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The Philip Hench Walter Reed Collection
- Dr. Philip S. Hench with Mr. John J. Moran at Walter Reed Hospital, Washington, January 1944. Moran was one of several volunteers to be bitten by infected Aedes mosquitoes at Camp Lazear.
- Hench-Reed Collection, Historical Collections & Services, CMHSL
The Philip S. Hench Walter Reed-Yellow Fever Collection is housed in the Wilhelm Moll Rare Book and Medical History Room of the University of Virginia’s Claude Moore Health Sciences Library.
The Collection is primarily a yellow fever archive, but it also includes military artifacts and rare photos of American troops during the Spanish-American War and First American Occupation of Cuba (1898-1902). The mixture of medical and military items inspired the idea for this exhibit.
Dr. Philip S. Hench, co-winner of the 1950 Nobel Prize for his work with cortisone, collected books, articles, correspondence, photographs, and artifacts related to the Yellow Fever Commission of 1900. He first became interested in the history of yellow fever research in October of 1940, when he presented an address at the dedication ceremony for the Jesse W. Lazear Chemistry Building at Washington and Jefferson College in Washington, Pennsylvania. He realized while preparing his speech that he knew very little about the contributions made by Jesse Lazear and the other members of Reed’s team. So, until his death in 1965, Hench visited and corresponded with the families of team members and with those who volunteered or assisted in the experiments in order to determine the roles of each participant. Dr. Hench’s widow, Mrs. Mary Kahler Hench, presented his vast collection of materials to the University of Virginia in 1966.
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- Dr. Philip S. Hench with Walter Reed’s wife, Mrs. Emilie L. Reed (left), and daughter, Mrs. Emilie “Blossom” Reed (right), examining Walter Reed’s Congressional Medal, January 1942.
- Hench-Reed Collection, Historical Collections & Services, CMHSL