D.J. Canale (left)
OXFORD, Miss. – D.J. Canale of Memphis, a retired neurosurgeon, has spent years collecting rare books on yellow fever, particularly books during the era when the disease was most prevalent in the 19th century. The medical historian and his wife, Janet, recently donated their collection to the University of Mississippi.
“Yellow fever was so prevalent in this area, and these works show the attempts to control this devastating disease,” said Jennifer Ford, head of Archives and Special Collections at the J.D. Williams Library. “We had only a few secondary sources on yellow fever before Dr. Canale’s gift. I hope that students will gain a better knowledge of yellow fever and the attempts to understand and cure the disease.”His second donation to the university, Canale’s collection on yellow fever consists of 60 books. His first donation in 2010 was a significant collection of books related to medicine during the Civil War.
Canale has been collecting books on yellow fever for about 40 years and said he believed that the J.D. Williams Library would be a great home for his collection.
“Hopefully it can be a building block for other donations of books pertaining to yellow fever because it was a very important disease, particularly in the Mississippi Valley area,” Canale said. “I just think Ole Miss has the perfect library for it. I want this to be a resource center so that people who are interested in studying yellow fever will be able to utilize this material.”
In particular, one of the most interesting books in the collection is the work of Walter Reed, U.S. Army surgeon and bacteriologist. His investigations brought him to the groundbreaking discovery of a particular mosquito species that was transmitting the disease.
“He later credited the true discovery and subsequent control of yellow fever to the work of Dr. Carlos Finlay,” Ford said. “That showed true greatness of character.”
Canale, who retired 13 years ago, earned his undergraduate and medical degrees from the University of Tennessee and completed his residency at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit. He and his wife have three sons. One of his sons, Stuart Jay Canale of Memphis, earned his undergraduate and law degrees at Ole Miss. The Canales have a home in Oxford and enjoy attending university events.
Canale’s collection will be housed on the third floor of the J.D. Williams Library. Archives and Special Collections acquires, conserves and makes accessible rare books, manuscripts, maps, visual and audio materials, and ephemera related to UM, the state of Mississippi and the blues. It is open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday, except during designated university holidays.