Rare Books

Surgical papers

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Description: Halsted never wrote books so these papers remain his lasting monument. He developed the modern system of residency training and was the greatest of all surgical innovators and teachers. He was the first to use rubber gloves in surgery. He became addicted to cocaine hydrochlorate while experimenting with it as a surgical anaesthetic in 1884.
Type: Rare Books(Opens in new tab)
Publication date: 1924.
Call number: 656375
Creator: Halsted, William (1852-1922)(Opens in new tab)
Provenance: Gift of Dr. W. Bruce and Lois B. Fye, June 2021.
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Twilight in the Forbidden City

Rare Books

Reginald Fleming Johnston was a British colonial officer, scholar and a writer with a passion for China and Chinese culture. From 1919 to 1924 he was tutor and adviser to the last emperor of China. The emperor P'u-i had abdicated his throne in 1912. However, in order to ensure a rapid and peaceful transfer of authority, he was allowed to retain his title and was permitted to remain in residence. Johnston was able to observe and chronicle the last years of the Ch'ing dynasty.

654422

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John Gorham Palfrey letter to George Washington Greene

Manuscripts

An autograph letter written from Boston, Mass., from John G. Palfrey to George W. Greene, who was serving as U.S. Consul to Rome. The letter details a list of written works ordered by Palfrey but not yet paid for; he also mentions their mutual friend H.W. Longfellow. The letter has a red wax seal and was originally window-mounted; it has been removed but the old cloth hinges remain.

mssHM 83573

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George J. Abbott letter to Rev. Abiel Abbott

Manuscripts

George J. Abbott opens the letter with some brief news about a family visit to Cincinnati, Ohio. Abbott then discusses a visit from the Winnebago Indian delegation to Washington, D.C. He writes, "Washington has been enlivened by the visit of Winnebago Indians, whom, the Government wishes to remove for the third time from lands solemnly and inviolably guaranteed to them on the faith of Treaties" (p. 1). He continues with a description of negotiations lasting four days between three American negotiators and the chief orator of the Winnebago Indians named Little Hill. "They held out for very good terms, and obtained them, considering it was weakness dealing with power" (p. 1). Next, he describes the feelings of a respected chief. This chief tells the commissioners, "...their hearts were saddened by what he had told them of their decreasing number and of the near extinction of their race. When he spoke of the Great Father's disregard of his children & of the Great Spirit, a smile ran round the room - as every body thought it was a remark true as it was keen" (p. 2).

mssHM 80951

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William Marshall Swayne papers

Manuscripts

William Marshall Swayne was a self-taught Pennsylvania artist known for his sculptures of Abraham LIncoln, Salmon P. Chase, Edwin M. Stanton, WIlliam H. Seward, and others. He also served in the Department of the Treasury during the Civil War. Collection includes excerpts from Swayne's letters to his wife Mary, written between 1859 and 1867 while he was away in Washington D.C., and compiled by him in a separate letterbook. Letters discuss Swayne's work with his portrait subjects, including Abraham Lincoln, Andrew Johnson, Joshua Gidding, and others; Lincon's first inauguration, public affairs in Washington D.C. during the Civil War, Lincoln's assassination, and reactions to the arrest of Jefferson Davis. Collection also includes manuscript and typescript copies of Swayne's reminiscences of Abraham Lincoln, family photographs, correspondence between Swayne's children and the Smithsonian regarding the family's donation of a plaster bust of Lincoln, and some clippings and research related to Lincoln.

mssSwayne

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Bernard Shaw

Rare Books

To his own generation Bernard Shaw's greatest creation seemed to be himself. Playwright, wit, socialist, polemicist and irresistible charmer, he was the most controversial literary figure of his age and the scourge of all that was most oppressive in late-Victorian England. In his writing and public speeches, he embodied the unfamiliar virtues of reason, sense and unanswerable good humor. And yet, as the opening volume of this masterly four-volume biography makes clear, Shaw's invention of this monumental figure was a paradoxical method of concealment and his way of coming to terms with a world that had abandoned him in childhood. - Jacket flap.

608483

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John Milton Bernhisel letter to Franklin Pierce

Manuscripts

Letter to President Franklin Pierce from John Milton Bernhisel, written while he was serving in the U.S. House of Representatives. Bernhisel writes to Pierce of public opinion in Utah, particularly regarding the Territory's desire to retain Brigham Young as governor. Bernhisel praises Young, noting that he possesses "the entire confidence of the people." He continues that "respecting Governor Young I would...refer your Excellency to...Stephen A. Douglas of the United States Senate." Bernhisel continues that Utah would like to see Zerubbabel Snow kept as Associate Judge, and that Seth M. Blair remain as United States Attorney for the district of Utah, and mentions Blair's original recommendation from Sam Houston. The letter is unsigned and appears incomplete.

mssHM 23782

Surgical papers

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Twilight in the Forbidden City

John Gorham Palfrey letter to George Washington Greene

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William Marshall Swayne papers

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