by Sandra Yates, Archivist and Special Collections Librarian
Have you ever wondered what four years of medical school looks like? Or maybe even wondered about the courses, material, and techniques taught in medical schools in the 1930s?
Well, you’re in luck! I came across six volumes of notes taken by Edward Trowbridge Wolf during his studies at Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia (1929-1933). They cover all four years of his medical school courses and subjects from Anatomy to Urology.
Here’s a page from Volume V: Obstetrics and Gynecology. It details Cancer of Uterus, its symptoms and features, which was covered in Dr. Anspach’s Gynecology class on February 9, 1932.
Hope you read the above page thoroughly because it’s time for Dr. Schaeffer’s Gynecology Quiz! The answers are included, so I know you’ll do great!
Edward Trowbridge Wolf was born in Pittsburgh in 1900. He earned his medical degree in 1933 from Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia. Not long after, he moved to Houston and established an Internal Medicine practice at 4411 Fannin that lasted 46 years. During World War II, Dr. Wolf was a lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Army Medical Corp, serving in Australia and New Guinea. Before and after the war, Dr. Wolf was an active member in the Houston medical community as well as the growing Texas Medical Center. He held a faculty position at Baylor College of Medicine from 1943 to 1975. He served on the publication committees for both Methodist Hospital and Harris County Medical Society. He was editor of the Harris County Medical Society’s Medical Record and Annals for ten years. His papers are housed at The TMC Library’s McGovern Historical Center.