The collection is stored off-site. Researchers will need to request this material from Archives & Special Collections at least two business days in advance to use the collection in our reading room. Generally, Archives & Special Collections will not recall more 12 boxes at a time.
Because the illustrations include Confidential Health Information (CHI) as defined by Columbia University policies governing data security and privacy, access is allowed only under the terms of Archives and Special Collections’ Access Policy to Records Containing Protected Health Information.
Copyright is jointly retained by Columbia University and New York-Presbyterian Hospital. Requests for permission to reproduce images from the collection should be directed to the Head, Archives & Special Collections, Augustus C. Long Health Sciences Library, Columbia University Irving Medical Center.
Illustrations of eye diseases and conditions created by medical illustrators employed by the Columbia University Department of Ophthalmology, 1911-1973.
History and Biography
Although ophthalmological instruction appears to have been offered at the College of Physicians and Surgeons (P&S) on an occasional basis as early as the 1820s, the first professor of ophthalmology, Cornelius R. Agnew, was only appointed in 1867. A formal department emerged in the early twentieth century with an “Executive Officer” (chairman) first appearing in the 1915/16 P&S annual catalog.
A gift of $5 million by philanthropist Edward S. Harkness led to the construction of a separate structure for the department which opened in January 1933. Though formally known as the Edward S. Harkness Institute of Ophthalmology, it is generally referred to as the Eye Institute.
In 1940, the Herman Knapp Memorial Hospital, founded in 1869 as the New York Ophthalmic and Aural Institute, merged with the department and its assets were used to support the Knapp Memorial Laboratory of Physiological Optics. A laboratory addition was opened in 1970.
Sources: Wheeler, Maynard C. The Eye Institute in New York: An Intimate History (New York: Cooper Square Publishers, 1969); Merriam, John C. The Collection of Medical Illustrations of the Edward S. Harkness Eye Institute of the Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center in the City of New York (New York, 2001); Columbia University, College of Physicians & Surgeons, Annual Catalogue, 1915/16.
Organization
In drawing number order which is roughly chronological.
Archives & Special Collections holds an item listing for the collection published in 2001 as The Collection of Medical Illustrations of the Edward S. Harkness Eye Institute of the Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center in the City of New York. It was compiled and edited by John C. Merriam, Clinical Professor of Ophthalmology at Columbia.
Illustrations of eye diseases and conditions created by medical illustrators in the Columbia University Department of Ophthalmology, 1911-1973. A wide range of ophthalmological diseases are documented, almost all taken from patients seen in the department. Most of the illustrations are in color and appear to have been made in pen and ink on paper.
The collection holds 2732 numbered folders and four unnumbered folders; however most folders contain more than one illustration, some of which are duplicates but many of which were done over time of the same patient or are images of multiple patients with the same diagnosis. A few folders are empty.
The versos of the images usually include name of patient, date of examination, name of examining ophthalmologist, and diagnosis. Among the ophthalmologists most frequently represented in the collection are A. Gerard DeVoe, John H. Dunnington, Daniel B. Kirby, Algernon Reese, and John M. Wheeler.
The overwhelming majority of the illustrations were done by Emil G. “Gus” Bethke (1906-1995) who was employed at the Eye Institute, 1933-1973. The surnames of several other illustrators employed by the department appear on the drawings but it has not been possible to determine their full names. The exceptions are Emily Freret, who worked for Dr. John M. Wheeler before he came to Columbia in the late 1920s, and Marjorie Quinlan who worked for the department in the 1930s and later married Bethke.
Subject Headings and Related Records
Administrative Information
Transfer from the Columbia University Department of Ophthalmology, 2005 (accession #2017.044).