Northwestern University (Evanston, Ill.). Medical School
Biography
The Northwestern University Medical School began as the medical department of Lind University (later Lake Forest University) in 1859, located at Randolph and Market Streets in Chicago. In 1864, the medical department became an independent school, the Chicago Medical College, housed in a building at 22nd and State Streets. The founder of the College, Nathan Smith Davis, was an innovator in medical education who wanted to establish a three-year program that went beyond the traditional lecture-and-apprenticeship program. In 1870, the medical school affiliated with Northwestern, becoming the first professional school to be added to the liberal arts college in fulfillment of the founders' goal of creating a university. The school moved to a building at 26th Street and Prairie Avenue, where it remained until 1893. The Chicago Medical College became the Northwestern University Medical School in 1891. The Medical School moved again in 1893, to a Northwestern University plot of land on the twenty-four hundred block of South Dearborn, where it remained until Northwestern opened its Near North Side Chicago Campus in 1926.
Chicago Medical College founder Nathan Smith Davis served as the school's first dean from 1870, after its union with Northwestern, until 1898. Davis was followed by Franklin Seward Johnson (1898-1901). The third dean was Davis' son, Nathan Smith Davis, Jr. (1901-1907). The younger Davis' tenure as Dean was followed by those of Arthur Robin Edwards (1907-1916), Arthur Isaac Kendall (1916-1924), and Irving Samuel Cutler (1925-1941).
The medical school went through a number of changes in admission and graduation requirements during the first two decades of the twentieth century. In 1908 requirements for admission were raised to include one year of college, rather than just a high school diploma. In 1911, applicants were required to have completed two years of college. The American Medical Association itself did not require this level of education until 1918. Nathan Smith Davis, Jr., who favored more stringent requirements, clashed with his more traditional faculty over this issue and resigned his deanship in 1907.
In 1915, the medical school became one of six schools nationwide to require a fifth-year internship to earn the M.D. degree. These changes caused a drop in enrollment over the next few years, from 470 students in the 1909-1910 academic year to a low of 181 students in 1913-1914. Registration was up again to 413 students in 1919-1920 and, in the long run, the changes served to enhance the medical school's reputation.
For more information on the history of the Northwestern University Medical School, see Leslie B. Arey, Northwestern University Medical School, 1859-1979 (Evanston and Chicago: Northwestern University Medical School, 1979).
Found in 50 Collections and/or Records:
[Northwestern University Medical School centennial, Abbott Hall footage], 1959-09-29
Silent, black and white film of people entering, exiting, and standing outside of buildings on Northwestern University Medical School’s campus, including Abbott Hall and George R. Thorne Hall. Includes shots of the carved names of the two buildings on their exteriors.
[Northwestern University Medical School centennial footage], 1959-09-29
Northwestern University Medical School Curriculum Committee Records
Records of the Northwestern University Medical School Medical Council
The Medical Council Records fill two boxes and date between 1914 to 1949, with the bulk of the records dating between 1943 and 1949, documenting the Medical School deanship of J. Roscoe Miller. Records consist primarily of notes and minutes of the meetings held within this time period.
Records of the Office of the Registrar, Northwestern University Medical School
Office of Graduate Medical Education - Administrative Subject Files
These records consist of administrative subject files from the office of Northwestern University's Associate Dean of Graduate Medical Education. They document relations between the Office and participating hospitals, Medical School departments, and local and national medical agencies.
Martin H. Seifert (1902-1985) Papers
Tom D. Spies papers
Papers related to the career of nutritionist Tom D. Spies, including reports and promotional information about the Institute of Nutrition at Northwestern University and the Spies Committee for Clinical Research.
Weller Van Hook papers
Writings, drawings, and photos related to the surgical practice of Weller Van Hook, Chair of Surgery at Northwestern University Medical School, 1896-1908.
William F. Windle papers
Two typewritten manuscripts by William F. Windle, PhD - a 1943 Founders' Day address titled "The Beginning of Anatomy in Our Medical School" and a 1940 book titled "Physiology of the Fetus: Origin and Extent of Function in Prenatal Life" - with accompanying correspondence.