Historical Reflections: The Medical Heritage Center Blog

In the 1950’s, the OSU Institute for Research in Vision, led by H. Richard Blackwell, played a leading role in developing specifications and international standards for lighting. Read this article by Blackwell to learn more:  http://www.iesna.org/PDF/100Papers/074.pdf

The Lionel Topaz Memorial Library of Visual Science was dedicated October 31, 1955 and was located in Fry Hall. In 1987, due to cost increases and difficulty in maintaining a current optometry collection, the Topaz Library merged with the Health Sciences Library. At the time of its closing, the Topaz Library with its approximately 4,000 volumes was the largest, most complete optometry library in the world and was the oldest departmental library at Ohio State.

Lionel Topaz was born in Russia May 15, 1875. He moved to England in 1897 and came to America 1903. He married in Boston in 1904 and had three children, Mae, Oscar, and Martin. Topaz established “The Optometric Weekly” in 1910 and founded The Professional Press, Inc. in 1919. He was the publisher of numerous books in the field of visual optics and a close friend of Charles Sheard, first director of the OSU Applied Optics program and for whom Ohio State’s Sheard Foundation for Research in Vision is named. Topaz died in Chicago, Illinois on July 23, 1942.

The oldest book from this library collection is a 1704 edition of Opticks by Sir Issac Newton that is part of the Medical Heritage Center rare book collection and can viewed during their open hours or by appointment.

The Medical Heritage Center also has an archival collection from the Topaz Library and the finding aid for it can be viewed at: https://hsl.osu.edu/mhc/pdf/lionel-topaz-memorial-library-visual-science-collection

Charles Sheard

Charles Sheard, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Physics, came to OSU in 1907. He had acquired considerable knowledge in physiological and ophthalmic optics and had published various papers on these subjects. He also put his knowledge into practical application by carrying on a small part-time optometric practice, largely among faculty members, at his house at 367 West 10^th Avenue.

In the spring of 1908 Dr. Sheard was invited to give some lectures to the Ohio State Optical Association at its convention, and he made a deep impression. In the next few years, a number of optometric leaders in the area tried to interest him in the need for a better optometric education.

In 1914, thirty-three states passed laws recognizing the profession of optometry. Some state laws required no education to practice, only that the optometrist pass a state board examination, while others, among them New York, Iowa, Delaware, Indiana, and Michigan, required at least two years of high school, plus three years of study in an optometrist’s office or graduation from a school of optometry. Ohio didn’t pass an optometry law until 1919.

Columbia University in 1910 had started a two-year certificate course in optometry. Ohioans constituted the largest group of out-of-state students at Columbia, including the top students in two of the first three classes.

In August 1914 Dr. Sheard submitted a proposal to University President William Oxley Thompson and the Board of Trustees recommending a two-year certificate program in optometry patterned after that at Columbia. Dr. Sheard had on July 6 and 7 received the unanimous vote of the convention of the Ohio State Optical Association authorizing him to submit the proposal and pledging $2,000 to be given to the University by September 1, ten students, and equipment necessary for the courses in optometry. On August 4 the University Trustees approved the proposal and named Dr. Sheard Professor of Applied Optics and director of the courses.