Fielding H. Garrison
Encyclopedia
Colonel Fielding Hudson Garrison, MD
Doctor of Medicine
Doctor of Medicine is a doctoral degree for physicians. The degree is granted by medical schools...

 (November 5, 1870 – April 18, 1935) was an acclaimed medical historian
History of medicine
All human societies have medical beliefs that provide explanations for birth, death, and disease. Throughout history, illness has been attributed to witchcraft, demons, astral influence, or the will of the gods...

, bibliographer
Bibliographer
"A bibliographer is a person who describes and lists books and other publications, with particular attention to such characteristics as authorship, publication date, edition, typography, etc. The result of this endeavor is a bibliography...

, and librarian
Librarian
A librarian is an information professional trained in library and information science, which is the organization and management of information services or materials for those with information needs...

 of medicine. Garrison's An Introduction to the History of Medicine (1913) is a landmark text in this field.

Biography

Garrison was born in Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....

 and received his A.B.
Bachelor of Arts
A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...

 in 1890 from the Johns Hopkins University
Johns Hopkins University
The Johns Hopkins University, commonly referred to as Johns Hopkins, JHU, or simply Hopkins, is a private research university based in Baltimore, Maryland, United States...

 and his M.D. in 1893 from Georgetown University
Georgetown University
Georgetown University is a private, Jesuit, research university whose main campus is in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Founded in 1789, it is the oldest Catholic university in the United States...

. The son of U.S. Treasury Comptroller John Rowzee Garrison and noted Washington, D.C. civic volunteer Catherine Jane Jennie Davis, he married Clara Augusta Brown in 1910 in Washington, D.C. and they eventually had three daughters. (Garrison was brother-in-law — they married sisters in a double wedding — to Henry Campbell Black
Henry Campbell Black
Henry Campbell Black was the founder of Black's Law Dictionary, the definitive legal dictionary first published in 1891....

, author of "Black's Law Dictionary
Black's Law Dictionary
Black's Law Dictionary is the most widely used law dictionary in the United States. It was founded by Henry Campbell Black. It is the reference of choice for definitions in legal briefs and court opinions and has been cited as a secondary legal authority in many U.S...

.)

Garrison joined the staff of the Army Medical Library
Library of the Surgeon General's Office
The Library of the Surgeon General's Office, later called the Army Medical Library, was the institutional medical literature repository of the U.S...

 as a clerk in 1891. (The AML was to became the National Library of Medicine many years after Garrison's death.) He became Assistant Librarian in 1899 and Principal Assistant Librarian in 1912. He joined the Officers Reserve Corps as a Major in 1917 (Lieutenant Colonel, 1918 and Colonel, 1920). Garrison was assigned to index medical literature. In this he worked closely with John Shaw Billings
John Shaw Billings
John Shaw Billings was an American librarian and surgeon best known as the modernizer of the Library of the Surgeon General's Office of the Army and as the first director of the New York Public Library.-Biography:...

. He helped create and compile the Index-Catalogue of the Library of the Surgeon General's Office. His editorial responsibilities also included the Index Medicus
Index medicus
Index Medicus is a comprehensive index of medical scientific journal articles, published since 1879. It was initiated by John Shaw Billings, head of the Library of the Surgeon General's Office, United States Army...

, of which he was Associate Editor (1903–1912) and Editor (1912–1927). He was also Associate Editor of the Quarterly Cumulative Index Medicus for 1927-1929. Garrison wrote the first comprehensive treatise on the history of medicine and "gained recognition as the foremost American authority on the subject" (according to the Dictionary of American Biography
American National Biography
The American National Biography is a 24 volume biographical encyclopedia set containing approximately 17,400 entries and 20 million words, first published in 1999 by Oxford University Press under the auspices of the American Council of Learned Societies. A 400-entry supplement appeared in 2002...

). He prepared plans and collected material for the history of the U.S. Army Medical Department during World War I. In all, he served on staff at the AML for almost 40 years.

From 1930, Garrison was lecturer in the history of medicine and librarian of the Welch Medical Library of the Johns Hopkins University. He was also a much-respected editor and translator, as well as an accomplished classical pianist.

Garrison died April 18, 1935 in Washington, D.C. and is buried in Arlington National Cemetery
Arlington National Cemetery
Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington County, Virginia, is a military cemetery in the United States of America, established during the American Civil War on the grounds of Arlington House, formerly the estate of the family of Confederate general Robert E. Lee's wife Mary Anna Lee, a great...

, Arlington VA.

Positions, honors and accolades

  • Presidency, American Association for the History of Medicine
  • Presidency, Medical Library Association
    Medical Library Association
    The Medical Library Association is a nonprofit, educational organization with more than 4,000 health sciences information professional members and partners worldwide.- History :...

  • Directorship, Johns Hopkins Institute of the History of Medicine (for one year following the retirement of William H. Welch
    William H. Welch
    William Henry Welch, M.D. was an American physician, pathologist, and medical school administrator. He was one of the "Big Four" founding professors at Johns Hopkins Hospital. William Henry Welch, M.D. (April 8, 1850 - April 30, 1934) was an American physician, pathologist, and medical school...

    )
  • Consulting Librarian, New York Academy of Medicine
    New York Academy of Medicine
    The New York Academy of Medicine was founded in 1847 by a group of leading New York City metropolitan area physicians as a voice for the medical profession in medical practice and public health reform...

     (1925–30)
  • Fellow, American College of Surgeons
    American College of Surgeons
    The American College of Surgeons is an educational association of surgeons created in 1913 to improve the quality of care for the surgical patient by setting high standards for surgical education and practice.-Membership:...


Legacy

  • Garrison was a close friend of noted literary critic H. L. Mencken
    H. L. Mencken
    Henry Louis "H. L." Mencken was an American journalist, essayist, magazine editor, satirist, acerbic critic of American life and culture, and a scholar of American English. Known as the "Sage of Baltimore", he is regarded as one of the most influential American writers and prose stylists of the...

    , with whom he exchanged 400 letters, some of which have been published in Mencken's collected letters. Mencken was a pallbearer at Garrison's funeral.
  • Garrison was the subject of two biographies by Solomon Kagan, and the April, 1937 issue of The Bulletin of the History of Medicine
    Bulletin of the History of Medicine
    The Bulletin of the History of Medicine is an academic journal founded in 1939. It is the official publication of the American Association for the History of Medicine. It is also the official publication of the Johns Hopkins Institute of the History of Medicine...

    was devoted to essays about Garrison's life and contributions.
  • Garrison's book Introduction to the History of Medicine was the first comprehensive American publication on the history of medicine. For this book he compiled a bibliography of major works in the history of medicine. This listing, later amended by Leslie Morton, was eventually published as a separate piece. Garrison and Morton's A Medical Bibliography is still widely regarded as a standard in medical historical bibliography.
  • Garrison's portrait hangs in the History of Medicine Division Reading Room of the United States National Library of Medicine
    United States National Library of Medicine
    The United States National Library of Medicine , operated by the United States federal government, is the world's largest medical library. Located in Bethesda, Maryland, the NLM is a division of the National Institutes of Health...

    , Bethesda, MD where most of his papers have been deposited.

Books

  • Garrison, Fielding H. (1913), An Introduction to the History of Medicine, Philadelphia: W.B. Saunders Company
    • 2nd Edition, 1917.
    • 3rd Edition, revised and enlarged; Philadelphia: W.B. Saunders Co, 1921.
    • 4th Edition; Philadelphia and London: W.B. Saunders Co, 1929.
  • Garrison, Fielding H. (1915), John Shaw Billings: A Memoir, Putnam
  • Garrison, Fielding H. (1922), Notes on the History of Military Medicine, Washington, DC: Association of Military surgeons (Reprint from Military surgeon)
  • Garrison, Fielding H. (1933/1943), A Medical Bibliography (amended by Leslie Morton)

Journals

  • Garrison, F.H. (1919–20), "The Use of the Caduceus in the Insignia of the Army Medical Officer", Bull. Med. Lib. Assoc., IX, pp 13–16.
  • Garrison, F.H. (1919), "The Prehistory of the Caduceus", Jour. A.M.A.
    Journal of the American Medical Association
    The Journal of the American Medical Association is a weekly, peer-reviewed, medical journal, published by the American Medical Association. Beginning in July 2011, the editor in chief will be Howard C. Bauchner, vice chairman of pediatrics at Boston University’s School of Medicine, replacing ...

    , 72:1483.
  • Garrison, F.H. (1919), "The Babylonian Caduceus", Mil. Surg., XLIV, pp 633–36.
  • Garrison, F.H. (1919), "A Letter to the Editor", Am. Med. Assoc. Jour., LXXII, pg 1483. (On the use of the caduceus in medicine.)
  • Garrison, Fielding H. “Halsted,” American Mercury, v. 7, no. 28 (April 1926) 396-401. Light and learned sketch of the William Stewart Halsted, the American surgeon and scientist at the Johns Hopkins in Baltimore.
  • Garrison, F.H. (1932), "A Lucubration on the Caduceus", Mil. Surg., 71:129-32.

External links

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