University of Michigan. Department of Medicine and Surgery

The University of Michigan was the first state university to operate a medical school. Medicine was the second oldest field of study there, after classics. The program was started in 1850, and at that time the course lasted only a few months.

In a letter dated October 10, 1938, a proposal to form a Medical School collection as part of the Michigan Historical Collections was submitted to Dr. A. C. Furstenberg, Dean of the Medical School. He replied in December that the executive committee of the Medical School did indeed favor the transfer of records to the university archives. This transfer was made in early 1939.

Among the records transferred were medical theses written by students during the years 1851-1878 (the requirement was dropped in the latter year). Those for 1851-1862 were formerly bound in compilation volumes, one or more for each year, but have been disbound, due to the deterioration of the bindings, so as to be filed in separate folders. The theses for 1863-1878 were individually bound. Most of the theses were based on lectures, medical books, and/or periodicals, but some were based on personal experience, as many of the students had practiced medicine before entering medical school, some as surgeons during the Civil War.

From the guide to the Dept. of Medicine and Surgery (University of Michigan) theses, 1851-1878, (Bentley Historical Library University of Michigan)