A History of the CMLA

Elisabeth Severance Prentiss (1865-1944)

Elisabeth Severance Prentiss was an esteemed art collector and philanthropist who, along with her family, left a monumental impact on the CMLA and the entire Cleveland community. She was born on 1865 to parents Fanny Benedict and Louis Severance, and spent her early years in Cleveland, Ohio before attending school at Wellesley College in Wellesley, Massachusetts. In 1892, she married Dr. Dudley Peter Allen, an accomplished and innovative surgeon who was a primary founder of the Allen Memorial Medical Library through his gracious endowment. Throughout their lives together, they accumulated a remarkable art collection, and contributed tremendously to supporting and advancing the medical community in Cleveland. After Dr. Allen’s passing in 1915, Elisabeth continued to give back to the medical community, and she worked to develop and grow St. Luke’s Hospital, where she met, and later married its president, Dr. Francis Fleury Prentiss. They both became trustees of the hospital, and after Dr. Prentiss’s death, Elisabeth stepped in and became its president. Elisabeth made several notable philanthropic efforts throughout her life, including funding the constriction of the Allen Memorial Hospital and the Allen Art Museum in Oberlin, Ohio, founding the Elisabeth Severance Prentiss Foundation, and leading the funding of the Allen Memorial Medical Library, ensuring that it was named in honor of her late husband. In 1928, she was awarded with the Cleveland Medal for Public Service, and was the first woman to have accomplished this. The CMLA continues to honor Elisabeth’s selfless commitment to improving the medical community around her, and recognizes her as a principal benefactor of the organization.

Dudley Peter Allen (1852-1915)

Dudley Peter Allen was a renowned surgeon and professor who was the principal founder of the Cleveland Medical Library Association. He was born in Kinsman, Ohio to a family with a rich history in medicine, and attended Oberlin College before going to Harvard Medical School to become an M.D. in 1879. He eventually settled in Cleveland, Ohio, where he served as a predominant voice in the medical community as a surgical professor at Western Reserve Medical College, as well as the chief surgeon at Lakeside Hospital. He published many articles on surgical history and ethics during his time at Western Reserve, and was an eminent collector of art works, specifically Chinese porcelain. In 1894, Allen founded the CMLA, and served as its president between 1903 and 1906. To support the organization, Allen donated his entire personal medical library to the CMLA, where it now still exists at the Allen Memorial Medical Library, named in honor of him.

John H. Lowman (1849 – 1919)

John H. Lowman, M.D., was an esteemed doctor, professor, and philanthropist who dedicated his life to pursuing a cure and spreading awareness for tuberculosis. He is nearly solely responsible for Cleveland’s current reputation as a leader in tuberculosis treatment and prevention, as he founded the Anti-Tuberculosis League of Cleveland and Cuyahoga County, as well as the Ohio Public Health Association. He served as a professor at the Western Reserve Medical College, where he became Professor of Materia Medica and Therapeutics, and Professor of Medicine. Dr. Lowman was an impassioned speaker and lecturer who, among his many positions and responsibilities in the medical community, found time to inspire those around him and do everything in his power to fight against tuberculosis. Upon retirement, he provided a generous endowment to the CMLA, where he is now honored in the Allen Memorial Medical Library through the John H. Lowman Room.

Hunter Holmes Powell (1843-1915) 

Hunter Holmes Powell (1843-1915) was a prominent obstetrician, medical educator, and early Trustee of the Cleveland Medical Library Association. Powell came to Cleveland from Virginia in 1872 and joined the faculty of Western Reserve’s medical school. He became Lecturer and then Professor of Obstetrics and the Diseases of Children, and was considered Cleveland’s premier obstetrician. As Director in Charge of St. Ann’s Maternity Hospital, Powell offered his students valuable first-hand experience in obstetrics, something not common at the time. He served in many capacities at the medical school, including Dean from 1895 to 1900. Powell was also deeply involved in establishing guidelines and regulations for the profession, and campaigned for a medical library in Cleveland, helping to lay the groundwork for the Cleveland Medical Library Association. Powell generously gave his time to medical charities, being the presiding genius of St. Ann’s Maternity Hospital for 30 years. He served as Trustee from 1898 to 1906.

Henry Ebenezer Handerson (1837-1918)

Henry Ebenezer Handerson, M.D., (1837-1918) was a medical historian, writer, and professor who was a founder and president of the CMLA. He was born in Cleveland, Ohio where he spent much of his early years before attending boarding school and Hobart College in New York. For most of his childhood, Handerson struggled with frequent illness, but maintained his resolve in pursuing medicine after his time as a volunteer for the Stafford Guards in the American Civil War. He studied medicine at the College of Physicians and Surgeons in New York, where he became an M.D. in 1867. Handerson then practiced medicine in New York City until 1885, when he returned to Cleveland. During his time in Cleveland, he pursued his passion for medical history and writing, publishing several meticulous papers on the medical history, sanitation, and diseases of the city. In 1888, he met and married Clara Corlett, who he raised two children with. Towards the end of his career, Handerson served as the professor of hygiene and sanitary science at the University of Wooster from 1894 to 1896, and at the Cleveland College of Physicians and Surgeons from 1896 to 1907. During this time, he also served as president of the CMLA from 1896-1902 after helping found the organization, and continued to play an essential role in its operations for the rest of his life.

Harvey Williams Cushing (1869-1939)

Harvey Williams Cushing, M.D., was a major pioneer of neurosurgery whose work has left a monumental impact on neuroscience and the entire medical field. He was born on April 8, 1869 in Cleveland, Ohio into a large family with a history of esteemed physicians, and spent his childhood there before attending Yale University, where he graduated with a B.A. in 1891. Following his graduation, Cushing studied medicine at Harvard University and received his M.D. in 1895. He spent most of his career practicing in Baltimore, where he made countless contributions to medicine, including discovering the Cushing reflex and Cushing’s disease, developing several techniques for surgical operation on the brain, and training and mentoring many other neurosurgeons, like Walter Dandy, who eventually made their own lasting impact on the field. In addition to his medical achievements, Cushing served as a colonel in World War I, where his surgical expertise saved numerous lives and earned him a Distinguished Service Medal from the U.S. Army. He also became a Pulitzer Prize winning author in 1926 for his work in writing a powerful biography of Sir William Osler. By the end of his illustrious career, Cushing had amassed several awards and honors, including the Lister Medal, the Cameron Prize for Therapeutics of the University of Edinburgh, and serving as a fellow of the American Philosophical Society, Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, and the Royal Society of London. Upon his retirement from medical practice, he became the Sterling Professor of Neurology at the Yale School of Medicine. Today, his portrait (pictured below) is displayed at the Allen Memorial Medical Library in the Cushing Room.

Henry Justus Herrick

Dr. Henry Justus Herrick was born on January 20, 1833 in Aurora, Portage County, Ohio. He graduated from Williams College in 1858 and Rush Medical College in Chicago, Illinois, in 1861. After medical school he came to the Cleveland area to work at the U.S. Marine Hospital under Dr. Martin L. Brooks. Dr. Herrick was commissioned assistant surgeon and then promoted to surgeon with the 17th Ohio Volunteer Infantry during the Civil War. He was captured at the battle of Chickamauga and spent two months as a prisoner of war at Libby Prison. After the war ended, he became a professor and became chair of gynecology and hygiene in the medical department of Western Reserve University. He was a member of several medical societies and wrote articles for various medical journals. He died in 1901.

B. L. Millikin (1851-1916)

Benjamin Love Millikin (1851-1916) was a leading ophthalmologist in Cleveland, Dean of the Medical Department of Western Reserve University, and founding member of the Cleveland Medical Library Association. He was born in Trumbull County, Ohio, and received his medical degree from the University of Pennsylvania in 1879. Millikin supplemented his education by interning at the Wills Eye Hospital in Philadelphia, and visiting Europe’s premier ophthalmologic clinics. In 1882 he opened a private practice in Cleveland, and was attending physician at several hospitals and dispensaries in the city. In 1893 he became Professor of Ophthalmology at Western Reserve. While Dean there, from 1900 to 1912, Millikin saw the school through a period of notable progress, during which it entered the first rank of institutions of modern scientific medicine. In addition, he was Dudley Peter Allen’s closest associate in the planning and establishment of the Cleveland Medical Library Association. Millikin served as a Trustee from 1898 until his death, Vice-president between 1911-1913 and as President in 1914 -1915. He died in 1916 just as he had been re-elected for President, leaving behind a bequest to the Library of 25,000$ which was used to aid the purchase of the 122 feet frontage on Prospect Avenue for the Library.