Holmes, Oliver Wendell (1809-1894), American physician and poet

Three autograph letters by Holmes: two to dr. Fothergill (dated 2 June 1882 and 24 May 1886) and one to unknown man dated 25 March 1872. One letter by Holmes' assistant, in his name, to unknown man, dated 31 Dec 1887. Handwritten note by Holmes to 'Miss Lowe', dated 6 May 1892.

The file also includes two microfilm fragments with all the documents photographed.

Purchased from Tregaskis, December 1927 (acc.68017); either from Desgranges, Paris, January 1936, or Glendining, London, c.1932 (acc.69292).

Presented by Mrs. Fothergill, September 1927 (acc.67370); acquired by the Wellcome Historical Medical Museum in the early 20th century, precise details of acquisition not available (A.556).

Oliver Wendell Holmes was born on 29 August 1809 in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He graduated from Harvard in 1829 and briefly studied law before turning to the medical profession and getting his M.D. from Harvard Medical School in 1836. He taught at Dartmouth College 1838-1840 and in 1847 became a professor at Harvard until his retirement in 1882 (he was a dean of HMS 1847-1853).

He married Amelia Lee Jackson in 1840 and they had three children. Although most famous as a poet, wit and essayist ("The Autocrat of the Breakfast-Table, 1858), he is also recognized as an important medical reformer. His paper 'The contagiousness of puerperal fever' (1843) was deemed very important in the medical research in America at the time. He began writing poetry at an early age and continued to write poems and prose until his death in 1894.