January 5, 2001

The East Medical Pup (below) began its long association with the MGH when nurses at the hospital's East Medical Service gave the wooden pull toy to house pupil Joseph Aub, MD, on Christmas day in 1914. (House officers were known as house pupils, a.k.a. "pups," from 1849 to 1922.) Young Aub invited senior colleague David Edsall, MD, to carve his initials on the present as a memento. His initials developed into a tradition where each generation of East Medical house officers signed the pup before leaving. In 1942, the MGH adopted a wartime one-year internship, which did away with the system of "pup" house officers. At this time, the East Medical pup retired from service and passed from hand to hand until 1999, when Daniel Ellis, MD, gave it to the MGH Archives and Special Collections for permanent safekeeping. Ellis' initials, "DSE," inscribed 60 years ago on the animal's snout, still are clearly visible.