1935 Yardley Satirical Pictorial Map of Johns Hopkins, Baltimore, Maryland

One of the founding institutions of modern American medicine.

This is a c. 1935 Richard Q. Yardley pictorial map of Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland. The hospital and its associated medical school were the progenitors of the modern American medical education system, and the hospital has long been considered among the best in the world.

A Closer Look

A fantastic illustration of the original Administration Building occupies the lower portion and immediately draws the eye. From there, the hospital's various wards, clinics, and buildings are illustrated. Many of the illustrations are comical in nature. One researcher standing atop a large microscope is mocked by a germ in the General Pathology Department, while another stares at question marks under a microscope in the research lab. Three nurses are shocked by a patient's temperature in the Osler Medical Clinic, and a 'patient on the mend' watches the annual Turtle Derby. (The Turtle Derby was still an annual event as of 2015. It began in 1931 as a way to entertain the children at the Children's Clinic.) A surgeon to the right of the Administration Building attempts to operate on a shocked patient with a large knife.

A pictorial border surrounds the hospital's campus on three sides and identifies local hangouts, shops, and other buildings related to the university, including Welch Library and Fraternity Row. 'A studious young gentleman' sits atop a pile of books near Welch Library, while a young couple awaiting a baby brought by a stork marks housing for married interns.

A Politically Incorrect Piece

While satirical in nature, some of Yardley's jokes have not aged well, many of which are sexist and/or racist. On the left, a doctor stares at the X-ray of a female patient's torso as she exclaims, 'Oh Doctor!' Another joke involving nurses appears just below the title when one nurse asks another, 'Did you come to get or forget?' In the lower-left corner of the border, the nurse's quarters are marked by a primping nurse and the phrase, 'Here ye Beauteous Nurses do Reside' and next door a nude nurse lounges in the solarium, much to the shock of a passing bird.

History of the Johns Hopkins Hospital

Johns Hopkins Hospital was established in Baltimore through a landmark $7 million bequest from Quaker merchant and philanthropist Johns Hopkins upon his death in 1873. Opening its doors on May 7, 1889, the facility was designed by Civil War surgeon John Shaw Billings to seamlessly integrate patient care, scientific research, and medical education. This approach broke away from the traditional, trade-school model of 19th-century medicine, establishing the template for the modern American teaching hospital and laying the groundwork for its companion School of Medicine, which opened in 1893.

The institution's early trajectory was driven by its famed founding physicians, known as the 'Big Four': William Osler, William Stewart Halsted, William H. Welch (namesake of the Welch Library seen here), and Howard Kelly. Together, they invented core features of modern clinical training, including specialized medical residency programs, structured bedside rounds, and essential surgical innovations like sterile rubber gloves. Over the following decades, the hospital maintained its position at the forefront of healthcare history, serving as the site for breakthroughs ranging from pioneering blue baby (babies with low blood oxygen levels) surgeries and early organ transplants to the discovery of restriction enzymes and key advancements in cancer genomics.

Publication History and Census

This map was created by Richard Q. Yardley and published in 1935. We note a single cataloged example (David Rumsey Map Collection). This map is very rare on the private market; we note only three other instances of its appearance, including a colored example also offered by us (johnshopkinshospital-yardley-1935).

Cartographer

Richard Quincy Yardley (March 11, 1903 - November 24, 1979), known euphemistically as 'Moco,' was an American cartoonist based in Baltimore. Yardley worked as a cartoonist for the Baltimore Sun from 1923. In 1949 he became the editorial cartoonist for the Baltimore Sun, a position he held for roughly 20 years. He also produced cartoons for The Saturday Evening Post, The New Yorker and the Reporter. His syndicated daily comic, Our Ancestors, was published from 1961 to 1965. His work exhibited a humorous satirical style drawing on local personalities and historical events. One writer, Charles Bissell, described his work thus,

His style, which might be described as early Ming, middle comic strip, late Picasso, and all Yardley—or perhaps better some other way-is not suitable for editorial cartoons. To begin with, it's not serious. We all know how you've got to be mighty serious about lots of things-atom bombs, for instance. You couldn't put over something big and profound by drawing a couple of nudeniks with four heads, a little banjo-eyed character in a beret and maybe a cat, all caught up in some sort of symbolical astral soup and expect to scare daylights out of your readers. Well, no, you couldn't—but Yardley can. (AAEC News, April 1964)

He issued several satirical cartoon maps, including a map of Herr Hitler's Heaven, Johns Hopkins Hospital, Anne Arundel County, Baltimore County, and Annapolis. Yardley was a member of the National Cartoonists Society, the American Association of Editorial Cartoonists and the National Press Club. He retired in 1972.   Further Details...

Condition

Excellent.

References

Rumsey 11432.000. Not in OCLC.