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Arnold B. Scheibel papers,
1942-2010
414
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Title: Arnold B. Scheibel papers
Collection number: 414
Contributing Institution:
UCLA Library Special Collections
Language of Material:
English
Physical Description:
9.2 linear ft.
(7 cartons and 1 oversize box)
Date (inclusive): 1942-2010
Abstract: Dr. Arnold B. Scheibel had a long and internationally recognized career in research, teaching, and administration, spent almost
entirely at the Brain Research Institute, University of California, Los Angeles. Grounded in both Neuroanatomy and Psychiatry,
he sought to describe the microanatomical brain substrates that underlie behavior and disease. This collection contains manuscripts
of his research publications and various more general topics, and is especially rich in correspondence with colleagues worldwide.
Video tapes and compact discs document presentations of some of his renowned neuroscience class lectures.
Physical location: Stored off-site at SRLF. Advance notice is required for access to the collection.
Creator:
Scheibel, Arnold B. 1923-
Open for research. STORED OFF-SITE AT SRLF. Advance notice is required for access to the collection.
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.
[Identification of item], Arnold B. Scheibel Papers (Collection 414). Louise M. Darling Biomedical Library History and Special
Collections for the Sciences, University of California, Los Angeles.
UCLA Catalog Record ID:
7504367
Provenance/Source of Acquisition
Dr. Scheibel gifted the collection to the University of California Regents in 2014.
Arnold Bernard Scheibel was born in New York in 1923, received his undergraduate education at Horace Mann High School and
Columbia College, then obtained an M.D. degree from Columbia College of Physicians and Surgeons in 1946. Part of his time
in medical school, as well as his internship, residency, and two years of active service were spent as a member of the U.S.
Army Medical Corps. Originally Dr. Scheibel had intended to specialize in cardiology, but his interest was drawn to psychiatry
during his internship and he obtained a year's psychiatry residency at Washington University, St. Louis. In 1948 he began
his active Army service as Staff Physician in Neuropsychiatry, Brooke General Hospital, San Antonio, Texas, where he also
served as Psychiatrist in a Child Guidance Clinic which he helped to develop.
At that point Dr. Scheibel felt that clinical psychiatry only partially satisfied his questions about the riddle of brain
and mind. Seeking an additional approach, he was advised to spend some time in a brain research laboratory. Thus, after release
from active military service in 1950, he joined Warren S. McCulloch's group at the Illinois Psychiatric Institute in Chicago
as a research fellow in neuroanatomy, neuropathology and neurophysiology. Scheibel's work there led to an M.S. in Neuroanatomy
from the University of Illinois Graduate School in 1953. From that time onward, Dr. Scheibel continued his combined interest
in psychiatry and neuroanatomy in both his research and teaching, elucidating how the fine structure of the nervous system
serves as a substrate for cognition and behavior.
Dr. Scheibel's first academic appointment was at the University of Tennessee Medical School's Departments of Psychiatry and
Anatomy, from 1953-1955. This time was interrupted by a 15 month-long Guggenheim Fellowship, spent mainly with Dr. Giuseppe
Moruzzi at the Neurophysiology Institute, University of Pisa, but also several months with Dr. Alf Brodal at the Anatomy Institute,
University of Oslo. Soon after his return to Memphis, Scheibel was invited by Dr. Horace W. "Tid" Magoun to join the Department
of Anatomy in the new School of Medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), with an additional appointment
in the Department of Psychiatry. UCLA was his home for the next 56 years. His internationally recognized research, using neurohistological
and neurophysiological techniques, investigated the structural basis of consciousness and higher cognitive functions in young
and aging normal brains and in disorders such as Alzheimer's disease and schizophrenia. His teaching, of undergraduate, graduate,
and medical students and psychiatric residents, was lauded; many a "best professor ever!!!" turned up in his student evaluations.
His leadership achievements as Acting Director and Director of the UCLA Brain Research Institute, during a period of fiscal
hard times, were remarkable. Coupled with a kind and sensitive personality, he is definitely a Renaissance Man.
Dr. Scheibel would be the first to remind one that the credit for his research achievements are not his alone. Gifted graduate
students and postdoctoral fellows participated and contributed, but the most important co-worker on his Golgi stain neuroanatomical
studies was his first wife, Madge E. Scheibel (known as Mila). She was a psychotherapist who learned the intricacies of the
Golgi stain method along with her husband, and fully participated in his neurohistological research until her early death
in 1976. "The Scheibels," as they often were called, were internationally known as a gifted pair. In 1979, Dr. Scheibel met
Professor Marian C. Diamond, an anatomist at the University of California, Berkeley, who made major discoveries in how environmental
factors can alter the anatomy of the brain and who studied links between the brain and the immune system. Drs. Diamond and
Scheibel were married in 1982 and established a commuter marriage, with each continuing to teach at their home institution
until Dr. Scheibel's retirement from UCLA. They now (2015) both live in Berkeley, CA.
This collection provides close and detailed, if not entirely complete, coverage of Dr. Arnold B. Scheibel's research and teaching
career, especially during his lengthy service at UCLA. The professional papers include drafts/texts of many of his numerous
journal articles and some chapters, often coupled with interesting correspondence. Additional writings include moving memoirs
and obituaries for colleagues, thoughtful editorials, insightful reviews for journal and book editors, and charming essays.
The extensive correspondence with friends, colleagues and admirers illuminates not only his continuing search for potential
neuroanatomic substrates of behavior, but also reveals his warmth, kindness, and empathy with others.
The teaching/administration series provides illustrations of Dr. Scheibel's dedication to, and excellence in, teaching. Noteworthy
are the videotapes and compact discs of the Neuroscience 102 course organized and taught by Dr. Scheibel. This section also
includes materials on his engagement as member, Acting Director, and Director of the UCLA Brain Research Institute, and on
his many other services to the University. (The UCLA University Archives contains more complete documentation about the Brain
Research Institute.)
The collection also contains numerous photographs and some hand-drawn illustrations of Golgi stain studies done in collaboration
with Scheibel's wife and collaborator, Dr. Madge E. Scheibel.
The collection is organized into the following series:
- Series 1. Personal Materials, 1942-2010. 36 folders
- Series 2. Professional Materials, 1949-2009. 359 folders, 1 oversized box, videotapes and compact discs
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Scheibel, Arnold B.
Archives
Neuroanatoomy - biography
Neuroscientists - biography