Christian A. Herter Collection

Biography

Christian A. Herter was born in Glenville, Connecticut. He received his M.D. from the College of Physicians and Surgeons at Columbia University in 1885, and studied at Johns Hopkins University and in Europe in 1886. He was a student in William H. Welch’s laboratory at Bellevue in 1885 and was widely known for the establishment of his private laboratory on the top floor of his large house on Madison Avenue in New York. He served on the faculty and staffs of several New York City medical schools and hospitals and was instrumental in the organization of the Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research. He cofounded and edited the Journal of Biological Chemistry. Herter, with his wife, Susan, funded an endowed lectureship at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in 1902.

Scope and Content

The Christian A. Herter Collection spans his entire career, and consists primarily of Herter’s correspondence. Prominent correspondents include Paul Ehrlich, William Osler, and William H. Welch. There is a large body of correspondence concerning Herter’s benzoate paper of 1910. Also included are materials and correspondence related to Herter’s research on Louis Pasteur, including an unpublished manuscript Louis Pasteur and His Service to Mankind. In addition to Herter’s correspondence, there are several files of correspondence between H. D. Dakin and other medical professionals. Dakin had worked with Herter in his private laboratory before serving overseas during World War I. Upon his return to the United States, Dakin married Herter’s widow, moved the laboratory to Scarsdale, and continued the research Herter had left unfinished at his death. The collection is a resource for studying the development of the field of biological chemistry.

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