Photographs, and a few prints, of people, buildings, events, groups, and activities associated with the Medical Center and its predecessor institutions. They date from the early 19th century to the present and are organized by topic. These images have come from a wide variety of Medical Center offices and in many cases are unidentified and undated. A subject list is available.

Photographs, and a few prints, of people, buildings, events, groups and activities of the Columbia University School of Nursing and its predecessor, the Presbyterian Hospital School of Nursing (founded 1892).










Images date from c.1900 to the present. They are arranged in roughly chronological order.

The over 100,000 images taken by Elizabeth "Libby" Wilcox (1916-2000), the unofficial Medical Center photographer from 1957 to 1991, comprise an unparalleled picture of life at one American medical center during the last half of the 20th century. As the wife of Herbert Wilcox, Jr., a long-time faculty member and attending physician at Columbia-Presbyterian, Mrs. Wilcox had unhindered access to the workings of the Medical Center. She illustrated countless in-house publications including annual reports, fundraising brochures, school catalogs, and the Center's monthly newsletter, the Stethoscope. While it covers a wide range of activities, the collection is unusually rich in images of nursing, pediatrics and surgery. It is also a visual record of the vast changes that took place in the physical fabric of the Medical Center during this period.

Most of the collection remains in negative form. However, after deeding the collection to Columbia-Presbyterian in 1991, Mrs. Wilcox compiled an index to the collection which can be consulted at Archives & Special Collections.

Prints and photographs of prominent figures in the history of medicine. The quality of the illustrations range from original 17th and 18th century prints and engravings to photogravures cut out of 20th century newspapers and journals.

The collection seems to have originated as a library study collection in the 1930s and the department does not now actively add to it.

Personal papers held by Archives & Special Collection often include photographs. These images are kept together with the papers and are noted in the finding aid.