Waring Historical Library

The Revolutionary War was our nation's longest running battle. The emerging nation faced great difficulty in providing adequate medical care during this conflict. Aside from gunshot wounds, many soldiers died of smallpox, typhus, dysentery and malaria.

Military medicine saw little improvement by the time of the War of 1812. Dysentery and pneumonia caused more deaths than battle wounds.

The Civil War once again found the nation unprepared to care for the sick and wounded. As before, there was no organized ambulance or field hospital service and no plan for the evacuation of the wounded from the casualty stations to base hospitals, leaving those who fell in battle on the ground for hours. But as the conflict wore on, a number of advances in military medicine emerged, including an increase in the number of surgical operations and the use of chloroform and ether that made such procedures more tolerable. Despite this progress, gangrene, fever and infectious diseases continued to cause many deaths.

Much of the history of military medicine in the South is preserved at the Waring Historical Library, located on the campus of the Medical University of South Carolina. The origins of the library date back to 1892 when Charles Frederick Hoffmann of New York helped finance the construction of a "proper library" for the students of Porter Military Academy. This library was later acquired by the Medical University of South Carolina along with other properties of the academy. In 1966, the library building was repaired and refurbished to become a department of the main library of the University.

Then in 1969, the library was renamed the Waring Historical Library in honor of its first director, the late Joseph I. Waring, M.D. Through his writings and preservation of memorabilia, Dr. Waring inspired new and lasting insight into South Carolina's rich medical history. His landmark work was the definitive three-volume "A History of Medicine in South Carolina." Through the foresight of Dr. Waring, the Library of the Medical Society of South Carolina was obtained to form the nucleus of this library's holdings. Most of the books date from the 18th and 19th centuries and include early journals of the period from England, France and the United States.

The Waring Historical Library collection has expanded to about 12,000 books, mostly through the generosity of individuals. The museum collection includes about 1,000 artifacts—medical chests, surgery or amputation cases, saddle bags, bleeding apparatus, and numerous instruments.

For those interested in dental history, Waring Historical Library's Macaulay Museum of Dental History houses an impressive collection of dental memorabilia, such as a dental office of circa 1900; a series of dental chairs spanning many years, including a child's chair; an instrument made by Paul Revere for Dr. Josiah Flagg, the first American-born, full-time dentist; and an itinerate dentist's chest of the Civil War era.

Collecting this material was the lifelong avocation of Dr. Neill Macaulay, a Columbia dentist and long-time supporter of the Medical University of South Carolina. The collection was given to MUSC as part of the Bicentennial celebration in 1976.

The mission of the Waring Historical Library's Macaulay Museum of Dental History is to serve the library and University as the repository for information and resources about the history of dentistry and dental practitioners. As funding and space permit, materials are acquired for the Macaulay Museum of Dental History by donation or purchase with the collection focus on South Carolina and Southeastern dentists, or the history of dental medicine in South Carolina or the Southeast.

Access to the museum is gained at the Waring Historical Library. The library and museum is available for guided tours by the Waring Library staff on request Monday through Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Please call (843) 792-2288 for more information.

Read more about Charleston's fascinating history in Exploring Our Past.

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