Interview with Lynn Kasner Morgan by Albert S. Lyons

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US AA107.INT066

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Interview with Lynn Kasner Morgan by Albert S. Lyons

Date(s)

  • 1997-10-07 (Creation)

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1 cassette

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(1912-2006)

Biographical history

A native of New York City, Albert S. Lyons was born in 1912 and graduated from the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons in 1936. After completing a two-year surgical internship at Beth Israel Hospital, he trained as a surgical resident at Mount Sinai under the tutelage of Dr. John Garlock. He went on to a long career as a surgeon at Mount Sinai, serving as Chief of the Intestinal Rehabilitation Clinic at The Mount Sinai Hospital and as Clinical Professor of Surgery at Mount Sinai School of Medicine. He also maintained a private practice and served as an attending surgeon at several other hospitals, including the Cabrini Medical Center from 1955 to 1978 and the Elmhurst City Hospital from 1966 to 1984.

As Chief of the Intestinal Rehabilitation Clinic, Dr. Lyons played a major role in the establishment of patient self-help groups to help surgical patients cope with the challenges of life after surgery. In 1951 he helped a group of ileostomy patients at Mount Sinai organize a club to boost morale and help one another; nicknamed the “QT Club” after the letters of the surgical wards where patients recovered after their ostomies, the group proved a success, and in 1952 Dr. Lyons published an article on the club in the Journal of the American Medical Association that inspired the formation of similar groups throughout the United States. In 1963, representatives of ostomate self-help groups from across the U.S. and Canada met for the founding convention of the United Ostomy Association (UOA). Dr. Lyons served for many years as the UOA’s Medical Advisor, and when an International Ostomy Association (IOA) was formed in 1978, he served as a member of its medical board. In 1983 he was the first recipient of the Archie Vinitsky Award, the IOA’s highest honor. Throughout his life he gave generously of his time to help ostomy groups across North America and the world.

Dr. Lyons was active in many regional and national professional associations. He was a founding member of the Society for Surgery of the Alimentary Tract, a Governor of the New York Area of the American College of Gastroenterology, and an active member of the New York Surgical Society. He served from 1963 to 1971 as Chairman of the Public Relations Committee of the New York County Medical Society, from 1971 to 1973 as the Society’s Assistant Secretary, and from 1973 to 1978 as its Secretary. In the early 1970s he chaired the New York State Medical Society’s Ad Hoc Committee to Study Professional Medical Liability Insurance, and in the late 1970s he was active in the American Cancer Society as Chairman of the New York Division’s Committee on Rehabilitation and Service. He was also an active member of the Physicians’ Wine Appreciation Society.

In addition to his surgical and professional accomplishments, Dr. Lyons was a passionate scholar of the history of medicine. During the early years of the Mount Sinai School of Medicine he was an active advocate of a strong role for history in the medical curriculum. He taught seminars in medical history and arranged a regular lecture series that brought many distinguished medical historians to the Mount Sinai campus. He served for many years as President of the Medical Archivists of New York and was President from 1970 to 1972 of the Friends of the Rare Book Room at The New York Academy of Medicine. His involvement with medical history led him to an engagement with the broader historical profession; he was a founding member of the Oral History Association and served as Chairman of its Nominating Committee. In 1978 he published a lavishly illustrated volume, Medicine: An Illustrated History (New York: Harry N. Abrams Publishing), which brought together the work of many scholars to create a comprehensive history of medicine from ancient times to the present.

Dr. Lyons’s interest in medical history led him to establish the Mount Sinai Archives in 1966 so that the history of the Hospital (and, later, of the Medical School) could be preserved for future generations. In 1986 he obtained the approval of the President of Mount Sinai to hire a professional archivist and establish the Archives on a formal basis within the Levy Library.

Following the success of Medicine: An Illustrated History, Dr. Lyons turned his attention to other historical subjects. His interest in pre-scientific methods of medical prognosis led to a broader interest in the enduring human desire to know the future, inspiring him to carry out an extensive study of pre-modern fortunetelling methods such as tarot cards and astrology. In 1991 he published Predicting The Future: An Illustrated History and Guide to the Techniques, a lavish volume in the same format as his previous book on medicine. In correspondence with his agent at Harry N. Abrams Publishing he proposed an ambitious series of illustrated historical volumes covering all the major milestones of human life, including birth, childhood, marriage and death; although none of these books were completed, he accumulated an extensive collection of reference material on these subjects.

After his retirement from surgery, Dr. Lyons stayed active in medicine by working as a reviewer of workmen’s compensation cases while continuing to pursue his interest in history and the Archives. In 1974 he was awarded the Jacobi Medallion by the Associated Alumni of Mount Sinai, which he had served as President in 1969-1970, for his dedication to the Hospital and the School of Medicine. He died in 2006 after over 60 years of service to Mount Sinai.

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Biographical history

Lynn Kasner Morgan was the Director of the Gustave L. and Janet W. Levy Library, Vice President for Information Technology, and Associate Professor of Medical Education at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine during her years at Mount Sinai from 1983 to 2012.

Ms. Morgan was born in New York City. She earned her bachelor’s degree from State University of New York at Binghamton in 1972 and her Master of Library Science from State University of New York at Albany in 1972.

Prior to Mount Sinai Ms. Morgan was the Director of the New York State Nurse’s Association’s library in Albany and Associate Director of the New York Academy of Medicine’s library. In 1983, she began as the Associate Dean for Information Resources and Systems, Director of the Gustave L. and Janet W. Levy Library, and Instructor (1983-1988), later Associate Professor (1989 -1996), of Medical Education at Mount Sinai School of Medicine, which she held until her retirement in 2012. She also served as the Vice President for Information Technology beginning in 2003 until her retirement. In these positions she secured and negotiated Mount Sinai's internet and network license and developed the first Mount Sinai websites. Ms. Morgan was co-principal investigator and co-director of the library’s first high performance computing operation, initiated the library’s conversion from print to digital, oversaw renovations of the library, led the first online education programs, established the information technology services, created the Records Management Program, and developed the Archives Program alongside Barabara Niss.

Ms. Morgan also held academic positions at other institutions. She was a Lecturer in Library Science at Columbia University’s School of Library Science from 1985 to 1992 and Adjunct Assistant Professor at the Graduate School of Library and Information Studies at Queens College of the City University of New York from 1984 to 1986 and again from 1992 until at least 1996.

While at Mount Sinai, co-chair of the Information Systems Advisory Committee (which was the first institution wide committee of its kind and advised the President and CEO of Mount Sinai), elected member of the Faculty Council, member of the Medical School Merger Committee, and a member of the Women Faculty Group. Alongside numerous impressive publications she was also a distinguished member of the Academy of Health Information Professionals Medical Library Association Certification which she earned in 1974 and subsequently renewed every 5 years, a fellow of the New York Academy of Medicine since 1986, elected President of the Association of Academic Health Sciences Library Directors from 1994 to 1995, and was awarded the Special Recognition Service Award by Mount Sinai Alumni in 1996, elected President of the Medical Library Center of New York Board of Trustees from 1997 to 2005, and elected Chair of the Association of American Medical Colleges Group on Information Resources from 2007 to 2008.

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Scope and content

This is a recording of an oral history of Lynn Kasner Morgan conducted by Albert S. Lyons and Florence Daniels. She discusses how she came to work for Mount Sinai and what jobs she held prior; the condition of the library was in 1983 and what she had implemented during her first fourteen years at Mount Sinai. Some of other significant topics in this oral history include: the function of the library collections and the community the library serves; the space capacities, budget, and staff size of the library and its departments; changes in tools used to access information such as the internet, databases, electronically published items, and email; the benefits and constrictions of electronic publishing; the number of computer workstations available to the Mount Sinai community; predictions on the future of print, libraries, and future problems libraries will face; her technological training programs she developed at Mount Sinai for the Alumni Association, staff, and medical students. She ends the oral history commenting on the library’s name change from “Jacobi Library” to “Levy Library,” the medical school merger committee, as well as discussions on the library merger.

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This material is available for use.

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A digital copy is available. A transcript is available.

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Please contact the Archives (MSArchives@mssm.edu) for information regarding copyright.

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      Description by Willa Jacob, August 2022.

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