Open for research.
Correspondence, alumni lists, invitations, programs, and other printed material documenting reunions and other alumni activities compiled into bound volumes by Henry Pelouze de Forest, 1890 class secretary for the College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University.
History and Biography
Henry Pelouze deForest, born in 1864 in Fulton, New York, was a surgeon who practiced medicine in New York City, including at the Sloane Hospital for Women. He served as secretary of the Class of 1890, College of Physicians and Surgeons of Columbia University (MD 1890). He was also class secretary for the Class of 1884 at Cornell University (PhB 1884, MS 1887). He married Anna Catherine Gilmour (AB, Smith, 1889) on December 6, 1891. He was author of book, Ten years’ examinations: a complete set of all the written examination questions given in the College of Physicians and surgeons, in the City of New York. Medical department of Columbia College 1880-1891 (1891?).
In 1912, Dr. deForest trained and worked in forensic medicine with police departments in Europe. Among his many positions, he was president of the Brooklyn Pathology Society (1900-1902), adjunct professor of obstetrics at the New York Post-Graduate Medical School (1903-1921), Chief Medical Examiner for the Municipal Civil Service Commission in New York City (1912-1919), and President of the International Society for Personal Identification (1920-1935). He invented the dactyloscope, a magnifying device used in fingerprint identification.
He died at age eighty-three in Manhattan on June 13, 1948.
Organization
Arranged in chronological order.
Bound volumes containing pasted circulars, broadsides, commencement programs, newspapers clippings and other printed material. Includes correspondence between de Forest and officials from the Columbia University Alumni Federation and individual alumni. Contents of volumes compiled and arranged chronologically for alumni reunions held in 1910, 1925, 1929, 1930, 1935, and 1940. Non-bound volumes were compiled by de Forest in a similar fashion to the bound volumes, in addition to a single program from the 15-year anniversary dinner (1905) and correspondence between de Forest and alumni relating to the reunion Christmas card (December 1935-January 1936).
Subject Headings and Related Records
Administrative Information
Bound volumes, Christmas letters, and 15 and 20-year reunion programs with unknown provenance. Remaining materials: accession #2021.028.