Library of the Surgeon General's Office

In 1867, the Library, along with the new Surgeon General's office, was moved to Ford's Theatre, site of the tragic assassination of President Abraham Lincoln in April 1865.

The new Office/Library site was taken over by the U.S. Army to house a cluster of important post-Civil War medical activities of the Surgeon General's Office.

The library's goal was to "contain every medical book published in this country and every work relating to public health and state medicine."

This achievement, as well as the creation of the Index Catalogue of the Surgeon General's Office (1880), was largely the legacy of Dr. John Shaw Billings, Director of the Library from 1865 to 1895.

Chauncey Leake headed the group and important contributions were made by Michael DeBakey, Joseph McNinch and Harold W. Jones.

The Army Medical Museum and Library building housed the US Army's medical library from 1887 until 1956. "Old Red", as it was affectionately known, was located on the National Mall in Washington, DC. It was razed in 1969.
Ford's Theatre housed the Surgeon General's library from 1867 to 1887. (Photo ca. 1870)
A handwritten subject card from the Library's old card catalog recalls the precomputer days when information had to be created, classified, and sorted by hand. HMD Prints & Photos, PP059772.7.