19th Century Indiana Physicians Biographical Database-John Shaw Billings, M.D.

John Shaw Billings, M.D.
(1838-1913)

Image | Biographical Information | Related Writings | Weblinks

Artwork by Charles Lindbergh Sternecker of John Shaw Billings, M.D.
The John Shaw Billings History of Medicine Society, Incorporated presented this original plaque by Charles Lindbergh Sternecker to the Ruth Lilly Medical Library of the Indiana University School of Medicine September 25, 1989. The work is based on a photograph of J.S. Billings taken after his promotion to major.

On display in the History of Medicine Room, Room 307 of the Ruth Lilly Medical Library, Indiana University School of Medicine.

Biographical Information

John Shaw Billings (1838-1913) was born in Allensville near Vevay, Indiana. He graduated from Miami University and the Medical College of Ohio. In 1862 he joined the U.S. Army Medical Department. During the American Civil War he organized hospitals in Washington, D.C. He served in the field at the battles of Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, during the Wilderness Campaign and the Siege of Petersburg.

Staying in the Army Medical Corps after the war Billings organized the Library and Museum of the Office of the Surgeon General of the United States Army and other army records. This work lead him to work on the United States Census. He was also active with the National Board of Health during this period.

Known as an expert in planning hospitals, Billings was asked to plan the hospital for Johns Hopkins University. Later he planned the six other medical institutions and was a professor of Hygiene at the University of Pennsylvania. He was chairperson of the Board of the Carnegie Institution for ten years.

Best known for his work in libraries and bibliographies Billings built the collection of the Office of the Surgeon into the world renowned National Library of Medicine; supervised the publication of the Index Catalogue of the Library of the Office of the Surgeon General and Index Medicus, parent of the computer medical index MEDLINE; and planned the New York Public Library.

Writings about Billings and Related Topics

Chapman, Carleton B. Order Out of Chaos: John Shaw Billings and America's Coming of Age. Boston: The Boston Medical Library, 1994
Garrison, Fielding H. John Shaw Billings: a Memoir. New York and London: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1915.
Lydenburg, Harry Miller. John Shaw Billings: Creator the National Medical Library and its Catalogue First Director of the New York Public Library. Chicago, IL: American Library Association, 1924.
Miles, Wyndam. A History of the National Library of Medicine, the Nation's Treasury of Medical Knowledge. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1982.
Rogers, Frank Bradway. Selected Papers of John Shaw Billings. Chicago, IL: Medical Library Association, 1965.

Weblinks

Portrait of Colonel John Shaw Billings, M.D.,
Courtesy of the National Library of Medicine, Bethesda, Maryland, USA
History of the National Library of Medicine
Courtesy of the National Library of Medicine, Bethesda, Maryland, USA
History of the New York Public Library
Courtesy of the New York Public Library, New York City, New York, USA
John Shaw Billings, Lieutenant Colonel, United States Army
Courtesy of the Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington Virginia USA
Letter from John Shaw Billings, M.D. to Theophilus Parvin, M.D.

For further information, contact:

Nancy L. Eckerman, M.L.S.
Special Collections Librarian
Ruth Lilly Medical Library
Indiana University School of Medicine
975 W. Walnut Street
Indianapolis, IN 46202-5121

Phone: 317-274-2076
Fax: 317-278-2349
Email: billings@iupui.edu