Background
William Lambert Richardson was born on September 6, 1842 in Boston, the son of Jeffrey and Julia Lambert (Brackett) Richardson.
- Photos
- Works
- Photos
- Works
book
Summary of Seven Years' Work of the State Board of Health of Massachusetts (Classic Reprint)
(Excerpt from Summary of Seven Years' Work of the State Bo...)
Excerpt from Summary of Seven Years' Work of the State Board of Health of Massachusetts The constitution of the Board, composed as it is of gentlemen of various professions, has given a broad scope to its work, and has undoubtedly been most happy in its results. Of the present members, one is a lawyer, one a civil engineer and manufacturer, one is engaged in liter ary pursuits, one is a merchant, and three are physicians. Two of them have been mayors of the cities of their residence. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.
https://www.amazon.com/Summary-Health-Massachusetts-Classic-Reprint/dp/1334778779?SubscriptionId=AKIAJRRWTH346WSPOAFQ&tag=prabook-20&linkCode=sp1&camp=2025&creative=165953&creativeASIN=1334778779
Harvard College, Class of 1864: Secretary's Report, No. 4; June, 1871 June, 1874 (Classic Reprint)
(Excerpt from Harvard College, Class of 1864: Secretary's ...)
Excerpt from Harvard College, Class of 1864: Secretary's Report, No. 4; June, 1871 June, 1874 Time passes so rapidly, the months gliding almost imperceptibly into the years, that it is only when we meet some mile-stone on the road that we can realize how far we are getting along on our journey. When bidding farewell to each other and to our Alma Mater, we started forth to begin in earnest the work we had each selected as our own, the Triennial Reunion seemed so distant that we hardly gave it a thought; but even before some of us were fairly at work we had reached that halting place, had exchanged our hasty words of good cheer, had talked over the history of the past three years and the promises of those yet to come, and had again started on our journey. The years have flown by, and this Commencement finds us halting at the Decennial mile-post scarcely able to realize that our life's journey is nearly half completed. The Report which I have to present to the Class this year records naturally fewer changes than those which have preceded it. Most of us have only to record continued labors in our several professions and occupations; but it is a matter of congratulation that, in very many instances at least, these labors have resulted in marked progress. Some few have made changes in the character of their work, and those who, when the last Report was published, were still undecided as to their future career, have, for the most part, made their selection, and have fairly settled down to their life's work. Some have already acquired a reputation which bids fair in the future to add a lustre to the Class which claims them as its members. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.
https://www.amazon.com/Harvard-College-Class-1864-Secretarys/dp/1333827792?SubscriptionId=AKIAJRRWTH346WSPOAFQ&tag=prabook-20&linkCode=sp1&camp=2025&creative=165953&creativeASIN=1333827792
William Lambert Richardson
Edit ProfileEducation
After his graduation in 1864 from Harvard College, for which he had been prepared at the Boston Latin School, he entered the Harvard Medical School and received the degrees of A. M. and M. D. in 1867, after serving for a year as house pupil at the Massachusetts General Hospital. According to the custom of the time, he spent the next two years in study and travel in Europe, first in Dublin, where he was graduated from the Rotunda Lying-in Hospital in 1868 with the degree of L. M. and a special diploma for excellence in obstetrics, then in Berlin and Vienna.
Career
He returned to Boston in October 1869 and began his practice of obstetrics early the next year, one of the first to specialize in the subject. After serving for a time on the staff of the Boston Dispensary (1870 - 74) and the Children's Hospital (1872 - 74), he became interested in reviving the Boston Lying-in Hospital, which had been founded in 1832 but had not been in operation since 1857. Reopened in 1873 and successfully reestablished through Richardson's efforts, it grew so rapidly that within a comparatively short time it became one of the outstanding hospitals of its type in the United States.
Later it came to have a world-wide reputation as a center for teaching physicians and nurses; and when Richardson resigned from the staff, fifty years later, he could look back upon a project, started almost single-handed, that had become a meritorious contribution to medicine. The period of his activity at the Massachusetts General Hospital was also a long one (1871 - 1903). Closely connected with his work in developing the Lying-in Hospital was his long service to the Harvard Medical School. Entering the obstetrical department in 1871, he moved steadily through successive grades to the professorship, a position he held from 1886 until his resignation in 1907.
In 1893 he was appointed dean of the medical faculty; when in 1899 the medical, dental, and veterinary schools were placed under one head, he was reappointed as dean of the combined faculty. He was an overseer of Harvard College from 1909 to 1915. Richardson's professional interests included the Massachusetts Medical Society, the Massachusetts Medical Benevolent Society, the New England Journal of Medicine, and the Boston Medical Library, an institution he had helped found in 1875. Apart from these were his connections with the Boston Y. M. C. A. , of which he was treasurer for more than thirty years, and with the First Corps Cadets, Massachusetts volunteer Militia, dating from his days as a student at Harvard.
He became surgeon in 1875, and, although he retired with the rank of lieutenant-colonel in 1899, for many years afterward he served as treasurer and as a member of the board of trustees.
While serving as its secretary he wrote A Summary of Seven Years' Work of the State Board of Health of Massachusetts (1876); and one small book, Address on the Duties and Conduct of Nurses in Private Nursing, first published in 1886, was widely read during its time both in the United States and in England. The great accuracy of detail with which he worked is well exemplified in his long series of secretarial reports of the Class of 1864, Harvard College, models of what such reports should be.
Achievements
-
William Lambert Richardson was famous for reestablishing the Boston Lying-in Hospital which within short time became one of the outstanding hospitals of its type in the United States. He was widely known, also, for his philanthropy and gave very substantial sums to the Harvard Medical School and the Lying-in Hospital. His writings consist largely of papers on obstetrics and gynecology.
Works
book
-
Summary of Seven Years' Work of the State Board of Health of Massachusetts (Classic Reprint)
(Excerpt from Summary of Seven Years' Work of the State Bo...)
-
Harvard College, Class of 1864: Secretary's Report, No. 4; June, 1871 June, 1874 (Classic Reprint)
(Excerpt from Harvard College, Class of 1864: Secretary's ...)
-
Summary of Seven Years' Work of the State Board of Health of Massachusetts (Classic Reprint)
Personality
Richardson had an unusual personality. Swift and accurate in observation and judgment, he possessed unerring sagacity; though he was laconic and abrupt and often seemed brusque and austere, he had an underlying kindliness that was soon evident. A man with multiple interests and with an immense capacity for work, he seems to have been able to recreate or enliven any project which he undertook.
Connections
He married Olivia Lane Aitchison of Portland, Maine, July 24, 1867. She died in 1890; there were no children.
