John Shaw Billings

John Shaw Billings (April 12, 1838 – March 11, 1913) was a librarian and surgeon best known as the modernizer of the Library of the Surgeon General's Office of the Army and as the first director of the New York Public Library. Born in Allensville, Switzerland County, Indiana, Billings graduated from Miami University in 1857, and from the Medical College of Ohio in 1860. He was medical inspector of the Army of the Potomac during the American Civil... more

John Shaw Billings (April 12, 1838 – March 11, 1913) was a librarian and surgeon best known as the modernizer of the Library of the Surgeon General's Office of the Army and as the first director of the New York Public Library. Born in Allensville, Switzerland County, Indiana, Billings graduated from Miami University in 1857, and from the Medical College of Ohio in 1860. He was medical inspector of the Army of the Potomac during the American Civil War, then became head of the Library of the Surgeon General's Office in Washington, D.C. The Surgeon General's library that he developed (see Army Medical Museum and Library) later became the core of the National Library of Medicine. During his time as Director of the Library of the SGO, 1865-1895, he was responsible for the creation of both the Index Medicus (1879) and the Index Catalogue of the Surgeon General's Office (1880). He was also for some years professor of hygiene in the University of Pennsylvania. He is also credited with... less