DITTRICK HOWARD (14 Feb. 1877-11 July 1954) was a Cleveland physician and medical writer. With his wife Gertrude, he collected and cataloged medical artifacts which provided the basis for the DITTRICK MUSEUM OF MEDICAL HISTORY, which he curated (1928) and then directed (1935-54). Dittrick edited the Bulletin of the ACADEMY OF MEDICINE OF CLEVELAND (1934), Current Researches in Anesthesia and Analgesia, and the Cleveland Clinic Quarterly (1944-48) (see CLEVELAND CLINIC FOUNDATION) and compiled a book on local medical history. He was born in St. Catherines, Ontario, Canada, to Duncan and Martha Harper Dittrick and graduated from St. Catherines Collegiate Institute. After earning both his M.B. (1900) and M.D. (1927) at the University of Toronto, Dittrick practiced obstetrics and gynecology in Cleveland from a Prospect Avenue office. In 1925 he began teaching at the School of Medicine of Western Reserve University (see CASE WESTERN RESERVE UNIVERSITY) and continued to teach there until 1944. Associate Gynecologist for UNIVERSITY HOSPITALS CASE MEDICAL CENTER, Dittrick presided over the Cleveland Medical Examiners Society and belonged to numerous state and national professional associations. He represented the United States twice at the International Congress of History of Medicine (1935, 1938). Outside the medical realm, Dittrick belonged to the CLEVELAND MUSEUM OF ART and chaired a local intermuseum advisory group.

On 29 Jan. 1907 Dittrick married Gertrude B. Moore; the couple lived in CLEVELAND HEIGHTS with their 6 sons: Douglas, John, Lawrence, Alan, Howard, and Paul. Dittrick is buried in LAKE VIEW CEMETERY.

Howard Dittrick Papers, Dittrick Museum of Medical History.

Related Article(s)

• LIBRARIES AND MUSEUMS
• MEDICINE