Henry Mills Hurd Collection

Biography

Henry Mills Hurd was born in Union City, Michigan. He received his A.B. in 1863 and his M.D. in 1866, both from the University of Michigan. After a brief time in general practice and work in dispensaries in Chicago and New York City, he embarked upon a career in psychiatry and hospital administration. From 1870 to 1878, he served as assistant physician for the Michigan Asylum for the Insane and from 1878 to 1889 as medical superintendent of Eastern Michigan Asylum. Having earned an impressive reputation as a hospital administrator, he was appointed the first superintendent of the Johns Hopkins Hospital shortly after it opened in 1889 and remained there until his retirement in 1911. Hurd also served on the faculty of psychiatry at the school of medicine. He played a significant role in guiding the early development of the Johns Hopkins Hospital. One of his greatest contributions was fostering biomedical communication. He served as editor of the American Journal of Insanity from 1897 until 1920, and of Modern Hospital from 1913 to 1920.

Scope and Content

The Henry Mills Hurd Collection spans his entire career. Series include professional and personal correspondence, unpublished manuscripts, speeches, and reprints. Particularly noteworthy in the collection is Hurd’s unpublished history of the Johns Hopkins Hospital which formed the basis of Alan Chesney’s later publication entitled The Johns Hopkins Hospital and The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. The collection is a resource for studying the early history of the Johns Hopkins Hospital.

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