he Arthur E. Guedel Memorial Anesthesia Center in San Francisco, named in honor of notable anesthesiologist Arthur E. Guedel, M.D., is a library and museum devoted to the history of anesthesiology. Its holdings include old anesthesia equipment, a library of anesthesia texts, the Richard Gill collection of items from his curare exhibitions to the Amazon, and memorabilia and papers from Dr. Guedel. It is supported by annual voluntary donations from members of the California Society of Anesthesiologists (CSA) and is open to all visitors interested in the history of anesthesiology.

A Look Inside
The Guedel Center is one of several collections located in a historic building that previously was the library for Stanford Medical School. The building is now owned by California Pacific Medical Center, and it serves as the library for this multicampus organization. A long-term relationship allows the Guedel space in the building and the services of the librarian, currently Mrs. Anne Shew. Mrs. Shew is a modern librarian, a leader in Web-based library services.

The Guedel Reading Room, recently refurbished in period style, is the main display area and also contains most library holdings. Journal holdings are in the main library’s stacks. An additional display area upstairs is shared with the other historic collections. Archival material must be pulled by the librarian.

A quiver with darts and a gourd pot for carrying paste curare while hunting. Cotton with a dab of curare paste would be placed on the arrows’ tips when a target was seen. Collected by Richard Gill on his curare expeditions. Courtesy of the Guedel Memorial Center Collections.

What We Do
The Guedel Center’s activities include maintaining a Web site www.cpmc.org/professionals/hslibrary/collections/guedel. This site has introduced the Guedel Center to a larger audience. For example, the British Broadcasting Company recently found our video holdings (transferred from the original film) on the Gill expedition and used some footage for a television documentary on curare. To maintain interest by our CSA supporters, we do a column on historic anesthesiology subjects in the quarterly CSA Bulletin. Exhibits of Guedel items are usually done at the CSA’s annual meetings, and open-house events are held occasionally. Previously the Guedel Center’s purposes included collecting anesthesiology journals for distribution to needy overseas anesthesiologists and maintaining a current collection of worldwide anesthesiology journals, but these functions are no longer needed.

Two feather hats collected by Richard Gill. Courtesy of the Guedel Memorial Center Collections.

Gourd pots for carrying curare, arrows and a clay pot for cooking the curare paste. Collected by Richard Gill. Courtesy of the Guedel Memorial Center Collections.

A Little History
The Guedel Center developed in the early 1960s when the collection of anesthesia equipment and memorabilia belonging to Paul M. Wood, M.D., which forms the basis of the Wood Library-Museum of Anesthesiology (WLM), was looking for a physical home. Soon after ASA agreed to take the collection in 1960, William Neff, M.D., then chair of anesthesia at Stanford, argued that putting Dr. Wood’s collection in Park Ridge, Illinois, would “bury the WLM in suburbia.” Dr. Neff felt strongly that many more people would travel to San Francisco than to Park Ridge to see the collection. And there was space available for it in San Francisco: the then-vacant library building of the old Stanford Medical School, which had recently moved to Palo Alto. The ASA plan for a building addition to house Dr. Wood’s material was well under way, and so the WLM stayed at ASA headquarters.

The strained feelings left from this episode led to the suggestion of a West Coast history of anesthesiology museum. This came from Chauncey Leake, M.D., Professor of Pharmacology at the University of California-San Francisco, a person with strong ties to anesthesia; he had previously been at the University of Wisconsin with Ralph M. Waters, M.D. Dr. Leake also suggested dedicating the museum to the memory of Dr. Guedel, a pioneer of modern anesthesia on the West Coast, who had recently died. Although Dr. Guedel had a busy private practice in Los Angeles, he often traveled to San Francisco to do research with Dr. Leake, and they became close friends.

The Guedel Center opened in 1962 in an anesthesia billing agency’s building, with a volunteer librarian. As the collection grew, more space was needed, and it moved to its present site in the late 1970s. From the beginning of the center until his death in 1997, Dr. Neff was a committed, vigorous and forceful Guedel Center leader.

Part of the reading room (above) and display case with Arthur Guedel memorabilia (inset) at the Guedel Memorial Center. Courtesy of the Guedel Memorial Center Collections.

Come See Us!
The upcoming ASA Annual Meting in San Francisco offers an opportunity to visit the Guedel Memorial Center, located at 2395 Sacramento St., San Francisco, CA 94115. Hours vary due to the dental school’s schedule, so it is best to call first (415) 600-3240. Visiting anesthesiologists will be most intrigued by the early anesthesia textbooks and anesthesia machines. Arthur Guedel’s memorabilia, including the portable anesthesia machine he designed to carry in the trunk of his car as he moved from case to case in different Los Angeles hospitals, is also of interest. The Guedel Center hopes you can find time to visit any time you are in San Francisco!

Selma H. Calmes, M.D., is now retired. She is a member of the Wood Library-Museum Board of Trustees and a member of the ASA Subcommittee on History and Education.