Webb Haymaker Founders of Neurology Archive, 1946-1978
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http://oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/kt287035hx No online items Webb Haymaker Founders of Neurology archive, 1946-1978 Processed by Staff of the UCLA History and Special Collections Division for the Sciences. Louise M. Darling Biomedical Library History and Special Collections for the Sciences History and Special Collections Division for the Sciences UCLA 12-077 Center for Health Sciences Box 951798 Los Angeles, CA 90095-1798 Phone: 310/825-6940 Fax: 310/825-0465 Email: [email protected] URL: http://www.library.ucla.edu/libraries/biomed/his/ ©2010 The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved. Webb Haymaker Founders of 421 1 Neurology archive, 1946-1978 Descriptive Summary Title: Webb Haymaker Founders of Neurology archive, Date (inclusive): 1946-1978 Collection number: 421 Creator: Haymaker, Webb, M.D. 1902-1984 Extent: 9.33 linear ft., 8 cartons plus 1 lantern slide box, 573 folders, 10 lantern slides Repository: University of California, Los Angeles. Library. Louise M. Darling Biomedical Library History and Special Collections for the Sciences Los Angeles, California 90095-1490 Abstract: Much of this collection consists of correspondence, texts, and photographs created and gathered for an exhibit about individuals important in the history of basic and clinical neuroscience. The materials of this multi-authored, international endeavor were expanded, under leadership and editing by Webb Haymaker and backing by the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology and the Army Medical Library, U.S.A., into a printed volume of 133 biographical sketches, portraits, and short bibliographies, titled The Founders of Neurology . The Haymaker archive also contains over 700 portraits of the attendees at the 4th International Congress of Neurology, Paris, 1949, for which the original exhibit was created, plus portraits of numerous other individuals of interest to Haymaker. Correspondence folders from Dr. Haymakers files, limited mostly to the years 1949-1963, make up the other sizeable part of this collection. These give not only a revealing picture of Haymaker's generous, ever energetic and ever creative personality, but also show someone closely engaged in the U.S.'s post-World War II endeavor to reestablish contact with, and give aid to, the scientific establishment in Europe and Asia. Physical location: Restricted cage, Biomedical Library History and Special Collections for the Sciences Division, University of California, Los Angeles Language of Material: Collection materials in English, German, French Access Collection is open for research. Publication Rights Property rights in the physical objects belong to the UCLA Biomedical Library. Literary rights, including copyright, are retained by the creators and their heirs. It is the responsibility of the researcher to determine who holds the copyright and pursue the copyright owner or his or her heir for permission to publish if the Biomedical Library does not hold the copyright. Preferred Citation [Identification of item], Webb Haymaker Founders of Neurology archive (Manuscript collection 421). Louise M. Darling Biomedical Library History and Special Collections for the Sciences, University of California, Los Angeles. UCLA Catalog Record ID UCLA Catalog Record ID: 6774090 Acquisition Information Dr. Haymaker made his first deposit of papers, photographs, and lantern slides to the UCLA Biomedical Library in 1961. Further materials were added over the years until 1978. Biography Webb Edward Haymaker was born in 1902 and died in 1984. After his undergraduate years at Clemson College and the College of Charleston, SC, he entered the Medical College of South Carolina and received his M.D. degree in 1928. In 1934 Dr. Wilder Penfield invited him to become a Fellow at the newly created Montreal Neurological Institute. Haymaker spent a year there, earned an MSc degree from McGill University, and met fellow scientist Evelyn Anderson, PhD, whom he married in 1936. For six years he taught neuroanatomy at the University of California School of Medicine, San Francisco and University of California, Berkeley. In 1942 he was commissioned a First Lieutenant in the Army Medical Corps and assigned to the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology (AFIP), in Washington, D.C. There he remained for approximately 20 years, rising to the rank of Lt. Colonel, then as civilian Chief of the Neuropathology Branch. Among his many influential publications during these years, he guided and edited a compilation of 133 biographical sketches of pioneering luminaries in neurology, The Founders of Neurology; this volume grew from an exhibit created for the 4th International Congress of Neurology, Paris, 1949. In 1961 Dr. Haymaker became Assistant Director for Life Sciences, then Senior Scientist, at NASA's Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, California, focusing his research on the biological effects of heavy cosmic ray particles, especially on the brain. This short, bald account may be accurate as to major milestones, but conveys too little about the remarkable individual being described. Dr. Haymaker was a person of intense intellectual curiosity and ability, coupled with apparently unlimited Webb Haymaker Founders of 421 2 Neurology archive, 1946-1978 energy and charm, someone who endeavored to aid every person who turned to him for advice or assistance, but also someone with a sense of humor to leaven the intensity of his supercharged life. Being, in his own words, "not a person to have his eyes glued to books", Haymaker interspersed education with going to sea, rising from ordinary seaman to helmsman on a four-masted schooner. In the break after his first year of medical school he crewed on a freighter, but jumped ship in Bremerhaven because he wanted to explore European education. He spent one semester at the University of Würzburg and the next at the University of Vienna, earning certificates in Anatomy and Physiology. Then he returned to the U.S. to complete a standard medical course - M.D., internship, residency in Pathology, further clinical/research work. After that he really began traveling, now more focused on seeking new ideas, new techniques in neurology and pathology. Haymaker spent a year in Paris, half as a hospital intern, half at the University to study CNS tissue culture. Then back to the U.S. for a year as Director of Laboratories in a state sanatorium. Next came Penfield's invitation and Canada for a year, London for two years, Madrid for a few weeks (cut short by the Spanish Revolution); later Haymaker wrote "these were the days when no aspiring neurologist should fail to reach these ... meccas." The traveling never stopped, and he seemed to enjoy it despite occasional exhaustion. After the end of World War II, official trips to Japan and South America were added to numerous assignments in Europe. Dr. Haymaker was a graceful and prolific writer and a dedicated editor. In addition to his numerous scientific papers and reports he authored, co-authored, edited, or co-edited a number of major integrative works in neurology (e.g., Hypothalamus, Histology and Histopathology of the Nervous System, Peripheral Nerve Injuries) and in the history of neurology ( Founders of Neurology , 1953 and 1970, and Breakthroughs in hypothalamic and pituitary research ); he also translated and edited Robert Bing's Compendium of Regional Diagnosis... (from the 5th to the 16th editions). As a lecturer he was highly sought after, receiving many more invitations than he could possibly accept. The load of his correspondence was heavy, not surprising given the number of people he contacted on his travels and the number of projects, publications, and associations in which Haymaker was involved; but from the evidence in this collection it seems that he never flagged in his politeness, patience, and eagerness to help colleagues or strangers. Additional biographical details may be found in the following in memoriam articles: "Acta Neuropathol. (Berlin)", 66:1-2, 1985; "J. Neuropathol. Exp. Neurol.", 44:220-223, 1985; "Neurology", 35:392-392, 1985. Scope and Content This collection is mainly concentrated on the fourteen-year span (1947-1961) during which Dr. Webb Haymaker, released from active service in the Army, continued as Chief of the Neuropathology Branch, Army Institute of Pathology (later the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology (AFIP)). When he resigned from this position in 1961 for relocation to NASA's Ames Research Center, he shipped the materials in his Founders of Neurology files to UCLA, where he had friends and knew that the history of neurology was a subject of active interest. He added further materials until 1978, mostly additional portraits, reprints, and illustrations of individuals contributing to basic and clinical neurology. Fortunately he also forwarded documents pertaining to persons whose correspondence folders he had previously deposited, thus considerably extending the span of at least some of his professional correspondence available for study. The largest percentage of the archive's content pertains to The Founders of Neurology in its various developmental phases: an exhibit at the 4th International Neurology Congress in Paris, 1949; 1st edition of the printed Founders..., 1953; and 2nd edition, 1970. The materials consist of chapter drafts, usually with editing; some correspondence with authors and editors of the biographical sketches; many portraits of the individuals who are chapter subjects, plus biographical and bibliographical notes, facts, and summaries. The Paris exhibit