The documents featured in this web exhibit are from sources found in the following
Personal Paper Collections in the Alan Mason Chesney Medical Archives of the
Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions:

Alfred Blalock Papers

Helen B. Taussig Papers

Vivien Thomas Papers

Credits and Acknowledgments

Bibliographic Sources - For Further Reading

Other Resources on the Internet

Baldwin, Joyce. To Heal the Heart of a Child - Helen Taussig, M.D. New York: Walker and Company, 1992

Blalock, Alfred, M.D., and Helen B. Taussig, M.D. "The Surgical Treatment of Malformations of the Heart", Journal of the American Medical Association,vol. 128, no. 3 (May 19, 1945), pp. 189-202.

Harmel, Merel Hiber and Lamont, Austin, "Anesthesia in Surgical Treatment of Pulmonic Stenosis". Anesthesiology 7:477-?, 1946

Harvey, A. McGehee, Gert H. Brieger, Susan L. Abrams, and Victor A. McKusick. A Model of Its Kind: A Centennial History of Medicine at Johns Hopkins. 2 vols. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1989.

Longmire, William P., Jr. Alfred Blalock: His Life and Times. Privately published by the author, 1991.

McNamara, Dan G., et al. Helen Brooke Taussig: 1898-1986 Journal of American College of Cardiology 10:662-671, 1987. (This is a series of six essays by Dr. Taussig's former Fellows, Dan G. McNamara, James A. Manning, Mary Allen Engle, Ruth Whittemore, Catherine A. Neill, Charlotte Ferencz. It also includes her bibliography.)

McCall, Nancy, ed. The Portrait Collection of Johns Hopkins Medicine: A Catalog of Paintings and Photographs at The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and The Johns Hopkins Hospital. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, 1993.

Ravitch, Mark, ed. The Papers of Alfred Blalock. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1966.

Rodgers, Joann, and Louis Linley, "Bold Adventure in Cardiac Surgery. "The News American, November 30, 1969.

Thomas, Vivien T. Partners of the Heart - Vivien Thomas and His Work with Alfred Blalock. An Autobiography by Vivien T. Thomas. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2nd edition, 1998.

 

Other Resources Online

The Alan Mason Chesney Medical Archives provides the following links as a service but assumes no responsibility for the content of the following, nor offers any endorsement of information, nor of products or services they may offer.

Information about the Blue Baby Operation

"Something the Lord Made" A film produced by HBO (Home Box Office, Inc). According to the HBO web site, the film depicts "the story of two men - an ambitious white surgeon and a gifted black carpenter turned lab technician - who defied the racial strictures of the Jim Crow South and together pioneered the field of heart surgery."

"Partners of the Heart". A documentary film by Duke Media and Spark Media Production for American Experience, on PBS (Public Broadcasting Sytem). The PBS website describes the documentary as follows, "In 1944, two men at Johns Hopkins University Hospital pioneered a groundbreaking procedure that would save thousands of so-called blue babies' lives. One of them, Alfred Blalock, was a prominent white surgeon. The other, Vivien Thomas, was an African American with a high school education. Partners of the Heart tells the inspiring, little-known story of their collaboration."

Blalock Taussig Procedure. (HeartCenterOnline, Inc.) A summary and history of the procedure.

About Alfred Blalock

Alfred Blalock, MD (1925-1941). (The Annette and Irwin Eskind Biomedical Library (EBL), a unit of Vanderbilt University Medical Center.) A brief biographical sketch about Dr. Alfred Blalock and the time he spent at Vanderbilt University.


About Helen Taussig

Changing the Face of Medicine: Celebrating American Women Physician's. Dr. Helen Brooke Taussig (National Library of Medicine). Provides a brief biographical sketch of Dr. Taussig.

About Vivian Thomas

Vivien Thomas (1910-1985). (Vanderbilt University Medical Center.) A brief biographical sketch of Vivien Thomas and the time he spent at Vanderbilt.

About Congenital Heart Disease

The Congenital Heart Information Network. (The CHIN site is the product of an organization created by the mother of a child with complex heart defects, with the guidance of a medical Advisory Panel.) According to the site, this is "an international organization that provides reliable information, support services and resources to families of children with congenital heart defects and acquired heart disease, adults with congenital heart defects, and the professionals who work with them.

Cove Point/Johns Hopkins Children's Center Patient Education for Congenital Heart Disease Site. This resource made possible by a grant from The Cove Point Foundation, is an "information site for pediatric cardiology and congenital heart disease." It was developed under the medical direction of Allen D. Everett, MD and William D. Hammill, MD.

International Society for Adult Congenital Cardiac Disease (ISACCD) The purpose of the International Society for Adult Congenital Cardiac Disease is "to promote, maintain and pursue excellence in the care of adults with congenital cardiac disease. The Society is dedicated to the advancement of knowledge and training in medical disciplines pertinent to congenital heart disease in adults."

Congenital Heart Disease: A Public Health Perspective (Site sponsored by Health Sciences & Human Services Library (HS/HSL) of the University of Maryland, and Dr. Charlotte Ferencz.) The site states, "we seek to encompass the wide range of considerations which could go beyond the cardiology therapies to create a fully optimistic outlook... It is hoped that the material provided in this web site will further broaden the horizons on the public health potential which could be realized by the efforts of patients and their families as well as their health care providers."

About Heart Disease


The American Heart Association Web site . (The American Heart Association is a national voluntary health organization.) Their mission is "to reduce disability and death from cardiovascular diseases and stroke."

 

 

The Blue Baby Exhibit