Letters from Libman: Dispatches from an American Abroad

Abstract

American physician Emanuel Libman (1872–1946) was a generalist with Sherlockian diagnostic skills (“secret-divining eyes” according to Einstein) whose achievements were recognized by the scientific community and the public. Personal aspects of Libman were revealed in an oral history conducted with psychiatrist George L. Engel, a nephew who was raised in his house, and show Libman to be an intensely private person, contrasting with the image of him as a mentor and teacher. Yet Libman as a young physician and investigator remains absent in these opposing biographical reflections. His papers housed at the National Library of Medicine contain a series of letters sent home from his year of postgraduate study in Europe in 1897. These letters, which have not been previously described in the medical literature, create a window into the experiences of a young American physician abroad. Libman’s letters create a framework for understanding a typical European course of study for American physicians while tracing his career and personal development. Specifically, his correspondence highlights foundational experiences in bacteriology and pathology and explores his encounters with European anti-Semitism. The letters reveal a young doctor interested in history and sightseeing, awed by medical luminaries, concerned about establishing a career, and increasingly aware of intolerance.