Los Angeles County Medical Association collection of prints and ephemera, 1644-1951

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Summary

Abstract:
The Los Angeles County Medical Association (LACMA) collection of prints and ephemera contains over 200 printed items related to the medical profession, including satire, medical curiosities, significant figures in the history of medicine, architectural views of hospitals, and the early years of LACMA itself. Many of the prints are engravings, some are lithographs, and a small selection are reproductions printed during a later period. The collection also includes personal correspondence, medical certificates and photographs of members of LACMA. The materials date from 1644 to 1946, although the bulk of the material dates from the late 18th to early 19th centuries. The collection covers topics including medicine, health, pharmaceuticals, patent medicines, quacks and quackery spanning over five centuries, as well as social perspectives on both the practices and practitioners in these fields.
Extent:
18.82 Linear Feet (7 boxes, 1 oversize folder)
Language:
Materials are predominantly in English, but also include materials in French and Latin.
Preferred citation:

[Identification of item]. Los Angeles County Medical Association collection of prints and ephemera, The Huntington Library, San Marino, California.

Background

Scope and content:

The Los Angeles County Medical Association (LACMA) collection of prints and ephemera contains over 200 printed items related to the medical profession. The materials include satirical prints, medical curiosities, significant figures in the history of medicine, architectural views of hospitals, and the early years of LACMA itself. Many of the prints are engravings, some are lithographs, and a small selection are reproductions printed during a later period. The collection also includes personal correspondence, medical certificates and photographs of members of LACMA. The materials date from 1644 to 1946, although the bulk of the material date from the late 18th to early 19th centuries. Noted artists from the collection include British caricaturists Isaac Cruikshank and Thomas Rowlandson, French engraver Pierre Roch Vigneron, German portrait artist Adolf Eckstein, and French anatomist, painter, and printmaker Jacques Fabian Gautier d'Agoty.

Materials are arranged by genre or item type, and prints are loosely grouped topically: British caricatures, medical curiosities, portraits, architectural prints, and general medical prints. Prints are described at the item-level, with artists, printers, and publishers indexed by name when available. Manuscripts, photographs, and ephemera are described at the folder level and include a variety of materials, including trade cards, medical advertisements, booklets, leaflets, periodicals, and printed billheads and letterheads (with and without manuscript text). Notable items include a series of obituaries (from approximately 1938) concerning the death of Dr. Joseph Pomeroy Widney, co-founder and second president of the University of Southern California (Box 4, folder 3); a 1789 manuscript import certificate regarding surgical instruments imported from London for the Pennsylvania Hospital (Box 4, folder 4); and an 1880 photo business card (printed in both English and Spanish) for physician and surgeon Dr. Tom She Ben, a Chinese doctor who practiced medicine in late 19th-century Los Angeles (Box 4, folder 6). A scrapbook assembled in approximately 1920 by members of LACMA contains print and manuscript material related to "Doctors and Specialists," as well as a specimen of human hair.

The collection offers information regarding medicine, health, pharmaceuticals, patent medicines, quacks and quackery spanning over five centuries, as well as social perspectives on both the practices and practitioners in these fields. Also of particular interest are the medical curiosities prints. The images document the history of medical practitioners, methods, and materials in Britain and the United States as well as ailments and illnesses common during this period. Several items also help document the professionalization of medicine in Southern California. As graphic materials, the collection highlights developing techniques and trends in printmaking while documenting the artists, engravers, lithographers, printers, and publishers involved in the creative process.

Biographical / historical:

The Los Angeles County Medical Association was founded on January 31, 1871 by a group of seven physicians, including Dr. Levi Dorr, Dr. William Edgar, Dr. John Griffin, Dr. Henry Orme, Dr. T. H. Rose, and Dr. Joseph Widney. Over the remainder of the 19th century the group contributed to the founding of several medical institutions in Southern California, including the first hospitals and clinics in Los Angeles, and in 1885 the medical school at the University of Southern California, with Joseph Widney serving as dean. In 1891, Joseph Widney became president of USC while remaining dean of the medical school. In addition to curing disease and caring for patients, the organization today emphasizes its commitment to social advocacy for physicians by battling escalating healthcare costs, intervening in malpractice lawsuits, and defending the autonomy of physicians.

Acquisition information:
On long-term loan from the Los Angeles County Medical Association, 1992.
Appraisal information:

During processing, a small amount of widely published mid-to-late-20th century booklets and clippings were deemed out of scope and deaccessioned by the Curator for the History of Medicine and Allied Sciences.

Processing information:

In August 2019, Erin Severson, an intern through the Getty Marrow Undergraduate Internship program, identified and described the prints in Series I as well as sorted materials in Series II under the supervision of Charla DelaCuadra. In September 2019, Charla DelaCuadra completed processing and created the finding aid. In May 2022, Mari Khasmanyan processed additional materials into Box 7 that were previously separated from the collection.

Arrangement:

The collection is arranged in the following series and subseries:

  • Series I. Prints
    • Subseries A. Architecture
    • Subseries B. British caricatures
    • Subseries C. Curiosities
    • Subseries D. General medical
    • Subseries E. Portraits
    • Subseries F. Other
  • Series II. Manuscripts and ephemera
    • Subseries A. Certificates
    • Subseries B. General ephemera
    • Subseries C. Letters and receipts
    • Subseries D. Scrapbook
  • Series III. Photographs

Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Indexed terms

Subjects:
Advertising -- Drugs
Advertising -- Medicine
Medicine
Sick
Architecture -- Pictorial works
Physicians -- Pictorial works
Certificates
Lithographs.
Photographs
Ephemera.
Printed ephemera
Engravings.
Intaglio prints
Prints.
Scrapbooks
Names:
Grégoire et Deneux
Los Angeles County Medical Association
Angerer, V.
Blechinger, Jacob, active approximately 1880
Boilly, Louis, 1761-1845
Bollinger, Friedrich Wilhelm, 1777-1825
Brödel, Max, 1870-1941
Buttre, John Chester, 1821-1893
Cooper, Robert, 1777-1857
Cruikshank, Isaac, 1756?-1811?
Dähling, Heinrich Anton, 1773-1850
Delpech, François Séraphin, 1778-1825
Eckstein, Adolf
Engelmann, G. (Godefroy), 1788-1839
Folkema, Anna, 1695-1768
Grignion, Charles, 1721-1810
Harding, Chester, 1866-1936
Haughton, Matthew, (Engraver)
Hogarth, William, 1697-1764
Houbraken, Jacobus, 1698-1780
Justyne, Percy William, 1812-1883
Lairesse, Gérard de, 1640-1711
Leonardo, da Vinci, 1452-1519
Lowndes, Francis
Maurin, Nicolas-Eustache, 1799-1850
Nilson, Johann Esaias, 1721-1788
Pugin, Augustus, 1762-1832
Reynolds, Joshua, Sir, 1723-1792
Ribera, Jusepe de, 1591-1652
Riggs, Robert, 1896-1970
Roth, Ernest David, 1879-1964
Rowlandson, Thomas, 1756-1827
Sand, Maurice, 1823-1889
Sargent, John Singer, 1856-1925
Stoufs, Jos
Vigneron, Pierre Roch, 1789-1872
Wandelaar, Jan, 1690 or 1692-1759
Woodward, George Moutard, approximately 1760-1809
Bluck, John, (Printmaker)
Delpech, François Séraphin, 1778-1825
Stadler, Joseph Constantine
Bowles, Carington, 1724-1793
Bowles, Thomas, -1721
Fores, S. W.
Hogg, Alexander, active 1778-1819
Holland, William, active 1782-1817
Hooper, S. (Samuel)
McLean, T. (Thomas)
Neumann, L. T.
Nilson, Johann Esaias, 1721-1788
Smeeton, George, active 1800-1828
Tegg, Thomas, 1776-1846
Virtue, George, 1793?-1868
Gautier Dagoty, 1717-1785
Places:
Portraits
Relief prints

Access and use

Restrictions:

Open for use by qualified researchers and by appointment. Please contact Reader Services at the Huntington Library for more information.

Terms of access:

The Huntington Library does not require that researchers request permission to quote from or publish images of this material, nor does it charge fees for such activities. The responsibility for identifying the copyright holder, if there is one, and obtaining necessary permissions rests with the researcher.

Preferred citation:

[Identification of item]. Los Angeles County Medical Association collection of prints and ephemera, The Huntington Library, San Marino, California.

Location of this collection:
1151 Oxford Road
San Marino, CA 91108, US
Contact:
(626) 405-2191
reference@huntington.org
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