Guide to American Medical Biography

Introduction  --  General Medical Biographical Dictionaries: Major Examples --  African American --  Jewish  --  Women   --  State Online Biographical Dictionaries  --   Local Histories  --  Finding More

Biographical dictionaries offer short biographical articles typically of prominent deceased persons, although some may contain important living persons.

Typical Characteristics: these resources are

• general, national, local or subject based.  
• differentiated in this guide from publications featuring physicians living at the time of publication, who are listed in "Who's Whos" and "Medical Directories."

American Medical Biography: or, Memoirs of eminent physicians who have flourished in America, to which is prefixed a succinct history of medical science in the United States from the first settlement of the country, by J. Thacher. 1828, 2 volumes in 1. 436, 280 pp | WorldCat Record

Also in WBIS.
The one to which all other medical biographical dictionaries are compared.
Some portraits. Appendix of memoirs out of alphabetical sequence
More information about this publication: "Lives in medicine: the biographical dictionaries of Thacher, Williams, and Gross," by W.J. Bell, Jr. in Bulletin of the History of Medicine, v. 42, no. 2 (March/April) 1968, pp. 101-120.

American Medical Biography: or Memoirs of eminent physicians, embracing principally those who have died since the publication of Dr. Thacher's initial work in 1828 on the same subject, by Stephen W. Williams. Greenfield, Mass. : L. Merriam and Co., 1845, 667 pp. | WorldCat Record --Also in WBIS 
 

More about this publication in "Lives in medicine: the biographical dictionaries of Thacher, Williams, and Gross," by W.J. Bell, Jr. in Bulletin of the History of Medicine, v. 42, no. 2 (March/April) 1968, pp. 101-120.

American Nursing: A Biographical Dictionary (print only), by V. L. Bullough et al. 3 v. NY: Garland, 1988, 1992, 2000.

Contents listed in WorldCat entry (title link)
Includes some women of color. Some inclusions (like Louisa May Alcott) due to relevant contributions in other fields
Each entry includes bibliography and, where possible, lists of publications; some photographs.
Indexes: decades of birth; appendices: first nursing school attended, area of special interest or accomplishment, geographic area

Biographies of Physicians and Surgeons. Chicago: J. Beers, 1904, 708 p. | WorldCat Record

Substantial biographies of around 250 deceased 19th century physicians and surgeons.

Biography of Eminent American Physicians and Surgeons, by R. French Stone.  Indianapolis, Carlon and Hollenbeck, 1894, 729 p. | WorldCat Record

Includes portraits and general indexes.
Second edition includes practitioners of homeopathy, "physio-medicine (physiotherapy)," and "medical women," also additional introduction and numerous corrections to first edition.

Chiefs of the Medical department, United States Army, 1775-1940. Biographical sketches, by James Matthew Phalen. (Army Medical Bulletin, No. 52) Washington, DC: War Department, Office of the Surgeon General, 1940, 158 pp. | WorldCat Record

3-5 pages of narrative sketches on each of 25 Chiefs.
Extensive index.
Some sources given (including Who's Whos).

Dictionary of American Medical Biography, (print only) by M. Kaufman, S. Galishoff & T. L. Savitt, eds. . 2 v. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1984. 
Indexed in BGMI
Includes physicians since, & omitted by, Kelly & Burrage (below).

Dictionary of American Medical Biography, by H. A. Kelly & W. L. Burrage. NY: D. Appleton, 1928. | WorldCat Record (1920 ed.)

Also in WBIS; indexed in BGMI
1,948 physicians deceased before 1918. Some bibliographies; state and general indexes.
Earlier editions: A cyclopedia of American medical biography ... from 1610 to 1910. 2 vols.; American medical biographies (1920).

Dictionary of American Nursing Biography (print only), ed. by M.Kaufman et al. NY: Greenwood Press, 1988, 462 pp.

19th century to 1987.
Special mention of women who contributed to the development of military nursing,
Index by location (of birth and of prominence), specialty or occupation, and general index.
Bibliography with each article. 

Lives of Eminent American Physicians and Surgeons of the Nineteenth Century. ed. by Samuel Gross, M.D. Philadelphia: Lindsay & Blakiston, 1861. | WorldCat Record

Also in WBIS
32 physicians in 836 pages.
About this publication: "Lives in medicine: the biographical dictionaries of Thacher, Williams, and Gross" by W.J. Bell, Jr. in Bulletin of the History of Medicine, v. 42, no. 2 (March/April) 1968, pp. 101-120.

The Pioneers of Homoeopathy, by T.L. Bradford. Philadelphia: Boericke and Tafel, 1897. | WorldCat Record
Part 1: biographies of "Provers Who Assisted Hahnemann."
Part 2: biographies of “all the persons practicing homeopathy” before 1835.

African American Medical Pioneers (print only), by C. H. Epps, Jr., D. G. Johnson & A. L. Vaughan. Rockville, MD: Betz Publishing Co., 1994.

Thirty-three biographical sketches; also includes tables of Black graduates of medical schools through the 1980s.

Biographical Dictionary of American Physicians of African Ancestry, 1800-1920 (print only), by Geraldine Rhoades Beckford. Cherry Hill, NJ: Africana Homestead Legacy Publishers Inc., 2011.

Gives location of practice, medical school with date, birth/death, family, and references.

Blacks in Science and Medicine (print only), by Vivian O. Samms. New York: Hemisphere Pub., 1990.

More than 1500 alphabetical biographies taken from published literature. Entries include dates, specialties, education, employment and organizations and where possible dissertation titles, publications and references in which persons were noted. Categorized list by fields or interest, e.g. firsts, pathologists, veterinarians, and science educators.

Breaking the Color line in Medicine : African Americans in Ophthalmology (print only), by Johnson, Lenworth N., and Daniels, O. C. Bobby. Thorofare, N.J.: Slack Inc, 2002.

Fifty-six biographical entries of varying length. Earliest b. 1864; most b. 1920s-1960s. Table of contents, photographs, References and index.  Includes a section on the history of ophthalmology in the African American community.

​Pathfinders: A History of The Progress of Colored Graduate Nurses, with Biographies of many Prominent Nurses (print only), by Adah B. Thoms. New York: Printed at Kay printing house, Inc. 1929.

Highly narrative style. Less dictionary, more history of nurses of color, focusing on educational institutions and notable graduates. Descriptions of individual nurses are often anecdotal in nature. Appendix include statistics on nurses of color employed within US health agencies (to 1929).

A Century of Black Surgeons: The U.S.A. Experience (print only), by C. H. Organ, Jr. and M. M. Kosiba, eds. 2 v. Norman, Ok: Transcript Press, 1987.

Sections on organizations and institutions important in the history of black surgeons; individual contributions; pioneers in various specialties/certifications. In some cases goes so far as to quote input specifically from family members and the individuals profiled. Appendices, suggested readings, index. More profiles and history of the field than biographical sketches. Portraits.

Jewish Contributions to Medicine in America, from Colonial Times to the Present (print only), 2nd ed. by Solomon R. Kagan. Boston, MA: Boston Medical Pub. Co., 1939

Some portraits. Entries grouped by medical specialty; subjects largely living at the time of publication, but includes chapter on early physicians.
Includes chapter on early physicians; medical chronology, 1656-1934 (pp. 484-511); and name/subject index.

Jewish Physicians; a Biographical Index (print only), by Nathan Koren. Jerusalem: Israel Universities Press, 1973.

More than 9000 entries. Pt. 1 earliest times through 18thc, including all known Jewish physicians. Pt2 19th and 20thc.
Entries include name, dates, short annotations and references.

A Biographical Dictionary of Women Healers: Midwives, Nurses, and Physicians (print only), by Laurie Scrivener, et. al. Westport, CT: Oryx Press, 2002.

Biographies of 238 U.S. midwives, nurses, physicians. Emphasis on women who healed women or who facilitated entry of women into the profession.
Appendices: list by Occupation, Notable Events Related to Women Healers (1607-1999 pp. 319-323).
Each article with a source list.

Ladies in the Laboratory? : American and British Women in Science, 1800-1900: A Survey of Their Contributions to Research (print only), by Mary R.S. Crease. Lanham, Md.: Scarecrow Press, 1998.

Listings grouped by specialty and country, including "Medical Scientists" and "Physicians and other Medical Women."
Includes index and selected bibliography; also includes a bibliography of papers which appeared in scientific periodicals 1800-1900.

"A Place for Women: A selective annotated bibliography on Civil War women in medical services" (print only), by T.R. Devitt. Bulletin of Bibliography, v. 57, no. 1 (2000), pp. 1-11.

Largely a list of secondary and biographical articles, but pp. 104-106 is a list of writings by Civil War women.

Multi-State

Ancestry.com "free research guides" to each state. Note that if you want to investigate a listed resource within the guide, you'll have to log in to an individual account take the resource name (ie "Massachusetts Census of 1919" back into your institutional subscription version of ancestry- you can't link out from this guide.

Examples of Individual State Digital Collections

More can be found via the Digital Public Library of America and the individual state digital libraries.

Alabama

Early African-American Physicians in Alabama. Pre-World War II.

Early Female Physicians in Alabama. Pre-World War II.

Alaska

UAA/APU Library Consortium Medicine and Health Special Collections includes oral history transcripts, association records and personal papers

Arizona

Persons in Arizona Medical History

Indiana

Nineteenth and Twentieth Century Indiana Physicians Database

Maryland

Medicine in Maryland 1752-1920: Medical Practitioners

Ohio

Ohio Physician and Dentist Directory, 1905 (Ancestry.com)

Tennessee

Tennessee Confederate Physicians: An Annotated List

Texas

Gazeteer of Deceased Texas Physicians (19th and 20th Century)  references to obituaries, biographical information and archival resources for over 12,000 deceased Texas physicians. No full text search, only PDF download.

Texas Physicians Historical Biographical Database includes citations to brief death notices and some obituaries related to early Texas physicians from the Texas State Journal of Medicine for 1905- 1966. Additional citations from other sources (1870s to 1966) include other early Texas medical journals: Polk's Directories, Texas newspapers, and histories of Texas.

Washington

Department of Licensing, Business and Professions Division, Physician Applications and Registers, 1833-1946

West Virginia

Pioneer Nurses of West Virginia

History of medicine and surgery, and physicians and surgeons of Chicago. Chicago Medical Society. Chicago, Biographical Pub. Corp., 1922, 928 pages. | WorldCat Record
--Physicians and Surgeons of the Past, 11-186

Late 19th century city/town histories often have chapters on physicians and biographical articles on prominent citizens.  Find them in WorldCat and local library catalogs.  Many are accessible via HathiTrust, Google Books, and the Internet Archive.

Identifying relevant biographical dictionaries: search suggestions

For additional, and more specialized, medical biographical dictionaries, search your local library catalog and/or WorldCat.  

Enter Library of Congress Subject Headings with biographical subdivisions in the main search box.

For example:
African American physicians AND Biography AND (dictionaries OR encyclopedias)
Ophthalmologists AND Biography

For local or otherwise specialized non-medical biographical dictionaries, try regional terms:

Massachusetts AND Biography AND (dictionaries OR encyclopedias)
"Hispanic Americans" AND Biography AND (dictionaries OR encyclopedias)

Not all collective biographical sources bear the appropriate subdivisions (dictionaries OR encyclopedias), so you may have to remove those words from your search and browse through a long list of biographies to find the collective works.

It can be difficult to distinguish a biographical dictionary from a who’s who on the basis of the catalog record, especially when looking at older works, but it's only an organizational distinction.

A treasure trove of biographical dictionary titles and descriptions:

Biographical Dictionaries and Related Works: An International Bibliography of More than 16,000 Collective Biographies (print only), by R.B. Slocum. 2nd ed. 2 v. Detroit, MI: Gale Research, 1986.

• Arranged by place and occupation; coverage extends beyond large Western countries
• Vol. 2 Biography by Vocation section lists several works more specialized than those listed here.