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.

One of these is William Bates, 1917.Bates (1889-1974) was a lawyer and trustee, then chair, of the M.D. Anderson Foundat...
05/22/2026

One of these is William Bates, 1917.

Bates (1889-1974) was a lawyer and trustee, then chair, of the M.D. Anderson Foundation.

Joseph Schwarting cover “Obsessive compulsive disorder” for the Psychiatric Bulletin, fall 1957.
05/21/2026

Joseph Schwarting cover “Obsessive compulsive disorder” for the Psychiatric Bulletin, fall 1957.

It’s a lazy rainy day here: Central Market Foodie cards found in MS 125 Robert Guynn. They weren’t obviously relevant ...
05/20/2026

It’s a lazy rainy day here: Central Market Foodie cards found in MS 125 Robert Guynn. They weren’t obviously relevant to the other contents but for now we’ll leave them there.

05/20/2026
Receipt for prescriptions, 1838. Stereotypical physicians’ penmanship hasn’t changed, but this appears to have been wri...
05/19/2026

Receipt for prescriptions, 1838. Stereotypical physicians’ penmanship hasn’t changed, but this appears to have been written to an Aunt Tabitha Lee for emetic and cathartic pills.

Sneak peek! We’ll have more on this later but we’ve just secured a small collection of material from the Houston Drug C...
05/18/2026

Sneak peek! We’ll have more on this later but we’ve just secured a small collection of material from the Houston Drug Company, dating from the late 19th to early 20th century!

Poster project about the Menninger Clinic museum artifacts by a past intern. These items are from IC 078 Menninger Foun...
05/15/2026

Poster project about the Menninger Clinic museum artifacts by a past intern. These items are from IC 078 Menninger Foundation [Clinic], although they were not in recent use. Map drawer 09.1.

Graphotype machine at Memorial Hospital, 1961. A graphotype is used to emboss characters onto metal plates. These were p...
05/14/2026

Graphotype machine at Memorial Hospital, 1961. A graphotype is used to emboss characters onto metal plates. These were probably used to label furniture and medical equipment; some of our older furniture at the Library is tagged with little metal plates. This cabinet in our assistant’s office was discarded by UTMB many years ago. IC 103 Memorial Hospital Photographs, P-302-001.

Texas Medical Center founders Frederick Elliott, R. Lee Clark; Julia Bertner standing in for Ernst Bertner, and William ...
05/13/2026

Texas Medical Center founders Frederick Elliott, R. Lee Clark; Julia Bertner standing in for Ernst Bertner, and William Bates, undated but circa 1960s. We aren’t sure what the occasion was but it must have been a big deal. Dr. Bertner died in 1950. MS 002 Ernst William Bertner, MD.

Sylvia Van Vost Ferris and Eleanor Sellers Hoppe, Scalpels and Sabers: Nineteenth century medicine in Texas; Eakin Press...
05/12/2026

Sylvia Van Vost Ferris and Eleanor Sellers Hoppe, Scalpels and Sabers: Nineteenth century medicine in Texas; Eakin Press, Austin, 1985. This is available at the MHC in the McGovern Reference Collection.

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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