In North America, the veterinary profession was still described as 'fledgling' as late as the 1950s while the country's economy recovered from the effects of the Great Depression and World War II. Although the establishment of veterinary schools in the United States lagged slightly behind Canada, by the mid-1860s the early inauguration of a national professional veterinary association was supporting development of veterinary education and the profession. It was the established land grant colleges that first added agricultural and veterinary courses to their curricula which later evolved into permanent veterinary medical schools in the university system. In being allied with agricultural education veterinary colleges were geographically separated from universities that had medical schools: this physical arrangement of medical and veterinary schools adversely affected research and educational collaboration, as well as the benefits of shared funding. According to Smith (2010, p. 320), "The veterinary profession has never recovered from the devastating impact of its estrangement from the medical profession".

The veterinary profession was organizing in the United States and among its goals was to support veterinary education by setting professional standards in education and practice. Along with:
• promoting the public profile of the profession;
• sharing professional information; and
• lobbying for legislation in their respective countries that would enshrine the conditions of under which a person was allowed to practice veterinary medicine.

Prominent veterinarians with works in the Rosen collection who contributed to the advancement of veterinary education in the United States include James Law, Alexandré Liautard, Septimus Sisson, and Louis A. Merillat.

According to Smith (2010, p. 320), "The veterinary profession has never recovered from the devastating impact of its estrangement from the medical profession".

James Law (1838-1921) graduated from the Edinburgh Veterinary College in 1857 and was recommended by John Gamgee (alumnus of the London school) in 1868 to be a member of the inaugural faculty to instruct veterinary medicine and surgery at Cornell University, a land grant college. By 1871, a Bachelor of Veterinary Science at Cornell was a four-year degree and an additional two year term was required for a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine. In 1894, after years of lobbying government, James Law saw the veterinary college become the first state-sponsored New York State Veterinary College at Cornell. Law’s lasting contribution to veterinary education in the United States was to establish high standards at Cornell for veterinary education and the aggregate achievements of his students upon graduation into the profession (Smith, 2010, p. 319). Like his peer Duncan McEachran, Law’s research interests lay in comparative medicine and public health. "James Law was directly involved in numerous public health issues, including ensuring safe water for the Cornell campus" (Smith, 2010, p. 319). James Law’s publications in the Rosen collection include The Canadian Farmer’s Veterinary Advisor, 1877 and The Horseman’s Friend & Veterinary Advisor, 5th ed., no date. With the possible exception of Alexandré Liautard, James Law was the most influential US veterinarian of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries" (Smith, 2010, p. 319).

Law’s lasting contribution to veterinary education in the United States was to establish high standards for veterinary education at Cornell and for the aggregate achievements of graduands into the profession (Smith, 2010, p. 319).

Alexandré Liautard (1835-1918) was educated at the veterinary school in Alfort, France and emigrated to the United States in 1860. After the end of the American Civil War in 1865, he salvaged the failing New York City Veterinary School and founded the American Veterinary College and Hospital in New York in 1875 (Dunlop and Williams, 1996, p. 656). In 1863, he was involved in founding the United States Veterinary Medical Association (USVMA) which later became the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) (Smith, 2010, p. 319). In 1877 he became editor of the American Veterinary Review that provided an international view of veterinary science. "Liautard used the journal as his bully pulpit to encourage and compliment colleagues and to scorn adversaries as he fought to advance veterinary medicine" (Smith, 2010, p. 319). He retired to France in 1900. From the Introduction to Animal Castration, 12th ed., Liautard (1902) notes, “In the new (ninth) edition, besides several minor additions, we have rewritten a few entirely and taken advantage of the progress that has been made in the castration of cryptorchids and that of the small animals.”

"With the possible exception of Alexandré Liautard, James Law was the most influential US veterinarian of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries." (Smith, 2010, p. 319)

Septimus Sisson (1865-1924) graduated from the Ontario Veterinary College (OVC) in 1891 and became a veterinary professor at Ohio State University. He was an anatomist in the German tradition. “Through his [Septimus Sisson] efforts the German tradition of anatomical excellence was transferred to North America” (Dunlop and Williams, 1996, p. 521). He wrote The Anatomy of the Domestic Animals, 1917 and Ligaments and Muscles of the Horse, 1895, both in the Rosen collection.

“Through his [Septimus Sisson] efforts the German tradition of anatomical excellence was transferred to North America” (Dunlop and Williams, 1996, p. 521).

Louis A. Merillat (1868-1956) was the son of a horseman from Ohio and a graduate of the Ontario Veterinary College in Canada. Over the course of a long career he was a successful practitioner, educator, army veterinarian, author, editor, and contributor to the advancement of the profession. Near the end of his life, at the 60th anniversary of his Ontario Veterinary College graduation in 1948, he was toasted as the “outstanding veterinarian in America.” There is more information about Louis Merillat's equine practice and research in the Military Veterinarians section.

On the occasion of 60 years since his graduation from the OVC in 1948, Merillat was toasted as the “outstanding veterinarian in America".

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