A Brief History

The history of scientific exchange between the Institut Pasteur and the United States and the tradition of American philanthropy towards the Institut Pasteur are thoroughly intertwined and date back to over a century ago.

On December 1, 1885, just six months after Louis Pasteur treated his first rabies patient, Joseph Meister, four boys from Newark, New Jersey were bitten by a dog suspected to be rabid.

The Four Boys from Newark, NJ, treated for rabies by Louis Pasteur in late 1885.
Left to right : Austin Fitzgerald, William Lane, Eddie Ryan and Patrick Reynolds

A well-known physician, Dr. William O'Gorman, recommended that the children be sent to Pasteur for treatment and issued his appeal:
" I have such confidence in the preventive forces of inoculation by mitigated virus that were it my misfortune to be bitten by a rabid dog, I would board the first Atlantic steamer, go straight to Paris and, full of hope, place myself immediately in the hands of Pasteur.... If the parents be poor, I appeal to the medical profession and to the humane of all classes to help send these poor children where there is almost a certainty of prevention and cure. Let us prove to the world that we are intelligent enough to appreciate the advance of science and liberal and humane enough to help those who cannot help themselves.."
- New York Herald Tribune, December 4, 1885.

In response to this appeal, contributions from people of all means began to arrive : from the great industrialist Andrew Carnegie and the former Secretary of State Frederick Frelinghuysen to four-year-old girls from the neighborhood in Newark. In a matter of days the fund had amassed $1000 and the four boys left for Paris to be treated by Louis Pasteur.

Their story was followed closely by the local and soon national press as documented in Dr. Bert Hansen's scholarly article "America's First Medical Breakthrough : How Popular Excitement About a French Rabies Cure in 1885 Raised New Expectations of Medical Progress" (American Historical Review 103:2, April 1998, pp. 373-418).

Dr. Hansen demonstrates that this is the first time medicine is seen as "Hot News." When the boys returned home in January 1886, they received a hero's welcome in the port of New York.

This story is the genesis of two enduring Pasteurian traditions:

- First it marked the beginning of American giving to the Institut Pasteur. In response to the world's reaction to Pasteur's rabies vaccine and with the contributions that began to arrive, the French Academy of Sciences established an international fund for the construction of an institute that would bear the name of Louis Pasteur. In the U.S., a small notice was published in the New York Herald Tribune and many Americans like Gordon Bennett, the editor of the paper, showed their gratitude through their philanthropy becoming the institute's first donors.

- Second, this event marked the start of the institute's history of scientific collaboration with America. Following the visit of the Newark boys, Pasteur was pleased, for example, to welcome scientists from New York and Chicago into his laboratory to demonstrate his rabies treatment. This cooperation would give Americans quick, local access to a cure for the much dreaded disease. By the turn of the century , at least six American Pasteur Institutes were operating and had provided Pasteur's treatment to over 2000 Americans.

It was with the same cooperative spirit that, during World War I, the Institut Pasteur played an active role in the preparation and supply of vaccines and sera to the Allied Forces, and namely to the American Army and American Red Cross; some 800,000 doses were given free of charge.

From 1938 to 2001, the Institut Pasteur has welcomed over a thousand American researchers and hundreds of Pasteur scientists have come to the United States to pursue post-doctoral fellowships. The new Pasteur Foundation Post-Doctoral Fellowship program seeks to perpetuate this tradition by increasing significantly the number of Americans on the Pasteur campus.

If you are an American scientist interested in a post-doctoral fellowship in a Pasteur laboratory, please contact the Pasteur Foundation.

The Rapkine French Scientist Fund: Precursor to the Pasteur Foundation

Background of the Pasteur Foundation

In 1985, the name of the Rapkine fund was changed to the Pasteur Foundation. Since then, with the invaluable and generous assistance of its American Advisory Board led by Mrs. Anastassios Fondaras, the Pasteur Foundation, a 501(c)(3) corporation, has striven to raise awareness of Pasteurian research. Over the years, the Pasteur Foundation has also benefited from the guidance and help of the French Embassy and the New York French Consulate General. Through grants, gifts and bequests, and the organization of annual special events such as the U.S. premiere of the film "Tous les matins du monde" and an evening featuring the Broadway hit "Contact," the Pasteur Foundation has fostered the tradition of American giving, garnering more than $9 million in its first 15 years.

As a prime example, the Florence Gould Foundation of New York has been a faithful supporter for many years, providing grants for basic research on leprosy, for scientific exchanges and for sophisticated laboratory equipment. Recently, the Gould Foundation funded the construction of a state-of-the-art high-security laboratory inaugurated in October.

The Howard Scholarship is a testament to American individual philanthropy. Endowed in 1992 by a cherished donor, the late Mrs. Frank Howard, this scholarship brings young American and British scientists to work at the Institut Pasteur. American bequests, the most famous of which was that of Wallis Warfield Simpson, Duchess of Windsor, have also significantly enhanced the activity of the Institut Pasteur.

Beyond its mission to raise funds for scientific research conducted at the institute, the Pasteur Foundation brings to its American supporters news of the rich history of the institute as well as recent research developments. Events to commemorate the centennial of Louis Pasteur's death were held in over 50 U.S. cities throughout 1995, "The Year of Louis Pasteur." Pasteur Perspectives highlights current developments on the Pasteur campus. The Pasteur Foundation also provides resources to American science and French teachers.

From the first American contributions given directly to Louis Pasteur for the creation of his institute over 100 years ago to the many more recent gifts and bequests, the rich history of American philanthropy has literally changed the face of the Institut Pasteur and greatly enhanced the course of its research by financing the construction of new buildings, providing equipment and sponsoring young American scientists.

Pasteur Institutes USA : A Turn of the Century Phenomenon
by Bert Hansen, Ph.D.

Circling the globe, the Pasteur Institutes established as satellites of the Institut Pasteur in Paris are justifiably world famous. Colleagues and students of Louis Pasteur created many important centers abroad as extensions of the central organization in Paris. The first was opened in Saigon by Albert Calmette in 1891. Today there are 20 institutes in the global network of the Institut Pasteur in cities such as Dakar, Athens and St. Petersburg.

While the United States has never hosted such official daughter institutes, Americans did initiate a fair number of organizations that imitated-and even anticipated-the great center in Paris. None in the U.S. was formally established by Paris, but some might have had authorization to use the founder's name.

Shortly after Louis Pasteur first publicly announced his new inoculation to prevent infection in persons bitten by rabid dogs, two groups of American physicians made plans to prepare and distribute this revolutionary remedy on our side of the Atlantic.
Independently in St. Louis and New York City, small groups of physicians announced "Pasteur Institutes" in late December 1885 and soon after the New Year. Their enthusiasm, fueled by Pasteur's report in late October 1885 of his success in July of that year, was further prompted by December's torrent of newspaper articles about four boys from Newark, New Jersey, who had traveled to Paris for treatment. The first of Pasteur's many American patients, these children had not yet returned to the U.S. when the American doctors shared their plans with the press.

When both cities used the phrase "Pasteur Institute," they were not copying Paris; indeed, they were several months ahead. Only weeks later did Pasteur announce his ideas for a permanent institution, which in time came to bear his name. A fund-raising campaign opened in March 1886 and quickly secured major contributions from royalty and philanthropists worldwide. A splendid new facility opened its doors in November 1888, growing and thriving to the present.

In contrast, America's two earliest efforts failed to get off the ground. By March of 1886, the St. Louis endeavor had been abandoned. During the spring, Dr. Valentine Mott of New York was in Paris to learn Pasteur's new method, and on his return he first applied it to a patient in July 1886. However, his group failed to secure funding and the organization disappeared.

Five years later, a new Pasteur Institute was established in New York City by a French medical scientist, Dr. Paul Gibier, whose research on rabies had been published in a detailed doctoral thesis accepted by the Faculty of Medicine at Paris: "Experimental Investigations on Rabies and Its Treatment" (1884). Gibier managed this facility's growth until his accidental death in 1900. It was then reduced in scale, but its work continued under the direction of his nephew, George Gibier Rambaud, educated in science in France and in medicine at Columbia University in New York City. Dr. Rambaud closed the Institute in 1918, when he was commissioned overseas in the U.S. Medical Corps.

Rabies treatment efforts were organized under the name Pasteur Institute in several other cities in the U.S. Some carried out research along with the clinical treatment of rabies; some were actually agencies of state health departments, using the term Pasteur Institute or Division or Department simply to designate a focus on rabies treatment, the advance most closely associated in America with Pasteur's name in the era prior to the popularity of milk pasteurization after about 1920.

Long ignored by historians, the uneven fortunes of America's Pasteur Institutes, none of which survive today, are only now becoming known. In the interest of advancing this knowledge-and in the hope of uncovering further documentation of their unique histories-a chronological list of American institutes bearing the Pasteur name follows.

Dr. Bert Hansen, who teaches history at Baruch College, recently published "America's First Medical Breakthrough: How Popular Excitement About a French Rabies Cure in 1885 Raised New Expectations of Medical Progress" (American Historical Review 103:2, April 1998, pp. 373-418) and "New Images of a New Medicine: Visual Evidence for Widespread Popularity of Therapeutic Discoveries in America After 1885 (Bulletin of the History of Medicine 74:4, December 1999, pp. 629-678).