Staff Recommendation: Directory of Deceased American Physicians, 1804-1929

The two-volume Directory of Deceased American Physicians, 1804-1929 provides biographical sketches on over 149,000 deceased medical practitioners who practiced medicine between 1804 and 1929. The sketches are derived from a card file started by the American Medical Association in 1847.

Arranged alphabetically, each entry contains data fields for practitioner’s name, gender, date of death, maiden name, place of death, date and place of birth, type of practice and specialties, states and years of licenses, places and dates of practices, hospital affiliations, medical school, and any licensure actions. Most helpfully, there are often citations for obituary notices in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA). Not all data fields are complete for all entries. There are even special indexes to African-American, female, homeopathic, and osteopathic practitioners.

This source is a gold mine for those with nineteenth- and early twentieth-century medical professionals in their families! It is available in the Newberry’s General Reading Room, Call No. Local History Ref R712.A1 D57 1993