Congratulations -- from nearly 200 years ago
In 1825, Thomas Jefferson wrote a letter to Dr. Thomas Sewall of Columbia College of Medicine (now George Washington University) congratulating the doctor on the establishment of the medical school, wishing success that the school “share in the merit of lessening the afflictions of mankind.” That was eight months before the death of America’s third president.
In 1865, Louis Pasteur wrote a note on letterhead stationery from the École Normale Supérieure, the university in Paris where he taught and researched, about a ticket for an upcoming event. Pasteur, a French chemist and microbiologist, is credited with developing vaccines against rabies, cholera and anthrax. He also originated the process of pasteurization.
Both letters recently joined the archives and special collections at Upstate’s Health Sciences Library. Robert Cady, MD, and his wife, Linda Cady, made the donation because they wanted to share these pieces of history. Cady, a pediatric orthopedic surgeon, got his medical degree from Upstate in 1971.
This article appears in the spring 2023 issue of Upstate Health magazine.
