Holmes family photographs and memorabilia

Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. (1809-1894) was an essayist, poet, and teacher of anatomy. He received his A.B. in 1829 and his medical degree in 1836 (both from Harvard), practiced medicine for ten years, spent two years teaching anatomy at Dartmouth College, and then became professor of anatomy and physiology at Harvard. Later he was made dean of the Harvard Medical School until 1882. He was notable for his medical research and teaching, especially in calling attention to the contagiousness of puerperal fever (1843). His greatest fame, however, was as a humorist and poet, especially as the author of the "Breakfast-Table" series of essays in the Atlantic Monthly and his publication of "Old Ironsides" (1830).

Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. (1841-1935) was the first child of OWH, Sr., and a justice of the United States Supreme Court. He graduated from Harvard College in 1861, and received a Harvard LL.B.1866. Holmes practiced law for 15 years, was an editor of the American Law Review, lectured on law and in 1882 became Weld Professor of Law at Harvard. He later became a member of the Supreme Judicial Court of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, a post he held for twenty years. In 1902 he was appointed associate justice of the US Supreme Court, where he remained until 1932.