#James C McGonigle

[oldschoolfrp]

"Lankhmart vampires only have their full vampiric abilities when the full moon is in the night sky. During other times, they have normal human characteristics -- those they had when they were mere mortals. Like all vampires, they must rest in their coffins during the day and can only come out at night, whether or not they are in their full vampiric phase." (James C McGonigle illus, AD&D Lankhmar module CA2: Swords of Deceit, TSR, 1986)

[dndhistory]

James C. McGonigle and Marcia Honz - Illustrations and Maps for CA2: Swords of Deceit (1986)

[sciforce]

Best Books on Information Technology in Healthcare

For the several past years IT in healthcare has been enjoying ever growing attention from academic and commercial sectors. Multiple projects, specialized stages at the biggest tech conferences and constant talks about turning hospitals into smart systems able to take more customized care of their patients through connected devices — information technology seems to penetrate into all fields of clinical care. However, if you start looking for good books on health IT, you’ll quickly get lost: the topic is too versatile and too new for it to develop classics that would cover all aspects and topics and be useful for beginners and for experienced professionals.

That is why, in this post we’ll try to suggest our selection of books on main branches of health IT that can help you get insights into the field.

Health Information Technology

First things first: health IT is the field of knowledge dealing with the electronic exchange of health information. Professionals in this field implement processes related to electronic health records, electronic prescribing and interoperability of electronic medical records across multiple organizations.

Healthcare Information Technology Exam Guide for CHTS and CAHIMS Certifications

Author: Kathleen A. McCormick

Written from the perspective of IT professionals, this book prepares them to transition into Health IT covering the essentials from health data standards to project management. It gives a decent overview of past trends and innovations that will shape the future, such as complex platforms that support big data, genomics, telemedicine, mobile devices, and consumers. As big data, precision medicine, genomics, and telehealth are changing previous paradigms of architecture and functionality, the book gives the perspective implementing new trends without interrupting existing care processes and revenue cycles.

Why read?

If you are an IT professional starting to work in healthcare IT, the book will provide you with a thorough overview of fundamentals of Healthcare Information Science covering standards and regulations as well as the ways to implement, manage and optimize them.

Where to find?

Amazon

Introduction to Healthcare Information Technology

Author: Mark Ciampa

Contrary to the previous book, this textbook addresses or medical professionals or technologists who want to gain entry into the field of healthcare information systems. The book covers the fundamentals of healthcare IT having the scope of the CompTIA Healthcare IT Technician as a basis. It examines healthcare regulatory requirements, the functions of a healthcare organization and its medical business operations as well as more applied topics such as IT hardware, software, networking, and security.

Why read?

This textbook provides the necessary foundation to enter the field of health IT and to pass the certificate exam.

Where to find?

Amazon

Google Books

Health informatics

Closely related to health IT, health informatics uses the data made by it to secure, organize and evaluate data related to patient care. Health informatics processes are intended to improve the delivery of public and private healthcare services.

Health Informatics: Practical Guide for Healthcare and Information Technology Professionals

Author: Robert E. Hoyt

Yet another textbook/reference book aiming to educate both healthcare and IT students and professionals about the key topics in health informatics. The topics covered include electronic health records, healthcare data analytics, health information exchange, architecture of information systems, evidence based medicine, consumer health informatics, HI ethics, and quality improvement strategies.

Why read?

Apart from theory, the book offers case studies, recommended reading, future trends, key points, and conclusions. Besides, for visual learners, it has simple illustrations to support textual explanation

Where to find?

Amazon

Informatics for Health Professionals (Navigate 2 Advantage Access) 1st Edition

Authors: Kathleen Mastrian, Dee McGonigle

The aim of the book is to provide learners with a solid understanding of informatics and the way it may support practice, education, administration, and research in the field of healthcare. It overviews recent technology trends in cybersecurity, and ethics, healthcare information exchanges and knowledge management. Among topic it covers are data mining, mobile health, bioinformatics and many others.

Why read? If you want solid theoretical background, this book will meet your expectations in full. Besides, the book offers a range of learning tools, including case studies, discussion questions and research briefs to see how the theories are implemented in the real life.

Where to find?

Amazon

Cybersecurity

In the recent years, the ethical and legal aspects of healthcare information management have been growing in importance, with more information stored online and more concerns about its security in public discussions. Responding to this trend, cybersecurity in healthcare has become one of the fastest growing field in healthcare IT.

Cybersecurity for Hospitals and Healthcare Facilities: A Guide to Detection and Prevention

Author: Luis Ayala

A book addresses, above all, hospital administrators, hospital and healthcare facility engineers IT professionals. It teaches how to detect potential threats and to prevent the hacking of medical equipment at hospitals and healthcare facilities. For this, the book tries to give the image of a hacker’s mind explaining what hackers can do, why they would target a hospital, how they research a target and gain access to a medical-grade network.

Why read?

The book prepares hospital and healthcare facility personnel to potential risks and provides ways to timely detect vulnerabilities and prevent hacking.

Where to find?

Amazon

E-book

The Book on Healthcare IT: What you need to know about HIPAA, Hospital IT, and Healthcare Information

Author: James Scott

Though positioning itself as a textbook on health IT, this book focuses on cybersecurity and patient privacy. In a relatively simplified manner, it covers a range of topics on it, including options for encryption of personal health information, best practices in patient privacy protection, HIPAA requirements and compliance, prevention of fraud by healthcare insiders, wireless network security. As a case study, it provides an analysis of the Catholic Health System’s network and data security.

Why read?

This book addresses beginners without assuming any IT knowledge. The structure is plain and transparent: the author defines the issue and explains the easiest and most effective path to reach the desirable outcome.

Where to find?

Amazon

AI for Healthcare

As any other AI-related topics, artificial intelligence in healthcare has been the focus of attention for the past several years. Since the topic is broad and covers many subjects from data analysis to deep learning algorithms, we have chosen two books that can raise the curtain on hottest and most promising fields of AI.

Medical Applications of Artificial Intelligence

Editor: Arvin Agah

The book helps both medical and computational scientists develop hybrid systems that can integrate the experience of healthcare professionals with capabilities of AI. The book gives a general overview of artificial intelligence concepts, tools, and techniques to familiarize readers with current trends and reviews the up-to-date research in the field.

Why read?

In a quite general way, the book captures the breadth and depth of the medical applications of artificial intelligence and sets the way for new developments.

Where to find?

Amazon

E-book

Demystifying Big Data and Machine Learning for Healthcare (Himss Book) 1st Edition

Authors: Prashant Natarajan , John C. Frenzel, Detlev H. Smaltz

The books studies how healthcare organizations can leverage big data to discover new business value, use cases, and knowledge. First of all, it tries to separate myths about big data from the reality to help medical professional develop a leveraged perspective on how big data can be used in healthcare. It gives insights on what type of data is needed, what key values in data preparation are. Importantly, it overviews main machine learning algorithms for healthcare.

Why read?

The book shows the way to create a knowledge-driven learning organization based on new and existing strategies, methods and technologies. Though it addresses long-standing challenges in healthcare informatics, it provides pragmatic recommendations on how to deal with them.

Where to find?

Amazon

Google Books

Healthcare IoT

Further expansion of the Internet of Things is listed among top trends for 2019. It is universally admitted that medicine is going to be one of the spheres to benefit from it making healthcare more reliable, fast and accessible.

Internet of Things and Advanced Application in Healthcare

Editors: Catarina I. Reis, Marisa da Silva Maximiano

This book is a reference source that covers the newly emerged research on the implementation of the latest networking and technological trends within the healthcare industry. It covers a broad range of topics related to the Internet of Things in healthcare, including context-aware computing, reliability, and healthcare support systems.

Why read?

In the emerging field of the healthcare IoT, this book provides a good reference to the key concepts.

Where to find?

Amazon

Enterprise Internet of Things Handbook: Build end-to-end IoT solutions using popular IoT platforms

Author: Arvind Ravulavaru

The book give a very practical information on the IoT domain in healthcare, covering five most popular IoT platforms, namely, AWS IoT, Microsoft Azure IoT, Google IoT Core, IBM Watson IoT, and Kaa IoT middleware. It helps build solutions that will use a Raspberry Pi 3, a DHT11 Temperature and humidity sensor, and a dashboard to visualize the sensor data in real-time. Moreover, it provides an overview of the Machine Learning in relation to the IoT guiding the reader through designing a simple predictive web service.

Why read?

The best about this book is that it is practice-oriented. By the end of it, the reader is supposed to be able to implement an IoT strategy best-fit for their organization

Where to find?

Amazon

Since the field of the healthcare IT is still in its infantry in many respects, many books have either a futuristic slant showing potential benefits of IT for healthcare, or, on the contrary, are collections of well-established theories that quickly become outdated in this fast-growing field. In our review, we tried to collect books that give fundamental knowledge and key best practices. However, to get state-of-the-art information, it is always a good idea to search for specific articles.

[powellproject]

Louis L. Long and the Leavenworth Cathedral

An 1867 photograph of the Leavenworth Cathedral in Leavenworth, Kansas, designed by Louis L. Long. This image shows the cathedral during construction and is from Alexander Gardner's series, Across the Continent on the Union Pacific Railway, Eastern Division.

A few weeks ago, St. Joseph resident Carol Almanza sent me a package with some new information on W. Angelo Powell and Louis L. Long. Both architects practiced in Baltimore before the Civil War. I have chronicled their personal and professional relationships here, here and here.

The papers pertaining to Powell will need their own post. But the papers pertaining to Long describe his commission for the Leavenworth Cathedral. The project is mentioned in an article from The Catholic Advance, the official newspaper of the diocese of Wichita, Kansas, that was published on February 7, 1914. Here is an excerpt:

Leavenworth had then a population of 10,000—about one-tenth of the total population of Kansas territory, exclusive of Indians. It was then calculated that in 30 years Leavenworth would have 150,000 inhabitants. When Bishop Miege resolved to build a cathedral here, Mr. [James A.] McGonigle recommended as architect Louis L. Long who, in 1852, had been the leading architect in Baltimore, Md., and had there built the Church of St. Ignatius for the Jesuits. Long had met with reverses and had come to St. Joseph, Mo., where his brother-in-law, James A. Storm resided, in 1859. Mr. Long had also been the architect of the Cathedral at New Orleans. McGonigle went to St. Joseph, Mo., in 1862, to see Long and bring him to the busy town of Leavenworth. Long drew the plans for the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception and a partnership formed between him and McGonigle, the latter becoming superintendent of construction. It will surprise many to learn that the Leavenworth Cathedral is about one-third the size of St. Peter’s in Rome which is known as at the largest and grandest church in the world. St. Peter’s (according to Mr. McGonigle) is 623 feet long and 225 feet wide; the Leavenworth Cathedral is 198 feet long, and 78 feet wide. For the roof of the Leavenworth Cathedral 125,000 feet of lumber were required. Mr. Long also designed the beautiful renaissance alters of the Cathedral. They are replicas of those in St. Ignatius Church, Baltimore, and in design similar to the altars found in the City of Rome. The finely carved communion rail, in exquisite ecclesiastical designs, is the work of Major White. DeBrossie, (over whose land in Franklin county, there has been much litigation) furnished the old stained-glass windows. Those in the transept cost then about $1,000, the others about $300 each. The excellent fresco work of the ceiling was done by the artist, Leon Pomeade, then living in St. Louis. The excavation for the cathedral was begun in 1864. The corner-stone was laid in September of that year and the noble edifice, then the most splendid Cathedral in the Missouri Valley was dedicated December 8, 1868.

A lithograph showing the altar of the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, Leavenworth, Kansas by E. E. Henry (source unknown).

According to his biography in A Standard History of Kansas and Kansans, published in 1918, James A. McGonigle was a contractor and builder and one of Leavenworth’s most respected citizens. He was born in Hagerstown, Maryland, on February 8, 1834 and settled in Leavenworth in 1857.

There’s a lot to process here. Let’s start with the Maryland connections:

James A. Storm and his sister Annie “Anna” Elizabeth Storm were from Emmitsburg, Maryland—approximately 40 miles east of Hagerstown. Perhaps McGonigle knew them from childhood? James Storm moved to St. Joseph in 1857 (the same year McGonigle moved to Leavenworth).

Louis L. Long married Anna Storm (date unknown) and practiced with W. Angelo Powell’s younger brother George (Long & Powell) in Baltimore from 1858-1859.

The Longs moved to St. Joseph before the outbreak of the Civil War (either 1859 or 1860). According to the article, Louis “had met with reverses.” Baltimore had several practicing architects before the war and they competed for many of the same commissions (like the Peabody Institute). According to Anna’s obituary published in the St. Joseph Herald on July 27, 1889, she and Louis made the journey from St. Louis to Hannibal by steamboat and then traveled “by way of the Hannibal & St. Joseph railroad, which was at that time the only route here from the east.”

James Storm and Long’s wife, Anna, were first cousins with Regina and Cecelia Gillmeyer, the first and second wives of W. Angelo Powell. (Regina and Cecelia’s father, George Gillmeyer (1797-1872), and James and Anna’s mother, Sarah Gillmeyer (1795-1859), were brother and sister.

W. Angelo Powell moved to St. Joseph after the conclusion of the Civil War. Storm and Powell formed a short-lived partnership in 1866.

Page 11 of Powell’s Prospectus for 1869 states he made “Designs and details of the interior finish of Leavenworth Cathedral, Kansas, &c., &c.”

An article in the St. Joseph Morning Daily Herald published on January 3, 1869, lists “a few of the buildings designed by W. Angelo Powell, Architect, and finished in 1868.” The list includes “Design and drawings for interior of Leavenworth [Kansas] Cathedral, $30,000.”

Next, their Civil War connections:

McGonigle served as a first lieutenant in Company H of the First Kansas Volunteers. He was “an early, brave and loyal soldier in the Union army until incapacitated by wounds in the Civil war.”

Here is some additional background on McGonigle’s military service. According to his biography:

Lieutenant McGonigle was in command of the company...at the battle of Wilson's Creek, in which engagement the company went into battle with seventy-six men and when it was over eighteen had been killed and twenty-two wounded, Lieutenant McGonigle being one of the latter, a fragment of shell wounding him in the left side. On account of this disaster and the ill health which followed, he resigned his commission and returned home.

Like many of St. Joseph’s residents, Louis L. Long’s sympathies aligned with secessionists and the South. According to his Combined Military Service Record (CMSR), Long enlisted with the 1st Missouri Infantry Regiment.

Here is some background on Long’s military service:

The 1st Missouri was organized at Rolla, Missouri, in August, 1861, and was Commanded by Col. John S. Bowen (first Commander), Col. Lucius L. Rich (2nd Commander); Col. Hugh A. Garland (3rd Commander); Lt. Col. Martin Burke; Lt. Col. Amos C. Riley; Maj. Robert J. Duffy; Maj. Bradford Keith; Maj. Charles C. Campbell. By November 1861, the 1st Missouri contained 27 officers and 531 men.

The 1st Missouri saw action on April 6 and 7, 1862, at the Battle of Shiloh. Union casualties were 13,047 (1,754 killed, 8,408 wounded, and 2,885 missing) and Confederate casualties were 10,699 (1,728 killed, 8,012 wounded, and 959 missing or captured). Long survived but had seen enough of the war. According to his CMSR, Long “Deserted May 18, 1862; Transferred from Co. F 2; [Unknown] Regt.”

Long returned to St. Joseph that summer and was conscripted by the 25th Regiment of the Enrolled Missouri Militia (EEM) on July 30, 1862. He was made a sergeant in Company G and was ordered into active service on August 7.

Conceived as a part-time force, the EMM served to augment the Unionist State Militia for defense—freeing them up for offensive operations against Confederate guerillas. Service was compulsory. Loyal men were required to enroll. Disloyal men who had taken up arms against the United States were required to “report to the nearest military post..., surrender their arms, and return to their homes or ordinary places of business.” [1]

More than 52,000 men were enlisted in the EMM. Louis L. Long was relieved from duty on December 2, 1862. [2]

If McGonigle went to St. Joseph in 1862 “to see Long and bring him to...Leavenworth,” McGonigle must have been aware that Long fought with the Confederacy. I would think this an obstacle for the two men—especially with the war still raging. Perhaps Long’s enrollment in the EMM was enough to satisfy McGonigle?

Was Long a Catholic? His wife definitely was. Anna’s obituary stated “She was a Catholic in the full import of the term.” If so, Long’s religious denomination may have also helped him win the commission for the Leavenworth Cathedral. According to his biography on the Baltimore Architecture Foundation’s website, “With his many known works for the Roman Catholic church and its institutions he must have been a Roman Catholic.” 

Perhaps the formation of their "partnership” was solely about money. I found a rendering of the cathedral that is attributed to “Long & McGonigle Architects.” The image is not high-res, but I believe it is dated May 10, 1863.

A drawing of the Leavenworth Cathedral attributed to Long & McGonigle (lower left hand corner). The source of the image is “Missions Among the Indians in Kansas." Transactions of the Kansas State Historical Society, 1905-1906.

The partnership of Long & McGonigle is not listed in any of the St. Joseph city directories. I should probably check the Leavenworth directories, but have found no mention of “Long & McGonigle” in any internet searches.

Louis L. Long was the only architect listed in Charles Collins’s St. Joseph City Directory, and Business Mirror, for 1865-66. It states that he worked “at Storm’s turning shop” located at the corner of Third and Messanie streets. 

Long does not appear in any later St. Joseph city directories, but his death is a mystery. I have found no obituary for the man in any of St. Joseph’s newspapers and Anna is not listed as a “widow” in the city directories until 1869. She moved to Kansas City in 1879 and died ten years later. 

Anna’s 1889 obituary in the St. Joseph Herald states that she passed “Twenty-five years after the death of her husband.” That would mean Louis died in 1864. But if he was listed in the 1865 directory, he likely died sometime during that year.

According to Chris L. Rutt’s 1904 biography, W. Angelo Powell arrived in the “crude overgrown town” of St. Joseph on Saturday, September 28, 1866. Did James Storm recruit Powell to come to St. Joseph and finish the Leavenworth Cathedral? Did he take over the project after Long’s death? And what was his relationship with McGonigle?

There are still so many unknowns.

Unfortunately the Leavenworth Cathedral was destroyed by fire 1961. To date, I have found very few photographs of the project. I will continue to research it.

Many thanks to Carol Almanza for bringing this project to light!

SOURCES

[1] Source: Jesse James: Last Rebel of the Civil War by T. J. Stiles, p. 83.

[2] Information taken from Long’s Muster-In Roll.

[oldschoolfrp]

Erastus the Wild, Son of the Rat God of Ilthmar in his Avatar of the Rat God Form, keeps Lankhmar’s two greatest heroes in cages (James C McGonigle, AD&D module CA2: Swords of Deceit, TSR, 1986)

[oldschoolfrp]

Midnight in Bones Alley, behind a Lankhmar tavern, Tanya Valinor’s carriage has a secret mission (James C McGonigle, AD&D module CA2: Swords of Deceit, TSR, 1986)

[oldschoolfrp]

The rat militia calls out:  “Humanth!  Thtand forth and identify yourthelfth!  For what reathon to you trethpath on the rightful domain of Lankhmar’th rodentkind?“  (James C McGonigle illus., aka Colton Mac, and boxed text quote from AD&D Lankhmar module CA2: Swords of Deceit by Bourne, Dobson, Mecca, and Rolston, TSR, 1986)