“A few things motivated me to do this exhibit,” Murphy said. ” I recognized the names of doctors from my research project while interning at the Buffalo History Museum, digitizing glass plate negatives from their Howard Beach Collection. I found a war medal from one of the doctors and learned they were UB graduates—one even became head of the surgery department. I also explored the Elsie Blanche Augustine Collection, which helped put the pieces together and provided great visual aids and timelines to tell the Base Hospital 23 story.”

Fort Porter, once located between Busti Avenue, Vermont Street, Massachusetts Street and Interstate 190, played a critical role during World War I. In 1917, it served as the headquarters for Base Hospital 23, a Buffalo-based medical unit organized by the Greater Buffalo Chapter of the Red Cross and Buffalo General Hospital. The unit was deployed to Vittel, France, where it converted seven hotels into fully operational hospitals to care for wounded soldiers, particularly during the Saint-Mihiel and Meuse-Argonne offensives.

Olmsted’s Buffalo Parks, 1914 map. Courtesy of the UB Libraries Map Collection.

Despite its historical significance, Fort Porter has largely been forgotten. Murphy was surprised to find no plaques or markers commemorating the site.

“When I found out about Fort Porter, I became very interested in where it was,” he said. “I learned that it was connected to the north side of Front Park, so I went there and tried to find any plaque or monument that referenced its existence. Any Buffalonians I asked had never heard of Fort Porter. After walking around the whole park, I saw no reference or evidence of it, despite it being there for almost 90 years. A piece of Buffalo history was bulldozed over and pretty much forgotten, so I thought it would be worth highlighting the fort and the hospital units because this era was when it made its most significant impact.”

The exhibit also delves into Fort Porter’s transformation into U.S. General Hospital No. 4, which specialized in psychiatric care for soldiers returning from overseas service.

United States of America General Hospital Number 4, Fort Porter, New York. A group of patients is in the solarium.

“The hospital pulled experienced psychiatric doctors and aides from hospitals around the country to help soldiers who had returned home with shell shock (now known as PTSD),” Murphy noted. “Additionally, with outbreaks of Spanish flu in 1918, staff and patients had to do what they could to treat the sick and slow the spread of the flu through vigilant sanitation and the use of masks.”

Fort Porter and the U.S. Medical Corps offers a fascinating glimpse into a pivotal time in Buffalo’s history and features artifacts, photographs, and documents from multiple collections that tell the story of Fort Porter’s transformation during the war.

“It’s not just about the buildings or the dates,” Murphy emphasized. “It’s about the people who served, the lives that were saved, and the stories that have been almost lost to time. It’s a way to honor their legacy and ensure their contributions are remembered.”

Fort Porter and the U.S. Medical Corps is on display through March 2026 in the basement of Abbott Hall on the University at Buffalo’s South Campus. For those unable to visit in person, an online version of the exhibit is available.

With this exhibit, a forgotten chapter of Buffalo’s military and medical history is once again in the spotlight.

The exhibition reveals to visitors a small selection of the vast materials housed in the History of Medicine Collection located in historic Abbott Hall on UB’s South Campus. From third-century A.D. Roman surgical instruments to 19^th– and 20^th-century materials documenting the history of UB’s medical and health sciences schools, this distinctive collection encompasses an abundance of rich historical resources intended to educate and inspire students, researchers, scholars, and a wide, global community. Established in 1972, and named in 1985 for Robert L. Brown, MD, former associate dean of the School of Medicine, the collection’s primary focus is on the healthcare professions in Western New York. The collection contains over 20,000 rare medical and scientific books and journals, anatomical models, diagnostic tools and other artifacts documenting healthcare advancements.

“This marks our first large-scale exhibition on the north campus,” says Keith Mages, curator of the History of Medicine Collection. “It’s an incredible opportunity, one that enables engagement with broader audiences likely unfamiliar with the fascinating history of healthcare.”

Arranged in thematic sections of medicine, dentistry, pharmacy and nursing, each area represents a minuscule sampling of the extraordinary resources that can be viewed in the larger collection. Highlights of A Portal to the Past include instruments and works related to the history of neurosurgery; historic photographs and ephemera documenting the international practice of dentistry; a brass mortar and pestle, a desktop snow globe, and packaged herbs and medications representing pharmacy’s past; and an assemblage of books and artifacts relevant to the history of nursing.

“Although our collection of rare books, artifacts, and manuscripts revolve around health and healthcare, we work to remind visitors that our historic materials are direct reflections of the larger societies from which they emerged,” continues Mages. “Who was treated when ill? Who is left out of the narrative? What was done when effective treatment was not available? What was classified as an illness? Questions like these allow our objects to become potent tools, able to provide incredible insights into human innovation, knowledge development, and the fears, paradoxes, and progress of diverse cultures.”

This exhibition exposes visitors to the remarkable resources available in the collection on South Campus, marking a return to a bygone era of medicine. By acquiring, collecting, preserving and exhibiting these treasured resources, the collection seeks to chart the future by exploring the past. A Portal to the Past: The Robert L. Brown History of Medicine Collection will be on display until August 2024.

For more information about this exhibition or to schedule a tour of the Robert L. Brown History of Medicine Collection, please contact Keith Mages, curator of the Robert L. Brown History of Medicine Collection.

These questions and more fascinating pieces of information can be found in the new “175 Years of Medicine at UB” guide, created by librarians Matt Gadziala and Nell Aronoff.

A particularly fun table of “yells” published in early yearbooks includes “Chic-a-ruck-a-rew!” from 1902, and “Cut, slash, carve, Stir, rub, mix” from 1906.

The guide includes sections on People (Founders, Faculty, and Alumni), Places (the five buildings that housed the Medical School from 1846 to today), and Resources (Books, Digital, Oral Interviews, and University Archives and History of Medicine holdings).

Enjoy a few relaxing minutes browsing!

https://booking.lib.buffalo.edu/event/3968353

https://booking.lib.buffalo.edu/event/3968362

Millard Fillmore Suburban Hospital

On January 8th and January 11th Liz Stellrecht and Linda Lohr were delighted to attend the annual Erie 1 BOCES Connections debates at Buffalo General Medical Center and Millard Fillmore Suburban Hospital, respectively. Christine Tillman and Shatonia Thornton, the Connections Instructors, brought their classes to the Health Sciences Library in November where they worked with librarian Liz Stellrecht who taught them how to search for scholarly information to support their debate arguments on a hot topic in health care and to help them write a paper about the topic. Following the instruction session the groups spent time visiting the History of Medicine Collection.

Buffalo General Medical Center

The topics for the debates were “Resolved: It is ethical to suspend HIPAA in an emergency” and “Resolved: Prescription Opiates Should Remain Legal”. The programs began with a background of each topic presented by students who made up the Education Team followed by the Affirmative and Negative sides stating their arguments. Each side then asked questions of the other side

after which came their closing statements. Regardless of who won, the teams did an excellent job of demonstrating the hard work and research that went into supporting their arguments. Their passion and conviction was evident which made the experience even more enjoyable. Liz and Linda look forward to working with BOCES/Connections in the future and to attending these debates!

Shatonia Thornton from Millard Fillmore Suburban Hospital and Christine Tillman from the Buffalo General Medical Center brought their students to the History of Medicine on September 25th and October 20th, respectively. I gave both groups a tour and prepared a “hands on” display of some the book and instrument highlights of the Collection. It’s always exciting to share the history of medicine and the health sciences with these very bright students who may never have seen these kinds of materials up close and personal. The groups responded very enthusiastically to the visit! As always I learn from them as much as I hope they learn from me. I look forward to doing it again next year.

Following lunch the afternoon was spent at the amazing Cleveland Museum of Natural History where participants toured the new Human Health Galleries and the Hamann-Todd Osteological Collection with more than 3,000 cadaver-derived human skeletons (I actually got to hold a human leg bone in my hand!) and learned about the Centennial Campaign to transform CMNH galleries. In the evening guests enjoyed a fabulous meal at a restaurant in Cleveland’s Little Italy. Kudos to James Edmonson, Brandy Schillace, and all the folks involved in making this a truly memorable and educational event!

And the band played on…….

The Convention attracted local practicing dentists, dental hygienists and dental hygiene students, dental assistants and other office staff as well as faculty, staff and students from the School of Dental Medicine.  It was most enjoyable to meet new people and get reacquainted with individuals from previous meetings. Entertainment was provided on the first night by an all-dentists band! We look forward to participating in this wonderful event next year!

PS – Congratulations to the UB School of Dental Medicine on its 125th Anniversary!

Over 20 attendees from organizations in the Buffalo Niagara region heard from speakers representing three different “space sharing” experiences: Hamburg municipal governments (Brian Wielinski), The Niagara Arts & Cultural Center (the NACC; Rachel  Macklin Olszewski) and the Buffalo Irish Genealogical Society (BIGS) at the Heritage Discovery Center (Diane Blaser and Donna Shine). Brian described how four different government entities share and manage a physical records storage space in Hamburg, Rachel described the genesis of the NACC and how it has evolved into an anchor for the community, offering space for individuals and organizations in the performing arts, music, culture, folk art, and more; Donna and Diane shared their experiences at the Heritage Discovery Center where their BIGS collection is housed in a physical space owned by the WNY Railway Society as part of an exchange in services that the Railway group gets help from them in cataloging their railroad collections.

Discussion topics included grants and other funding sources for building physical spaces; the pros and cons of owning versus renting a physical space; balancing exhibit, storage and processing spaces; ways that organizations can connect among themselves and with other community groups to identify common interests and collecting strengths, facilitating moving towards a shared space experience and more! One main thought that came out of the event was that perhaps there is a need to conduct a major assessment of collections content across the region. Knowing what collections are held by different organizations (what topics or subjects they cover) as well as physical attributes like volume of materials, physical condition, degree to which a collection is processed  and or is cataloged in some fashion – all this could go a long way towards mobilizing a plan of action.

Heidi Bamford

WNYLRC Watch 9/15/2017

While they were here Dr. Pamela Jones, Assistant Dean of the School of Dental Medicine, graciously provided the guests with a tour of the Dental School where they were able to see a number of dental articulators.  Before they left for the next leg of their travels, they had the opportunity to visit Niagara Falls! It was a great pleasure to spend time with Dr. Li, Dr. Yang and Dr. Zhong and hopefully they may be able to return in future.