John Shaw Billings

Infobox_Person
name=John Shaw Billings


width=180px
caption=1895 Cecilia Beaux portrait of Billings in the National Library of Medicine.
birth_date=birth date|1838|4|12
birth_place=Allensville, Switzerland county, Indiana
death_date=death date and age|1913|3|11|1838|4|12
death_place=New York City
occupation=Librarian, surgeon

John Shaw Billings (April 12 1838 – March 11 1913) was a librarian and surgeon best known as the modernizer of the Library of the Surgeon General's Office of the Army and as the creator of the New York Public Library.

Biography

Born in Allensville, Switzerland County, Indiana, Billings graduated from Miami University in 1857, and from the Medical College of Ohio in 1860. He was medical inspector of the Army of the Potomac during the American Civil War, then became head of the Library of the Surgeon General's Office in Washington D.C.

The Surgeon General's library that he developed later became the core of the National Library of Medicine. During his time as Director of the Library of the SGO, 1865-1895, he was responsible for the creation of both the Index Medicus (1879) and the Index Catalogue of the Surgeon General's Office (1880).

He was also for some years professor of hygiene in the University of Pennsylvania. He is also credited with designing the original buildings of Johns Hopkins Hospital, which opened in 1889. The building with the hospital's trademark dome was subsequently named for Billings.

Dr. Billings received an Honorary Fellowship of the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland [ [http://www.rcsi.ie Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland ] at www.rcsi.ie] in 1892.

After he left the Surgeon General's Office he united the libraries of New York to form the New York Public Library and it was Billings who inspired Andrew Carnegie to provide funds for the construction of sixty-five branch libraries throughout New York and 2509 libraries in cities and towns across North America and Britain.

Dr. Billings was the senior editor of books reporting the work of the Committee of Fifty to Investigate the Liquor Problem in the early 1900s. The Committee researched the activities and publications of the Department of Scientific Temperance Instruction of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU).

He acted as supervisor for the U.S. Census 1880 and 1890. He often collaborated with Herman Hollerith

Billings died in New York City in 1913, aged 74.

Works

Lydenberg (1924, see below) lists 22 publications by Billings, among them:

* "Principles of Ventilation and Heating" (1884)
* "Mortality and Vital Statistics of the United States" (1885)
* "National Medical Dictionary" (Two volumes, 1889)
* "Description of the Johns Hopkins Hospital" (1890)
* "Social Statistics of Cities" (Six volumes, for the Eleventh Census)
* "Some Library Problems of Tomorrow" (1902)
* "Physiological Aspects of the Liquor Problem" (1903)

References

*cite book
last = Lydenberg
first = Harry Miller
title = John Shaw Billings: Creator of the National Medical Library and its Catalogue, First Director of the New York Public Library
publisher = American Library Association
date = 1924
*cite book
last = Garrison
first = Fielding H.
title = John Shaw Billings: A Memoir
publisher = Putnam's
date = 1915
*cite book
last = Hasse
first = Adelaide R.
title = Bibliography of the Writings of John Shaw Billings, 1861-1913 (Garrison's "Memoir", p. 411-422)

*Havighurst, Walter, "Men of Old Miami, 1809-1873: A Book of Portraits", New York City: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1974.

ee also

*Fielding H. Garrison

Notes

External links

*findagrave|20634 Retrieved on 2008-02-10