Jacob Jesse Singer collection, 1900-1984

Processed by and machine-readable finding aid created by UCLA Biomedical Library staff
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: biomed-ref@library.ucla.edu
URL: http://www.library.ucla.edu/libraries/biomed/his/
©2012
The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved.


Descriptive Summary

Title: Jacob Jesse Singer Collection,
Date (inclusive): 1900-1984
Collection number: 107
Creator: Singer, Jacob Jesse 1882-1954
Extent: 1 box (0.5 linear ft.) 1 oversize box (2 linear ft.)
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: Dr. J.J. Singer specialized in diseases of the chest, especially tuberculosis. He had an eminent career both as clinician and as hospital administrator. This is a small and spotty collection of personal, legal, and professional documents, a few photographs and 16mm films.
Physical location: Southern Regional Library Facility
Language of Material: Collection materials in English

Preferred Citation

[Identification of item], Jacob Jesse Singer collection (Manuscript collection 107). Louise M. Darling Biomedical Library History and Special Collections for the Sciences , University of California, Los Angeles.

Acquisition Information

The materials were given by Mr. and Mrs. Philip B. Singer to the UCLA Biomedical Library in 1994.

Biography

Jacob Jesse Singer (1882-1954) born in Leeds, United Kingdom, was brought by his parents to St. Louis, Missouri as a small child. He attended Washington University Medical School in St. Louis, receiving his M.D. degree in 1904 and interning in St. Louis hospitals until 1906. Dr. Singer specialized in diseases of the chest, especially tuberculosis, and in 1937 he was certified by the Board of Internal Medicine with a specialty in tuberculosis. He acted as consultant on pulmonary diseases at the Washington University-affiliated Barnes Hospital, where he and the eminent thoracic surgeon Evarts Graham established the first modern chest clinic and published a landmark case report on the first successful pneumonectory for lung cancer.
In 1937 Dr. Singer moved to Los Angeles and set up a private practice. He became senior attending physician at Cedars of Lebanon Hospital, Associate Clinical Professor in Medicine at the University of Southern California, and President of the Tuberculosis Section of the Los Angeles County Medical Society. In 1942 he was appointed Medical Director of the Los Angeles Sanatorium (later named City of Hope) in Duarte, California. He also served as director of the Rose Lampert-Graff Foundation for Medical Research. Dr. Singer authored several books on diseases of the chest, was a fellow of the American College of Chest Physicians, and a member of the American Association for Thoracic Surgery and the American College of Physicians.

Scope and Content

In addition to the items listed in Box 1 in the Container List, some oversized items (a diploma, certificates, composite photographs) are housed separately in Box 2. A medical textbook, "Surgical Diseases of the Chest", by Evarts A. Graham and Jacob J. Singer, was also part of the Singer Family gift. and this volume is shelved in the Biomedical Library book collection (WF 980 G738s 1935).

Indexing Terms

The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the library's online public access catalog.

Subjects

Singer, Jacob Jesse, 1882-1954--Manuscripts
Lung Neoplasms -- surgery -- history
Physicians--Archival resources
Pneumonectomy -- history


Box 1, Folder 1

Legal document issued by Court of Common Pleas, Cuyahoga County, Ohio. 1918 September 3

Scope and Content Note

document issued to Jacob J. Singer stating that Abraham Greenberg, his father, became a naturalized citizen of the U.S. in this Court on November 5, 1900
Box 1, Folder 2

Legal agreement between Jacob J. Singer and A. S. Aloe Instrument Company. 1914 June 4

Scope and Content Note

two-page typed document specifying agreed upon legal and financial details re. manufacture and marketing of a stethoscope invented by Dr. Singer
Box 1, Folder 3

"Why I chose the profession of medicine". undated

Scope and Content Note

five-page typed manuscript

Note

content indicates that mss. was written between 1925-1930
Box 1, Folder 4

Lecture notes on General Chemistry. 1900 September 29

Physical Description: 17 x 20.5 cm; hard bound

Scope and Content Note

ca. 100 manuscript pages of notes, plus pages listing "Materia medica" and "Therapeutics"

Note

notebook cover labeled: Chemical Laboratory, Medical Department of Washington University, St. Louis; date taken from first entry page
Box 1, Folder 5

Certificate of perpetual membership in the St. Louis Mercantile Library Association. 1921 June 27

Scope and Content Note

certificate is numbered No. 1570
Box 1, Folder 6

Two United States patents granted to Jacob J. Singer. 1915, 1918

Scope and Content Note

1. Resonating stethoscopes or intensifiers; 2. Illuminating devices for transparent pictures and photographic negatives
Box 1, Folder 7

"Successful removal of an entire lung for carcinoma of the bronchus", by Evarts A. Graham and J. J. Singer. 1933, 1984

Scope and Content Note

a "Landmark Article" in JAMA 251(2): 257-260, 1984, reprinting the original publication from JAMA 101: 1371-1374, 1933; accompanied by the commentary "Landmark Perspective" by Arthur E. Baue, JAMA 251(2): 261-264, 1984

Note

Graham and Singer established the first modern chest clinic in Barnes Hospital, St. Louis; this article reported the first successful pneumonectomy for lung carcinoma
Box 1, Folder 9

Photograph. 1937 July 8

Physical Description: 23 x 18 cm

Scope and Content Note

snapshot of E. D. Rivers, Governor of Georgia, in hospital bed with Dr. Singer and unknown male and female at his side, inscribed "To Dr. J. Singer, a wonderful physician and good fellow, E. S. Rivers, Governor of Georgia. Margaret E. Tully"; beneath the photograph is written "Gov. Rivers of Georgia at Cedars of Lebanon Hospital, 7/8/1937"

Note

folder also contains 10 x 18 cm. card with portrait of Rivers, signed "Faithfully yours, E. D. Rivers, Governor of Georgia"
Box 1

Films. 1939

Physical Description: 16 mm

Scope and Content Note

five reels, three undated; labels: Experimental work (animal, 2), Method of Lipiodol injection (1), Autopsy (human, 1), unlabeled (1)
Box 2, Folder 1

City of St. Louis Health Department Female Hospital Corps portraits. 1904-1905, 1905-1906

Scope and Content Note

composite photographs of individual staff portraits, including J. J. Singer, Senior Physician
Box 2, Folder 2

Diploma for the M.D. degree, Washington University, St. Louis. 1904

Scope and Content Note

issued to Jacob Jesse Singer
Box 2, Folder 3

The State Board of Health, State of Missouri license to practice medicine. 1904

Scope and Content Note

issued to Jacob Jesse Singer
Box 2, Folder 4

Health Department of the City of St. Louis, Missouri Certificate of Hospital Service. 1905, 1906

Scope and Content Note

two certificates issued to Jacob Jesse Singer