FAQ: History of the National Library of Medicine®

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The National Library of Medicine started in 1836 as a small collection of medical books and journals in the office of the United States Army Surgeon General. Before the collection moved in 1962 to National Institutes of Health Bethesda, MD campus, it was housed at these locations: From 1862-1866 it was in the Riggs Bank Building at 15th and Pennsylvania Avenue From 1866-1887 it was in Ford's Theatre at 513 10th Street NW From 1887-1962 it was in the Army Medical Museum and Library Building located at 7th Street and Independence Avenue SW

For more information go to:

• Milestones in NLM History
  http://www.nlm.nih.gov/about/nlmhistory.html
  
  
• We Were Here First - history of the NLM building site
  http://www.nlm.nih.gov/hmd/nlmsite/nlmsite_home.htm
  
  
• NLM Legislative Chronology
  http://www.nlm.nih.gov/about/legislativechronology.html
  
  
• NLM Legislation
  http://www.nlm.nih.gov/about/legislation.html
  
  
• The Story of NLM Historical Collections
  http://www.nlm.nih.gov/hmd/about/collectionhistory.html
  
  
• Brief History of NLM
  http://www.nlm.nih.gov/about/briefhistory.html
  
  
• National Library of Medicine
  http://www.gslis.utexas.edu/~landc/bookplates/25_4_NLM.htm
  
  
• The National Library of Medicine: Evolution of a Premier Information Center by Michael E. DeBakey
  Published in JAMA 1991 Sep 4;266(9):1252-8
  http://jama.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/abstract/266/9/1252
  
  
• Finding Aid to the Wyndham D. Miles Papers on the History of the National Library of Medicine, 1864-1984
  http://www.nlm.nih.gov/hmd/manuscripts/ead/miles431.html
  
  
• Miles, Wyndham D. A history of the National Library of Medicine. Bethesda (MD): The Library; 1982. (NIH publication; no. 82-1904).
  Available from: U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, DC.
  An excerpt is at http://www.personal.kent.edu/~tfroehli/sighfis/nlm.htm
  
  

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Last reviewed: 04 June 2009
Last updated: 04 June 2009
First published: 31 January 2001
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