The Corydon L. Ford papers offer strong documentation of medical education and practice in the last half of the 19th century. The collection is arranged in three series: Teaching Records, Topical Files, and Miscellaneous.
Corydon La Ford was born August 29, 1813 on a farm in Lexington, New York. Paralysis in one leg made it impossible for him to continue farming and at the age of 17 he became a teacher with a view to eventually becoming a physician. He received his M.D. from Geneva Medical College in 1842, where he then taught anatomy from 1842 to 1848. In 1847 he was appointed demonstrator of Anatomy in the Medical Department of the University of Buffalo, and while holding this position he was also Professor of Anatomy in the Castleton Medical College, Vermont. In 1854 he accepted the position of professor of anatomy at the University of Michigan; in 1860, he was named professor of anatomy and physiology. He taught for more than forty years, serving as dean of the faculty 1879-1880.
Aside from teaching, Ford wrote several significant works including "Questions on Anatomy, Histology, and Physiology, for the Use of Students" (last ed. Ann Arbor, 1878), "Syllabus of Lectures on Odontology, Human and Comparative (1884), and "Questions on the Structure and Development of the Human Teeth" (1885). Dr. Ford was given an LL.D. from Michigan in 1881. He died April 14, 1894.
