The collection represents the work of the first American team of doctors in psychosurgery. Dr. Walter Freeman (1895-1972) and his colleague Dr. James Winston Watts (1904-1994), developed a technique for neurosurgery on the frontal lobes of the brain commonly known as “lobotomy.” Although considered a somewhat primitive practice by today’s standards, this operation achieved a certain amount of success in significant numbers of patients suffering from severe depression, anxiety, and nervousness, and pain. The collection contains patient medical files (closed to research without proper authorization), correspondence, articles and reprints, books, manuscripts, conference and research notes, photographs, oral histories, and medical equipment.
Janet G. Travell, M.D. Papers:
Dr. Janet G. Travell (1901-1997) was a distinguished member of the medical community, serving as Personal Physician to two United States Presidents: John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson (and the first woman to hold the post.) She was also renowned as an expert on myofascial pain - a term used to describe pain and dysfunction of skeletal muscles - and pioneered numerous techniques for dealing with chronic pain. The collection contains correspondence, press releases, papers, case reports, data from experiments, lecture notes, articles, newspaper and magazine clippings, photographs, and artifacts.
Marcus Cunliffe Papers:
Marcus Cunliffe (1922-1990) was a distinguished historian and expert on George Washington. His seminal book George Washington: Man and Monument, was first published in 1958. As a young man growing up in England, Cunliffe was introduced to America through such writers as James Thurber, Stephen Crane, Ezra Pound, and E.E. Cummings. He listened to the voice of Franklin D. Roosevelt and watched American films featuring Greta Garbo, Jean Harlow, and Joan Crawford. After studying at Yale from 1947-1949, he carried back with him a wealth of experiences of American culture gleaned from his travels throughout the country. His academic career focused on America, its people, and development. The collection contains diaries, correspondence, research notes, articles, chapters from books, syllabi, exam questions, news clippings, correspondence, original military ballads, illustrations, and photographs.
Lester Frank Ward Papers:
Lester Frank Ward (1841-1913), was described by some as the father of American sociology. Lester Ward believed that science should work for the improvement of the human condition. After fighting for the Union in the American Civil War, Ward obtained degrees in botany and law. For most of his life he worked for the federal government, mainly in the fields of geology, paleontology, and botany. By 1876 Ward had shifted the focus of the work, which was begun in 1869, to sociology, and in 1906, when he was 65 years old, he was appointed professor of sociology at Brown University. He studied at Columbian College (now George Washington University), from which he received the A.B. degree in 1869, the LL.B. degree in 1871, and the A.M. degree in 1872. The collection contains diaries, correspondence, photographs, articles, and a scrapbook.
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