Selections from the Papers of Murdina MacFarquhar Desmond, MD Digitized and Online

By Joy Oria, Archives Intern

Almost two hundred items from the Murdina MacFarquhar Desmond, MD papers have been digitized and are now available online. Dr. Desmond (1916-2003) contributed to the fields of pediatrics and neonatology during her long tenure (1948-1986) on the pediatrics faculty of Baylor College of Medicine and service to Jefferson Davis Hospital and Texas Children’s Hospital.

Among the digitized items are photographs of Jefferson Davis Hospital’s staff, nurseries, and infant patients. They demonstrate Dr. Desmond’s research for the Hartford Project in the 1960s to the closure of the hospital in 1989.

Photographs of speakers and attendees at events such as award ceremonies for Dr. Desmond and her retirement in 1986 document the neonatology and pediatrics communities of Houston and the United States. These images show figures such as Dr. Arnold J. Rudolph, Dr. L. Stanley James, and Dr. Charles W. Daeschner, as well as hospital leaders like Dr. Russell Blattner and Dr. Ralph Feigin from Baylor College of Medicine and Texas Children’s Hospital. Women in medicine are also well represented with photographs of Dr. Martha Yow, Dr. Katherine Hsu, Dr. Catherine Roett-Reid, Dr. Florence Heys, Dr. Reba Michels Hill, and Dr. Leora Andrew.

Given Dr. Desmond’s long affiliation with Baylor College of Medicine, much material represents Baylor’s history. Group faculty photographs of the pediatrics department range from a mere five people in 1954 to over eighty people in 1966. A panoramic black-and-white print shows the newly constructed Roy and Lillie Cullen Building as it appeared in 1947.

Dr. Desmond’s service in the U.S. Naval Reserve – Women’s Reserve during World War II is documented with photographs of her military service and uniform. Digital images of her insignia show the threadwork that created these historical badges for women serving in the Naval Reserve, also known as WAVES (Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service).

Transcripts of oral history interviews and speeches can also be found in this collection. Dr. Desmond recalls her experiences entering the medical profession, handling epidemics in the nurseries of Jefferson Davis Hospital, and serving on the care team of David Vetter, a well-known patient of severe combined immunodeficiency.

A few historical postcards representing infant care in the early 1900s show early incubators and baby bottles.

If you’d like to learn more about Dr. Murdina MacFarquhar Desmond or other history-making women in the archives, contact us or make an appointment to visit the McGovern Historical Center.