Henry Barton Jacobs Collection

Biography

Henry Barton Jacobs was born in Hingham, Massachusetts. He received his A.B. in 1883 and his M.D. in 1887, both from Harvard University. Jacobs came to Baltimore to become the private physician for Robert Garrett, then president of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. After Garrett’s death in 1896, he joined the faculty of the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, retiring in 1905. He maintained an interest in tuberculosis and took an active role in the anti-tuberculosis campaign. In 1911, he was elected a trustee of the Johns Hopkins Hospital, a position he held until his death. Jacobs married Mary Frick Garrett, Robert Garrett’s widow, in 1902. In the latter part of his career Jacobs cultivated interests in the fine arts and the history of medicine. In 1932, he donated his collection of medical books, medallions, and engravings, and a room to house the collection, to the Johns Hopkins University’s Institute of the History of Medicine.

Scope and Content

The Henry Barton Jacobs Collection spans his entire career. It consists of correspondence with individuals and organizations (1887-1939), scrapbooks (1893-1930s), papers regarding the Osler Anniversary Volume (1919-1921), and two boxes of “tuberculosis clippings” (1904-1916). Key correspondents include Harvey Cushing and William Halsted. Jacobs’ correspondence may be found in the personal paper collections of John Jacob Abel, Thomas B. Cullen, William S. Halsted, Adolf Meyer, William Osler, and William H. Welch.

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