J Neurosurg 75:489-490, 1991
Historical Vignette
The Sterling Hall of Medicine, Yale University School of Medicine WILLIAM F. COlA,INS, M.D. Yale UniversiO' School qf MedJcine, New Haven. Connecticut
~" A brief history of the Sterling Hall of Medicine at Yale University is presented; this building was erected and dedicated in 1925. This event signified the beginning of a new era for the Yale University School of Medicine, making it possible to attract a caliber of faculty that has enabled the School to attain its present place in medical education. Kvv WORDS 9 Yale University School of Medicine historical vignette
HE opening of the Sterling Hall of Medicine at the Yale University School of Medicine in 1925 signified the entrance of the Medical School into the modern era of medical education. Although the School had made significant strides during the first two decades of this century, the Sterling Hall of Medicine provided the facilities necessary for it to become a modern School of Medicine. From the founding of the School of Medicine at Yale in 1812, it had both administrative and physical separation from the main body of Yale University and New Haven Hospital. This was in part because the charter of the School was granted by the State of Connecticut not to Yale University but to the Connecticut Medical Society and the School's faculty was appointed by nomination from the Connecticut Medical Society in accordance with that original charter. In 1884, that process was changed so that the faculty became an integral part of Yale University, and faculty appointments, granting of degrees, and administration of funds were all vested in Yale. The School, however, remained geographically separated from the University and New Haven Hospital because the preclinical teaching facilities, the preclinical and clinical laboratories, and the clinical teaching facilities were in different areas of New Haven. In 1920, the Prudential Committee of the Yale Corporation recommended that the Sterling Trustees be asked to set aside $1,320,000 to build a Medical School building encompassing a library, administrative offices for the School and its departments, laboratories for
T
J. Neurosurg. / Volume 75/September, I99I
history of neurosurgery
9
the preclinical departments of the School, and an animal house for experimentation; the facility would be adjacent to New Haven Hospital and the clinical departmental facilities that had been developed near the Hospital. Both the Yale Corporation and the Sterling Trustees accepted the recommendation, and a building was planned and erected on Cedar Street across from the Hospital and the Medical School's recently built Brady Memorial Laboratories. On February 23, 1925, on behalf of the Sterling Trust, Mr. George Hervey Church presented the Ster-
FIG. 1. The Sterling Hall of Medicine at Yale University School of Medicine. Artist: John Desley. See also the cover. 489
W. F. Collins ling Hall of Medicine to President James Rowland Angell. Dr. Harvey Cushing and Dr. William Welch were speakers at the dedication. Dean Winternitz in his annual report of 1925 noted that "the Sterling Hall of Medicine amply meets the ideals of the departments planned to utilize its facilities." This was probably one of the few times a clean of the Medical School at Yale University has been able to make such a statement. With these new resources, Dean Winternitz was able to attract the caliber of faculty that has enabled the School to attain its present place in medical education. That faculty rapidly filled the building's rooms and corridors and, within a few years, Broad Street (which ran along
490
the north border of the building) was closed and an addition, The Institute of Human Relations, was built. More additions to the building have been made over the years but the Sterling Hall of Medicine still stands not only as enduring evidence of the beginning of the modem era of medicine at Yale but also as the geographical and spiritual center of the Yale University School of Medicine.
Address reprint requests to: William F. Collins, M.D., Department of Surgery, 333 Cedar Street, FMB 102, New Haven, Connecticut 06510.
J. Neurosurg. / Volume 75/September, 1991
Historical Vignette
The Sterling Hall of Medicine, Yale University School of Medicine WILLIAM F. COlA,INS, M.D. Yale UniversiO' School qf MedJcine, New Haven. Connecticut
~" A brief history of the Sterling Hall of Medicine at Yale University is presented; this building was erected and dedicated in 1925. This event signified the beginning of a new era for the Yale University School of Medicine, making it possible to attract a caliber of faculty that has enabled the School to attain its present place in medical education. Kvv WORDS 9 Yale University School of Medicine historical vignette
HE opening of the Sterling Hall of Medicine at the Yale University School of Medicine in 1925 signified the entrance of the Medical School into the modern era of medical education. Although the School had made significant strides during the first two decades of this century, the Sterling Hall of Medicine provided the facilities necessary for it to become a modern School of Medicine. From the founding of the School of Medicine at Yale in 1812, it had both administrative and physical separation from the main body of Yale University and New Haven Hospital. This was in part because the charter of the School was granted by the State of Connecticut not to Yale University but to the Connecticut Medical Society and the School's faculty was appointed by nomination from the Connecticut Medical Society in accordance with that original charter. In 1884, that process was changed so that the faculty became an integral part of Yale University, and faculty appointments, granting of degrees, and administration of funds were all vested in Yale. The School, however, remained geographically separated from the University and New Haven Hospital because the preclinical teaching facilities, the preclinical and clinical laboratories, and the clinical teaching facilities were in different areas of New Haven. In 1920, the Prudential Committee of the Yale Corporation recommended that the Sterling Trustees be asked to set aside $1,320,000 to build a Medical School building encompassing a library, administrative offices for the School and its departments, laboratories for
T
J. Neurosurg. / Volume 75/September, I99I
history of neurosurgery
9
the preclinical departments of the School, and an animal house for experimentation; the facility would be adjacent to New Haven Hospital and the clinical departmental facilities that had been developed near the Hospital. Both the Yale Corporation and the Sterling Trustees accepted the recommendation, and a building was planned and erected on Cedar Street across from the Hospital and the Medical School's recently built Brady Memorial Laboratories. On February 23, 1925, on behalf of the Sterling Trust, Mr. George Hervey Church presented the Ster-
FIG. 1. The Sterling Hall of Medicine at Yale University School of Medicine. Artist: John Desley. See also the cover. 489
W. F. Collins ling Hall of Medicine to President James Rowland Angell. Dr. Harvey Cushing and Dr. William Welch were speakers at the dedication. Dean Winternitz in his annual report of 1925 noted that "the Sterling Hall of Medicine amply meets the ideals of the departments planned to utilize its facilities." This was probably one of the few times a clean of the Medical School at Yale University has been able to make such a statement. With these new resources, Dean Winternitz was able to attract the caliber of faculty that has enabled the School to attain its present place in medical education. That faculty rapidly filled the building's rooms and corridors and, within a few years, Broad Street (which ran along
490
the north border of the building) was closed and an addition, The Institute of Human Relations, was built. More additions to the building have been made over the years but the Sterling Hall of Medicine still stands not only as enduring evidence of the beginning of the modem era of medicine at Yale but also as the geographical and spiritual center of the Yale University School of Medicine.
Address reprint requests to: William F. Collins, M.D., Department of Surgery, 333 Cedar Street, FMB 102, New Haven, Connecticut 06510.
J. Neurosurg. / Volume 75/September, 1991
