MSS 2/0146-07 Acc. 1992-032-02 ABBE, ROBERT, 1851-1928, collector Memoranda of Joseph Lister, 1872-1922 Biographical Robert Waldo Abbe, New York surgeon, was born on 13 April1851. He married Catherine Amory Palmer in 1891. Abbe died of anemia, probably related to his work with radium, on 7March 1928. Abbe received an A.B. from the College of the City of New York in 1870 and an M.D. from the College of Physicians and surgeons in New York in 1874. He then served an internship at St. Luke's Hospital, New York. From 1877 to 1884, Abbe was Attending Surgeon in the outpatient Department of New York Hospital. He was also surgeon at St. Luke's Hospital and the Cancer Hospital and attending Surgeon at New York Babies' Hospital. Abbe held positions as Professor of Didactic Surgery at the woman's medical College of New York, 1878-1880, and Professor of surgery at the New York Post Graduate Medical School, 18881897. In 1898, he became Lecturer in Surgery at the College of Physicians and Surgeons. Robert Abbe was known for his pioneering work in intestinal anastomosis, spinal surgery, and the use of radium to treat cancer. He was a member of the American surgical association, the International Surgical Society, and the New York Surgical Society. In 1911, he became an associate fellow of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia. Scope and contents this scrapbook, "Memoranda of Joseph Lister", contains items collected by Robert Abbe. Included in the volume is a biography of Lister by Sir St. Clair Thomas (1859-1943);copies of photographs, engravings, and drawings of Listerand his family; pictures of the buildings where Listerlived, worked, and lectured; an autograph letter from Lister; and a letter to Abbe from Lister's biographer, Sir Rickman John Godlee (1849-1925). The autograph letter from Lister (in French, 26 Feb. 1891)was written to one of his colleagues. In the letter,Lister briefly discusses his studies of germs and leukocytes in the blood. Also present in the scrapbook is a letter to abbe from Sir Rickman John Godlee (16 Apr. 1922);apparently, Abbe asked Godlee for information about certain glass tubes belonging to Lister. In his letter, Godlee explains that these tubes were used by Lister later in his career for bacteriological work and inoculation experiments. Godlee then provides a description of the glass tubes and how they might have been used. Many of the printed items in the scrapbook, especially portraits of members of the Lister family, can be found in lord Lister, a biography by Sir Rickman John Godlee. In many cases, it appear as if Abbe cut the plates from this book to include in the scrapbook. Provenance the "Memoranda of Joseph Lister" scrapbook was donated to the College of Physicians of Philadelphia by Robert Abbe on 23 May 1921. The volume was transferred from the mutter museum to the Historical Collections of the Library on 4 January 1983. The volume was catalogued in 1992. 1872-1922 1 v. (26 items) 9/17/1992 wvg MSS 2/0146-07 Acc. 1992-032-02 ABBE, ROBERT, 1851-1928, collector Memoranda of Joseph Lister, 1872-1922 Page 3 1. Barraud, [?]. Photograph [copy] of Joseph Lister from the "Nature" Science Worthies Series (Messrs. MacMillan Co., Ltd.) [n.d.] (1 item) 5 2. Thomson, Sir St. Clair, 1859-1943. "A house surgeon's memories of Joseph Lister" from the Annals of Medical History [ca. 1919 June] (1 item) 21 3. Lister, Joseph Jackson, 1786-1869. Silhouette [copy] of "Lister aged 13 years" [n.d.] (1 item) 23 4. Daguerreotype [copy] of "Joseph Lister aged about 28" [n.d.] (1 item) 25 5. Photograph [copy] of Agnes Lister [n.d.] (1 item) 27 6. Photograph [copy] of "Joseph Lister aged about 40" [n.d.] (1 item) 29 7. Photograph of Joseph Lister [n.d.] (1 item) 31 8. Photograph [copy] of the model for Sir Thomas Brock's Lister medallion in Westminster Abbey [n.d.] (1 item) 33 9. Lister, Mary. Drawing [copy] of Upton House, birthplace of Joseph Lister [n.d.] (1 item) 35 10. Photograph [copy] of Upton House [n.d.] (1 item) 37 11. Rixens, M. Painting [copy] of Pasteur and Lister at the celebration of the 70th anniversary of Pasteur's birth (27 Dec. 1892) [n.d.] (1 item) 39 12. Engraving [copy] of Glasgow Infirmary, where Lister developed his antiseptic principles, 1860-1869 [n.d.] (1 item) 41 13. Inglis, F. C. Photograph [copy] of the Edinburgh Infirmary, where Lister served as Professor of Clinical Surgery, 1869-1877 [n.d.] (1 item) 43 14. Engraving of King's College, London, where Lister lectured, 1877-1893 [n.d.] (1 item) 45 15. Shepherd, T. H. and H. Melville. Engraving of "King's College. Distribution of the Prizes in the Theatre, by the Archbishop of Canterbury" [n.d.] (1 item) 47 16. Photograph [copy] of the tympanum of the Policlinico Umberto I in Rome which pictures Lister conducting a surgical clinic [n.d.] (1 item) 49 17. Photograph [copy] of Joseph Jackson Lister (father of Joseph Lister) [n.d.] (1 item) 51 18. Lister, Joseph Jackson, 1786-1869. Drawing [copy] of John Lister, Joseph Lister's grandfather [n.d.] (1 item) 53 19. Lister, Joseph Jackson, 1786-1869. Drawing [copy] of Isabella Lister, Joseph Lister's grandmother [n.d.] (1 item) 55 20. Photograph [copy] of James Syme (1799-1870), Professor of Clinical Surgery at the University of Edinburgh, predecessor and father in law of Joseph Lister [n.d.] (1 item) 57 21. Lister, Sir Joseph, 1827-1912. Autograph letter signed [in French] : Portland Place [London, England], to [?], [n.p.], 1891 Feb. 26 (1 item) 59 22. Class Certificate of Merit from the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Edinburgh to George Hoyle, signed by Joseph Lister [1872] (1 item) 61 23. Godlee, [Sir] R[ickman] J[ohn], 1849-1925. Autograph letter signed : Whitchurch, Oxon., [England], to [Robert] Abbe, [n.p.], 1922 Apr. 16 (1 item) 63 24. Photograph [copy] of Joseph Lister [n.d.] (1 item) Donated by William W. Keen, 1925 Nov. 16 63 25. Autograph notes concerning names to be engraved on the cover of the Lister scrapbook [n.d.] (2 items) 1872-1922 1 v. (26 items) 9/17/1992 wvg