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Records of the Columbia University Department of Neurology, 1925-2000. The bulk of the records are from the administration of Lewis P. Rowland as chairman (1973-1998) and include chairman's correspondence; records related to renovations and expansions of the Neurological Institute building; Grand Rounds and Clinical-Pathology Conferences (CPC); lists of Neurology staff; lecture and conference calendars; five year departmental reviews and reports; departmental appointments; obituaries for significant neurologists at Columbia, including H. Houston Merritt; newspaper clippings and newsletters; legal files; budget records; development and fundraising materials; imaging equipment records; and daily admission books.
History and Biography
Instruction in neurology began at the College of Physicians and Surgeons in 1875, when Edward Seguin joined the faculty as the Clinical Professor of Diseases of the Mind and Nervous System. Moses Allen Starr succeeded him in 1888, and led the department until 1915, when he was in turn succeeded by Frederick Tilney. When both the medical school and the Neurological Institute of New York moved to Washington Heights to join the Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center in 1929, the chairman of the Neurological Institute became chair of the Department of Neurology, combining the clinical and educational facets of the organizations.
The Neurological Institute of New York, originally located on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, was established in 1909 as the first specialty hospital in the United States devoted entirely to the study and treatment of disorders of the nervous system. In 1925 the Institute affiliated with Presbyterian Hospital and Columbia University and became part of the Columbia -Presbyterian Medical Center, now known as the Columbia University Medical Center. The Neurological Institute was merged into Presbyterian Hospital in 1943 but the Department of Neurology is still known as the Neurological Institute, and the terms Department of Neurology and Neurological Institute are used interchangeably.
The department is dedicated to the study and treatment of illnesses of the brain and nervous system. Divisions include Pediatric Neurology, Neuropathology, and Neuroradiology. Within Neurology, there are sections for Aging and Dementia, Clinical Neurophysiology, Epilepsy, General Neurology, Movement Disorders, Multiple Sclerosis and Neuroimmunology, Neurointensive Care, Neuromuscular Diseases, Neuro-oncology, Pediatric Neurology, and Stroke.
The Neurological Institute celebrated its 100th anniversary in September 2009. For more information about the history of the department, please visit their webpage.
The bulk of the correspondence files are from the administration of Lewis P. Rowland, chair of the Department of Neurology from 1973-1998. Rowland was trained in biochemistry and was best known for research in neuromuscular diseases and age-related neurodegenerative diseases, especially Amytrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS). He received both his B.S. and M.D. degrees from Yale, was a neurology resident at Columbia University in 1950-1953, and then departed briefly to serve at the National Institutes of Health and Montefiore Hospital.
Rowland returned to Columbia as a research fellow in 1958, and in 1961 he became co-director of the Clinical Research Center at the Neurological Institute. In 1967 he became the chairman of the Department of Neurology at the University of Pennsylvania, but in 1973 he returned to Columbia again, to take on the role of chairman of Department of Neurology.
The events of Rowland’s administration included the introduction of PET and CAT imaging capabilities, the ongoing development of a residence training program, and a series of renovations and expansions of both the curriculum and the physical plant of the Neurological Institute. In addition to his administrative duties, Rowland also maintained an active teaching and clinical schedule.
Rowland relinquished the chairmanship to Tim Pedley in 1998, but continued to serve as Co-Director of the H. Houston Merritt Clinical Research Center for Muscular Dystrophy and Related Diseases and Director of the Eleanor and Lou Gehrig MDA/ALS Center until 1999. He continued to teach as late into the early 21st century.
In addition to his academic achievements, Rowland wrote many papers on ALS and edited two books on that disease. He was the Editor-in Chief of Neurology, 1977-1987, and has been a member of the editorial boards of other journals, including the New England Journal of Medicine, Medical Letter, and the Journal of Neurological Sciences.
From 2000 to the end of 2009, he was the chief editor of the American Academy of Neurology’s Neurology Today. He was editor of Merritt's Textbook of Neurology, Current Neurologic Drugs, and Clinical Cases in Neurology. Rowland served as President of the American Neurological Association (1980-81), President of the American Academy of Neurology (1989-91) and Chairman of its Education and Research Foundation. He was President of the Parkinson's Disease Foundation and a member of the Institute of Medicine.
Lewis Rowland died on March 16, 2017 in New York City.
Organization
The collection has been divided into four series:
I. Chairman's Correspondence
II. Subject files
III. Admissions books
IV: Appointments.
The records are a combination of four different accessions, and include chairman's correspondence; records related to renovations and expansions of the Neurological Institute building; Grand Rounds and Clinical-Pathology Conferences (CPC); lists of Neurology staff; lecture and conference calendars; five year departmental reviews and reports; departmental appointments; obituaries for significant neurologists at Columbia, including H. Houston Merritt; news clippings and newsletters; legal files; budget records; development and fundraising materials; imaging equipment records; and daily admission books for the Neurological Institute.
Series I. Chairman's Correspondence
Boxes 1-38
Correspondence, reports and other materials documenting the administration of Neurology Dept. Chair Lewis P. Rowland, 1940-2000.
Sub-series 1.1 1954-1974 (1 box)
Correspondence, reports and other materials documenting former Neurology Chairman Lewis P. Rowland’s time as the Head of the Department of Neurology at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia and other aspects of his early career.
Sub-series 1.2 1957-2000 (23 boxes)
Correspondence, reports and other materials encompassing a variety of topics, including planning neurological service at the Allen Pavilion; developing an Ambulatory Care Center; post-graduate neuroscience courses; case histories for a broad variety of neurological conditions; the development of the Coma Research Center; various celebrations of the life of H. Houston Merritt; departmental connections with organizations such as the Muscular Dystrophy Association and United Cerebral Palsy; space assignments and related controversies within the department; the implementation of positronic emission tomography (PET) scanning; and resident training programs.
Sub-series 1.3 1940-2000 (14 boxes)
Correspondence, reports and other materials encompassing a variety of topics, including amyotropic lateral sclerosis (ALS); the Dana Alliance for Brain Initiatives; and Project Death in America, which examined patient spirituality following an ALS diagnosis.
Series II. Subject Files
Boxes 39-55
Topics are presented in alphabetical order, and include American Medical Association (AMA) training surveys; Attending Staff meetings; budget records; committees, the 50th Anniversary of the Neurological Institute; Five Year Plan; fundraising/development; Grand Rounds /Clinical-Pathology Conferences (CPCs); legal; and space planning.
The Grand Rounds /Clinical-Pathology Conferences (CPCs), which span two decades (1964-1985) of practice at the Neurological Institute, are summaries of unusual or significant cases presented by or to attending residents for discussion and study.
The CPCs appear to be more of an administrative part of the hospital, whereas the Grand Rounds seem to be more specifically educational. In the mid-70s CPCs were included in Grand Rounds. In the 1980s other pathology conferences were also included.
Series III. Admission Books
Boxes 56-58
Daily admission books for the Neurology Institute, 1974-1998; includes summary information about patients. Later books show signs of past water damage.
Series IV. Appointments
Boxes 59-60
Departmental appointments, 1930-1980, including neurologists who served on Welfare Island in 1940.
Subject Headings and Related Records
Administrative Information
The papers were transferred in installments by the Department of Neurology and Lewis P. Rowland between 1996 and 2003. (Acc. nos. 1996.07.23, 1997.09.02, 2000.06.02, 2003.08.22).
Processed and arranged by Jennifer McGillan, December 2011 – April 2012. Duplicates and moldy items were discarded.