McGovern Historical Center

McGovern Historical Center The McGovern Historical Center is the Special Collections department of The TMC Library. This page is for sharing our cool materials and current projects.

The John P. McGovern Historical Collections and Research Center (McGovern Historical Center) is the Special Collections department of The TMC Library. We house, provide access, and preserve rare books, manuscripts collections, and institutional records relating to the Texas Medical Center (TMC) and medical history. Our notable historical collections document the foundations of the medical specialt

ies, Texas medicine, rheumatology, and North American public health. The archival collections focus on the development of the institutions and hospitals in the TMC in Houston, the careers of Houston physicians and biographical information on Texas physicians. The McGovern Historical Center has collections in two locations. The Archives, located at the Historical Research Center at 2872 El Rio, suite 190, holds personal papers of medical personnel, institutional records of health care institutions, medical-related photos, graphic arts and objects. The Historical Research Center also houses several rare book collections, including the Mading collection on public health, the Dow collection about dentistry, and the Menninger collection about mental health. The McGovern Rare Book Collections is located in The Texas Medical Center (TMC) Library, which is in the Jesse Jones Library building located between Baylor College of Medicine and the University of Texas McGovern Medical School. The McGovern Rare Book Collections houses the John P. McGovern History of Medicine Collection, including the works of Sir William Osler, and the Burbank/Fraser Collection of Arthritis, Rheumatism and Gout. Visiting the Rare Book Room is BY APPOINTMENT ONLY.

Transporting literally everything by bicycle, Hiro, Japan, circa 1950. MS 196 Mac Suzuki, 559.
09/04/2026

Transporting literally everything by bicycle, Hiro, Japan, circa 1950. MS 196 Mac Suzuki, 559.

Nikolai Litvinov, 1961 - “To Space!”. Poster, 30” x 38.5”. MS 076 Philip Hench, MD 18.
08/28/2026

Nikolai Litvinov, 1961 - “To Space!”. Poster, 30” x 38.5”. MS 076 Philip Hench, MD 18.

Interesting sky this morning.
08/28/2026

Interesting sky this morning.

Joseph Schwarting for the Psychiatric Bulletin, Summer 1957. Schizophrenia.
08/27/2026

Joseph Schwarting for the Psychiatric Bulletin, Summer 1957. Schizophrenia.

Game of go, circa 1949. These three are identified as the Umedas. The sign on the door seems to say “Don’t enter [??] ...
08/26/2026

Game of go, circa 1949. These three are identified as the Umedas. The sign on the door seems to say “Don’t enter [??] work is going on”. Go was probably invented in China at least 2,500 years ago and is believed to be the oldest board game in continuous play. IC 099 ABCC Photographs, p-5259-003.

We are not sure what this is: From MS 143 Vernie Stembridge, Box 21. Aluminum dome with what looks like birdshot damage...
08/26/2026

We are not sure what this is: From MS 143 Vernie Stembridge, Box 21. Aluminum dome with what looks like birdshot damage. Sharpie for scale.

Stembridge (1924-2000) was a pathologist, UTMB class of 1948. He held positions around Texas and Tennessee.

So . . . who contacts us, anyway?Most of our patrons are historians, either experienced ones or students. But you don’t...
08/25/2026

So . . . who contacts us, anyway?

Most of our patrons are historians, either experienced ones or students. But you don’t have to be a historian to ask us questions!

We got a call on Friday from a “community” patron who asked if we had “a list of doctors in Cuero from about 1900 or 1910”. We sort of do, actually—we have the American Medical Directory from 1906 (first year of publication) and 1909, and it’s pretty much a huge list of doctors from the United States and Canada. I’ll take a look and send some pictures. Was there a name in particular they were hoping to find?

It turned out that they had a prescription written to a distant relative by a Dr. . . . they guessed Larkey, but it was hard to read and they were curious.

Well, there he is: Joseph Lackey. A quick run around the Internet revealed that he was born in Clinton, Texas, in 1869 and died at the Muti Hotel in Cuero in 1935. Alas, we did not find any photographs of him.

08/24/2026

08/24/2026

If you’re in the area, stop by the Library first floor and check out the photo display on the history of UT M.D. Anderson Cancer Center!

Address

8272 El Rio, Suite 190
Houston, TX
77054

Opening Hours

Monday 9am - 5pm
Tuesday 9am - 5pm
Wednesday 9am - 5pm
Thursday 9am - 5pm
Friday 9am - 5pm

Telephone

+17137997899

Website

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