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Posted: February 5th, 2009 by Pam Rose
Many visitors to and residents of Buffalo may not realize that the Roswell Park Cancer Institute (RCPI) was named for an actual person. Dr. Roswell Park (1852-1914) was Professor and Chair of the Department of Surgery at the University at Buffalo until his death in 1914.
Dr. Park and Dr. Edward H. Butler were instrumental in securing funding to begin the New York State Pathological Laboratory as it was known in 1898, and Dr. Park served as its Director until 1904. The history of RCPI was nicely summarized recently in The Reporter.
The History of Health Sciences Collection is proud to have Dr. Roswell Park’s death mask on exhibit. Comparisons of his image on the death mask with photos of Dr. Park during his life show that the death mask is an exact likeness.
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Death masks were plaster casts taken of of the face taken shortly after the person’s demise. They have been used since the time of ancient Egypt, and in recent centuries were a way of memorializing the deceased.
Dr. Park was also in private practice with another notable physician, Dr. Edgar R. McGuire, who succeeded Dr. Park and served as Chair of the Department of Surgery from 1914-1930. Dr. McGuire’s death mask is also in the collection.
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Both death masks are displayed in the History of Health Sciences controlled environment stacks area, along with the metal sign that advertised the medical offices of the two physicians.
Dr. McGuire’s daughter, Mrs. Annette Cravens, established in 1985 an instrument collection in honor of her father. The Edgar R. McGuire Historical Medical Instrument Collection continues to grow, and displays of selected instruments are regularly rotated in the lighted display case that graces the first floor lobby of HSL.
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The Robert L. Brown History
of Medicine Collection was established as a separate
entity in 1972. The collection
was named in 1985 for Robert L. Brown, MD, former Associate Dean of the School of Medicine, in recognition of his strong support of the Health Sciences Library for more than twenty-five years. 
"The Tools of Medicine" exhibit, which opened on November 19, 2003, features images of selected instruments contained in the the Edgar R. McGuire Historical Medical Instrument Collection. The exhibit features 6 enlarged, framed images mounted in the main staircase area on the first floor of HSL.
