Overview of the Collection
Access
Administrative Information
Biographical Note
Scope and Content
Arrangement
Indexing Terms
Overview of the Collection
Title: Theodore J. Curphey Papers
Dates (inclusive): 1921-1976
Bulk dates: 1941-1967
Collection Number: mssCurphey papers
Creator:
Curphey, Theodore J.
Extent: Approximately 9,250 items. 50
boxes, plus one oversize album.
Repository:
The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens.
Manuscripts Department
1151 Oxford Road
San Marino, California 91108
Phone: (626) 405-2129
Email: reference@huntington.org
URL: http://www.huntington.org
Abstract: This collection contains the papers of Dr. Theodore J. Curphey (1897-1986), who served as the first
medical examiner-coroner of Los Angeles County from 1957 to 1967. The chief topics of the Curphey papers are: his work as
Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, Sudden Infant Death Syndrome,
Battered Child Syndrome, air pollution, smoking and smog, aircraft accidents, suicide and suicide prevention, drug addiction
and overdose, causes of death, homicides, asphyxia,
autopsy, drowning, forensic pathology, forensic science, oral contraceptives, and violent deaths.
Language: English.
Access
Due to the nature of the collection and the amount of personal, medical information
that is present in the collection, many parts of the collection are sealed for 50 years (opening in 2062). This material is
noted in this finding
aid and consists of Box 6 (Folders 1, 3-4, 8-9) ; Box 16; Box 17 (Folders 1, 8-10, 12); Box 28; Box 29 (Folders 8-9) [moved
to Box 45]; and Boxes 32-43. This material has been removed from the collection.
The non-seealed material is open to qualified researchers by prior application
through the Reader Services Department. For more information, contact Reader
Services.
Administrative Information
Publication Rights
The Huntington Library does not require that researchers request permission to
quote from or publish images of this material, nor does it charge fees for such
activities. The responsibility for identifying the copyright holder, if there is
one, and obtaining necessary permissions rests with the researcher.
Preferred Citation
[Identification of item]. Theodore J. Curphey Papers, The Huntington Library, San
Marino, California.
Provenance
On permanent deposit from the Los Angeles County Medical Association, 1992. In
1992, the Los Angeles County Medical Association put several collections on
permanent deposit at the Huntington Library.
Cataloger's Notes
Due to the nature of this collection and the subjects covered, there may be
material (including documents and images) that some may find disturbing. The
collection contains autopsy information and photographs, crime scene
photographs, etc.
Some restrictions were lifted in May 2013 when the Chief Cataloger went through
specific folders and items and deemed them okay for scholars to see.
Biographical Note
Theodore Joscelyn Curphey was born in Kingston, Ontario, Canada, on October 25, 1897.
He received his M.D., C.M. in 1921 from Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario.
After receiving his medical license from the Medical Council of Canada in 1921,
Curphey moved to New York to begin a fellowship at New York University Bellevue
Medical College, where he worked as a resident in pathology from 1923-1926, and
later as a an instructor, lecturer, and assistant professor of pathology. In 1935
Curphey became a naturalized U.S. citizen, and was appointed Director of Clinical
Laboratories at Meadowbrook Hospital in Nassau County, New York. Shortly thereafter,
Curphey was appointed Chief Medical Examiner of Nassau County, a position he held
from 1938 to 1957. While acting as Nassau County Medical Examiner, Curphey also held
positions as a pathologist for various local hospitals, served as an officer of
multiple professional medical organizations, and published a number of medical
publications.
In 1957, Curphey left New York for California when he was appointed the first Chief
Medical Examiner-Coroner for the County of Los Angeles (Curphey actually declined an
appointment as Chief Deputy Coroner in 1956, but returned the following year after a
county referendum approved the appointment of a professional medical examiner).
After a brief honeymoon period, Curphey quickly became embroiled in a number of
controversies regarding his policies as Chief Medical Examiner-Coroner. Curphey's
attempts to modernize and professionalize the L.A. County Coroner's Office first ran
afoul of county morticians who complained in early 1958 that Curphey's autopsy
policies complicated embalming procedures and delayed the issuance of death
certificates. These issues (along with internal Office disputes) quickly took on
added proportions when later that year it was revealed that Curphey had ordered that
the Coroner's Office retain tissue samples removed during autopsy. L.A. County Board
of Supervisors Chairman Burton W. Chance denounced the policy as a violation of the
rights of bereaved family members, and Chief Deputy District Attorney Manly J.
Bowler requested that a grand jury investigate the legality of the policy. Despite
formal accusations of professional misconduct by the grand jury, Curphey's policies
were publicly praised as good professional practice by coroners and physicians
across the state and nation, and legalized shortly thereafter by the California
State Legislature; the California Supreme Court would also rule in Curphey's favor,
finding that the grand jury had no jurisdiction over civil service matters.
Despite his early troubles, Curphey's tenure as Chief Medical Examiner-Coroner was
one of widespread renown and respect. Curphey's Coroner's Office, however, did again
become the subject of intense public interest after the death of Marilyn Monroe in
1962. While Thomas T. Noguchi, Curphey's controversial successor as Chief Medical
Examiner-Coroner, performed the autopsy on Monroe, it was Curphey who oversaw the
investigation and ruled, in part through the innovative use of a psychological
autopsy, Monroe's death a suicide. As Medical Examiner of Nassau County, Curphey was
also involved in the investigation of the sensational death of William Woodward, Jr.
in 1955.
Curphey retired as L.A. County Chief Medical Examiner-Coroner of Los Angeles in 1967
at the age of 70, the mandatory age of retirement for County civil servants. After
retirement, Curphey worked as a consultant in forensic pathology and continued to
work in the field of suicide prevention, particularly through his long-time
association with the Los Angeles Suicide Prevention Center.
Curphey married Aies Norrild of Copenhagen, Denmark, in 1928. They had two children,
Thomas John (b. 1934) and Marina Patricia (b. 1936). Curphey died in Pasadena,
California, on November 27, 1986.
Scope and Content
This collection contains the papers of Dr. Theodore J. Curphey (1897-1986), who served as the first
medical examiner-coroner of Los Angeles County from 1957 to 1967. The chief topics of the Curphey papers are: his work as
Los Angeles County Medical
Examiner- Coroner, Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, Battered Child Syndrome, air
pollution, smoking and smog, aircraft accidents, suicide and suicide prevention,
drug addiction and overdose, causes of death, homicides, asphyxia, autopsy,
drowning, forensic pathology, forensic science, oral contraceptives, and violent
deaths. The collection contains several boxes of glass lantern slides Curphey
created for talks that he would give to other physicians.
Prior to cataloging, most of the papers were stored in manila file folders with
subject headings written in Curphey's handwriting. The current organizational
structure of the collection for the most part replicates the classification system
of Curphey's folders. In most cases, the contents of Curphey's folders were
transferred in the order and under the conditions in which they were found. When
appropriate and possible, the titles and sequence of Curphey's folders were
retained. The original sequence of folders was not retained in those instances where
no organizational schema seemed apparent, or when larger thematic groupings seemed
preferable. For instance, all of Curphey's papers on air pollution and smoking,
suicide, the Los Angeles Suicide Prevention Center, Sudden Infant Death Syndrome,
battered child syndrome, and aviation accident investigations have been grouped
together within the collection. While the contents of the folders on each of these
topics generally replicate the contents of Curphey's individual folders, the folders
themselves have been consolidated for organizational purposes and ease of
access.
Notable participants include: author Erle Stanley Gardner, medical examiner Thomas
T. Noguchi and psychologist Edwin S. Shneidman as well as the following
organizations American Association of Suicidology, American Board of Pathology,
American Medical Association, American Society of Clinical Pathologists,
California's Bureau of Maternal and Child Health, Theodore J. Curphey Papers -
Finding Aid - 5 California's Department of Public Health, California Medical
Association, the Institute for Studies of Destructive Behaviors and the Suicide
Prevention Center, Los Angeles County Office of Chief Medical Examiner-Coroner, and
Dept. of Public Health, Los Angeles County Medical Association, National Institute
of Health, National Institute of Mental Health, and the United States Dept. of
Health and Human Services and the Food and Drug Administration.
Arrangement
The collection is arranged in the following 11 series:
- 1. Papers, addresses, and correspondence (Boxes 1-4)
- 2. Miscellaneous documents and correspondence (Boxes 5-10, 18-19, 29)
- 3. Professional and institutional documents and correspondence (Boxes 11-15)
- 4. Documents and correspondence on Sudden Infant Death and Battered Child
Syndrome (Boxes 16-17)
- 5. Institutional correspondence and documents (Box 20)
- 6. Documents and correspondence on Air Pollution and Smoking (Boxes 21-22)
- 7. Documents and correspondence on Suicide, Drugs, Drug Addiction (Boxes 23-27)
- 8. Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner's Office documents (Box 28)
- 9. Ephemera (Boxes 30-31)
- 10. Lantern Slides (Boxes 32-43)
- 11. Oversize (Boxes 44-50 and one item)
Indexing Terms
Subjects
Curphey, Theodore J.,
-- Archives.
Los Angeles County
(Calif.). Office of Chief Medical Examiner-Coroner.
Air -- Pollution -- California -- Los
Angeles County.
Aircraft accidents.
Asphyxia.
Autopsy.
Battered child syndrome.
Coroners -- California -- Los Angeles
County -- Archives.
Death -- Causes.
Death certificates -- California -- Los
Angeles County.
Drowning.
Drugs -- Overdose.
Forensic pathology -- California -- Los
Angeles County.
Forensic science and medicine -- United
States.
Forensic sciences -- United
States.
Homicide -- California.
Medical examiners (Law) -- California
-- Los Angeles County.
Medicolegal investigators -- California
-- Los Angeles County.
Oral contraceptives.
Pathology -- Study and
teaching.
Smoking.
Smog -- California -- Los Angeles
County.
Sudden death.
Sudden infant death syndrome.
Suicide.
Suicide -- Prevention.
Undertakers and undertaking --
California.
Violent deaths.
Los Angeles County Medical Association
Collection.
Forms/Genres
Articles -- United States -- 20th
century.
Lantern slides -- United States --
20th century.
Letters (correspondence) -- United
States -- 20th century.
Manuscripts -- United States -- 20th
century.
Photographs -- United States -- 20th
century.
Reports -- United States -- 20th
century.
Additional Contributors
Gardner, Erle Stanley, 1889-1970.
Noguchi, Thomas T., 1927-.
Shneidman, Edwin S.
American Association of Suicidology.
American Board of Pathology.
American Medical Association.
American Society of Clinical
Pathologists.
California. Bureau of Maternal and
Child Health.
California. Dept. of Public Health.
California Medical Association.
Institute for Studies of Destructive
Behaviors and the Suicide Prevention Center (Los Angeles, Calif.)
Los Angeles County (Calif.). Office
of Chief Medical Examiner-Coroner.
Los Angeles County (Calif.). Public
Health.
Los Angeles County Medical
Association, former owner.
National Institute of Health (U.S.)
National Institute of Mental Health
(U.S.)
United States. Department of Health
and Human Services.
United States. Food and Drug
Administration.