picture collections 
will be made whenever possible. 
b. Lists of pictures for purchases (other than contemporary 
portraits) will be prepared for the Acquisition Division by the 
Registrar. 
Exchanges 
The duplicate pictures discovered during the reorganization 
of the Picture Collection, will be used as a basis for exchanges. 
llie procedures just described from the Manual have proved of value 
in the maintenance of the AML Picture Collection. Some further notes on 
the filing and mounting equipment may be pertinent. 
The medical portraits, chiefly prints, are mounted on a moderately 
heavy board, with high percentage of rag content. This board is durable, 
does not become easily discolored, and finger marks may be removed easily 
by using art gum. There are various standard sizes—small, medium and 
large—determined somewhat by dimensions of the largest sheets, which may 
then be cut to required specifications. For the finest prints, a face mat is 
used, which is attached to the back by gummed linen tape fastened along the 
left edges. The print is fastened to the back mount by hinges placed at the 
upper edge of the print. Hinges arc made by cutting the gummed tape in 
one-inch lengths and doubling in in the middle, so that half fastens on the 
print and half on the back boartf. After pictures have been matted, or 
mounted, they are labeled on the back (upper left corner), and are then 
ready to file, cither in special blue portrait envelopes, or in portfolios, or 
solander boxes, as the case requires. 
Details of the equipment are given herewith: 
Mount hoard—sizes 11V4” x 15Vi" and 14” x 18” (white and ivory). 
Hinges—linen tape, gummed. 58 
HELEN HOMANS CAMBELL 
Labels—Oxford-roll, R-444 ; 250 on roll; 12 rolls in box. Blank; white. 
Each label measures 3% x Wa inches. 
tiling envelopes—for portraits; open—but with wide flap without button 
or string—heavy blue stock—size 14" x 18". 
Solander cases for prints—sizes 23V4” x 17Vi x 3H". 
Files—vertical steel—standard and "Jumbo” size (18Vi" x 24"). 
Portfolios—size, 14" x 18" and 22" x 28". 
Rubber stamps 
Bins for large framed pictures 
Material in the picture collection may be copied and used for educa- 
tional purposes by newspapers and magazines; by editors, historians, 
research writers, specialists, and by business firms. Inquiries are welcomed 
in order that the Art Section may render greater service. 
white. 
button