Guide to American Medical Biography

Examples -- Find Schools -- Finding More

Publications of or about medical schools often offer biographical information. These include school histories, biographical dictionaries of alumni/ae, directories, periodicals and catalogs.

Biographical Index of the Graduates of Homeopathic Medical College at Pennsylvania and the Hahnemann Medical College and Hospital of Philadelphia, including a history of the College and Hospital, a List of all the Graduates Arranged by Years of Graduation. Also a list of the Graduates who are now in the Medical Military Service of the United States. Thomas Lindsley Bradford, Philadelphia: NLM History of Medicine Division, 1918. | Worldcat

History of the Eclectic Medical Institute, Cincinnati Ohio 1845-1902. Including the Worthington Medical College (1830-1842), the Reformed Medical School of Cincinnati (1842-1845) and the Eclectic College of Medicine (1856-1859), with the biographical sketches of members of various faculties and lists of graduated arranged alphabetically and by classes, by F.W. Felter.  Cincinnati: published for the Alumni Association of the Eclectic Medical Institution, 1902. | Worldcat 

Literature and institutions, by J. S. Billings. pp. 291-366 in A century of American medicine. 1776-1876, by Edward H. Clarke et al. Philadelphia: H. C. Lea, 1876, 366 p. Section on medical schools (354-363) includes a list of medical schools (355-359) with date of first graduation and date of cessation.  | WorldCat Record (libraries for 1876 and 1971 editions)

Medical education, medical colleges and the regulation of the practice of medicine in the United States and Canada, 1765-1891…, by John H. Rauch. Illinois State Board of Health. Springfield, Rokker, 1891, 222 p. | Worldcat Record 

Main section is a list of descriptions of medical schools and examining boards by state, including extinct institutions
Title link above to 1891, 1885 ed.
Titles of other editions vary slightly. HathiTrust has several other years in multiple listings, e.g. 1889; 1890 | Worldcat Record

World Directory of Medical Schools. Can search by name, state or city. Offers search for non-operational schools, but this is incomplete.

Medical and surgical directory of the United States (1886-1917) (1902-1917). Detroit: Polk & Co., 1886-. | WorldCat Record

Title varies:
1890-96, Medical and surgical register of the United States, 2nd-4th ed.
1898, Medical and surgical register of the United States and Canada, 5th ed.
1900, Polk's medical and surgical register of the United States and Canada;6th ed.
1902, Polk's medical register and directory of the United States and Canada,  7th ed.
1904-1917, Polk's medical register and directory of North America, 8th-14th ed.
1898 and later editions include Canada

Directory-American Association of Medical Colleges [title varies], 1954-

Some years include Canada.

If the name of a school in a local catalog or WorldCat yields too many items, then narrow the search by limiting the options:

"Harvard Medical School" and (Alumni or biography) will find only HMS-related entries which also contain the word alumni or the word biography.