Finding Aid for the John Martin Askey, M.D., Papers 1917-1990
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created by UCLA Biomedical Library staff. .
Louise M. Darling Biomedical Library History and Special Collections
for the Sciences
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Sciences
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Box 951798
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The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved.
Descriptive Summary
Title: John Martin Askey, M.D., Papers,
Date (inclusive): 1917-1990
Collection number: 413
Creator: Askey, John Martin
1899-1991
Extent:
2 document boxes
(1 lin. 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: A small collection of papers, mostly from Dr. Askey's
retirement years, which include materials concerning his personal life and
family, and materials on medical topics which continued to have special interest
for him. Dr. Askey was a skilled clinician with extensive professional
publications; he was also a graceful writer, and the enclosed transcription of a
youthful travel diary describing his time in 1925 as a ship's surgeon is most
engaging.
Physical location: SRLF
Language of Material: Collection materials in English
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], John Martin Askey, M.D., Papers, 413, Louise M.
Darling Biomedical Library History and Special Collections for the Sciences,
University of California, Los Angeles.
Acquisition Information
Gift of B & L Rootenberg Rare Books, December, 2009.
Biography
As a very young man, John Martin Askey (1899-1991) thought he might want to
be a journalist; but after graduation from high school in Bellingham,
Washington, a short stint as police reporter for a Tacoma newspaper convinced
him otherwise. Instead he decided to follow his older brother Vincent into
medicine. After a year at the College of Puget Sound and three years at the
University of Oregon he entered the University of Pennsylvania School of
Medicine and received his M.D. degree in 1923. He interned at University of
Pennsylvania Hospital, spent four months as a ship's surgeon, then again
followed his older brother to California, where he received his license to
practice medicine in 1925.
Dr. Askey was board certified in Internal Medicine, and specialized in
cardiovascular diseases. In addition to his private practice he joined the
clinical teaching staff at the University of Southern California until 1964,
when he was named Emeritus Clinical Professor of Medicine. Dr. Askey published
widely, and was active in national, state, and regional professional societies.
At various times he served as President or Chairman of the Los Angeles County
Heart Association, the Los Angeles Society of Internal Medicine, and the
California Medical Association General Medicine Section.
Scope and Content
These papers came from Dr. Askey's home office and reflect some of the
interests of his retirement years. They include reprints of his professional
journal publications and a few of his more ephemeral published items, such as
letters to the editor. Undoubtedly he authored many more short pieces that are
not here; the correspondence and his personal reminiscences make it clear that
he liked to write, and was never short of comments.
The sixty-some page typed transcription of the diary that documents his
summer-1925 travels on the training ship "Annapolis" is a well-written,
charming, and thoughtful account that reveals a good deal about the young man
who wrote it. Since the original diary is not included, one can not judge how
much of the presentation, if any, has been altered by the mind and experience of
the older man who transcribed it; but there are occasional explicit
retrospections by Dr. Askey in the typed text. He also frequently and vigorously
underlined and commented on the text of the clippings and reprints, on both
medical and cultural topics, that are included in these papers. The bound volume
of medical papers is a rather haphazard compilation: the reprints/tear
sheets/photocopies are in only a rough chronological order; items by other
authors have been inserted, not always for a discernible reason; additional
notes, pages, and comments are sometimes stapled or taped to the text pages. But
as in the correspondence, Dr. Askey's underlining and marginalia add interest to
the gathered materials.
The collection is organized into the following series:
- Series 1. Personal.
- Series 2. Professional.
Indexing Terms
The following terms have been used to index the description of this
collection in the library's online public access catalog.
Subjects
Naval Medicine -- Personal
Narratives
Physicians -- California -- Los
Angeles -- Archival resources.
Ship physicians -- Archival
resources
Container List
Box 1, Folder 1
Autobiographical notes.
Physical Description: 8 p. (8 sheets)
Scope and Content Note
typed notes: Honors, Clinical Professor of Medicine, Vignettes,
Reminiscences
Box 1, Folder 2
Whatcom High School, Bellingham, Washington.
1917, 1967
Physical Description: paper-bound, 17.5 x 26 cm
Scope and Content Note
"The Kulshan", 1917 high school yearbook; commencement program for 1917;
typed list of the Class of 1917 with current addresses (1967); original mounted
photograph of the basketball team and two copies; newspaper clippings about the
senior class and basketball games
Note
Dr. Askey was editor-in-chief of the yearbook and center on the
basketball team
Box 1, Folder 3
Whatcom High School Class of 1917, 50th reunion.
1965-1969
Scope and Content Note
letters, clipping, one group photograph, and class lists mostly pertaining to
the 50th class reunion
Box 1, Folder 4
Whatcom High School Class of 1917, 55th reunion.
1970-1973
Scope and Content Note
letters, clipping, one group photograph, and class lists mostly pertaining to
the 55th class reunion
Box 1, Folder 5
College of Puget Sound.
1918, 1963-1983
Scope and Content Note
most of the material focuses on the campus basketball teams: newspaper
clippings; photographs of 1918 team [Dr. Askey was team captain] with later
"then" and "now" photograph; other campus news
Note
the institution's name was later changed to University of Puget
Sound
Box 1, Folder 6
University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. Class of
1923.
1972-1987
Scope and Content Note
correspondence concerning alumni affairs and letters from classmates; lists
of class members; Class of 1923 Round Robin Letter #1 [dated in ink 1966, then
changed to 1978]; "Vignettes of the Class of 1923" by Dr. Askey
Box 1, Folder 7
"Ship Surgeon on the 'Annapolis', June-September 1925".
undated
Physical Description: 60 p. (60 sheets), double-spaced typescript
Scope and Content Note
Transcript of Dr. Askey's diary kept during a 4-mos. trip as surgeon on a
merchant marine training ship, his first job after completing internship at
University of Pennsylvania hospital; entries for 6/2/25 through circa 8/5/25,
covering the trip from embarkation in Philadelphia to landing at Civita Vecchia,
the port of Rome; four introductory pages describe how Dr. Askey happened to get
the job, and introduce the ship's crew; also a prior draft (paged 21-58) with
handwritten note: "My original copy of diary"
Note
This part of the diary covers stops in the Azores, Portugal, Spain,
France, and Genoa. Dr. Askey typed this transcription himself "45 years later"
as he notes at one point; he also added a few other parenthetical notes and
explanations
Box 1, Folder 8
Further ship surgeon reminiscences.
undated
Physical Description: 3 p. (3 sheets)
Scope and Content Note
short entries about Rome, Naples, Pompeii, and Malta from memory, partly
aided by snapshots taken on the trip; a clipping from the "Los Angeles Times"
(undated) about the modern cleaning/restoration of Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel
ceiling
Note
Dr. Askey heads the first sheet: "I can't find my experiences in Rome,
Naples, Malta, Algeria, Madeira, or Bermuda so here goes again, altho obviously
not so good as the actual entries in my diary during the trip."
Box 1, Folder 9
Illustrations of the "Annapolis".
1925, 1941
Scope and Content Note
postcard-sized photo of the Annapolis in the old harbor of Marseilles, and
newspaper clipping of the ship in a Spanish harbor, probably Barcelona; views of
the ship published in the "Philadelphia Record", 3/14/41
Box 1, Folder 10
Family genealogy.
1978-1987
Scope and Content Note
Family trees of two branches of the family, compiled by Paul Duffield of
Shawnee, Oklahoma, Askey's cousin; correspondence; photograph of Eleanor Farquar
(Mrs. J.M. Askey), mother and sister (ca. 1915)
Box 1, Folder 11
Armstrong Askey.
1977-1990
Scope and Content Note
correspondence; newspaper clippings from "Amador Leger"
Note
Armstrong Askey, a relative, moved to the California Gold Country in
1850
Box 1, Folder 12
Correspondence with Margaret Eleanor Askey (Mrs. Alvin
Naar).
1977
Scope and Content Note
Margaret (Teddie) was a relative who sent Askey some of her writing for
critique
Box 1, Folder 13
Doctors for Britain project.
1941
Scope and Content Note
correspondence
Note
Dr. Askey volunteered to examine applicants for fitness for service
with the Royal Army Medical Corps and the British Emergency Medical
Service
Box 1, Folder 14
Aspects of language.
Scope and Content Note
correspondence from Dr. Askey; clippings from newspapers and journals,
photocopies; typed notes
Note
Dr. Askey was interested in words, their derivation, use and misuse,
grammar, and other aspects of the English language
Box 1, Folder 15
Norman Cousins.
1976-1981
Scope and Content Note
newspaper and journal clippings about Norman Cousins' book "Anatomy of an
Illness", and his relationships to UCLA as a hospital patient and as senior
lecturer in the School of Medicine
Box 1, Folder 16
Miscellany.
Scope and Content Note
clippings; letter
Box 1, Folder 17
Certificates.
Scope and Content Note
1) from Fifty Year Club of American Medicine: "...To John Martin Askey, M.D.,
who has been in the practice of medicine fifty years or more..." (undated); 2)
from American Medical Association: "This is to certify that John Martin Askey,
M.D., has met all the criteria for membership..." (1991)
Box 1, Folder 18
Askey publications on pernicious anemia.
1939-1942
Scope and Content Note
typescript of what was probably a 10-min. presentation at a scientific
meeting; abstract of a different presentation, on Jan 1941; correspondence which
mentions presentations to the American Heart Association, the American College
of Physicians, and the staff of Presbyterian Hospital, Los Angeles; requests for
reprints of three papers published on prevention and treatment of pernicious
anemia
Box 2, Folder 19
Askey publication on shoulder and hand complication of coronary
occlusion.
1941
Scope and Content Note
acceptance letter for presentation at 1940 American Heart Association
meeting; comments and reprint requests for the article published in "American
Heart Journal", 22:1-12, 1941
Box 2, Folder 20
Mercury poisoning in California quicksilver miners.
1965-1967
Scope and Content Note
correspondence among a number of individuals, mostly Dr. Askey, Rutherford T.
Johnstone, M.D., and Mrs. Helen R. Goss on two topics: information on health
effects of cinnabar mining and mercury extraction, and attempts to have
historical markers placed at the mine locations to acknowledge the importance of
some of the cinnabar mines in California history
Note
typescripts, reprints and other materials mentioned in the letters are
gathered in the next folder
Box 2, Folder 21
Research materials on mercury poisoning and mining.
1956-1965
Scope and Content Note
reprints and two typescripts
Note
see previous folder for related correspondence
Box 2, Folder 22
Medicine in Pennsylvania.
Scope and Content Note
photocopies and clippings of articles, focusing on Philadelphia and the
University of Pennsylvania Medical Center
Box 2, Folder 23
Pacific Interurban Clinical Club.
1942, circa 1978
Scope and Content Note
club constitution and by-laws; correspondence; "False measurements and
slipshod treatment of hypertension", by John M. Askey, published privately for
the Pacific Interurban Clinical Club
Box 2, Folder 24
Miscellany pertaining to Dr. Askey's practice and
publications.
Box 2, Folder 25
Miscellany pertaining to medicine.
Scope and Content Note
reprints, clippings
Box 2, Folder 26
"John Martin Askey, M.D. Medical Papers, 1928-1969".
1928-1974
Scope and Content Note
a bound volume containing: 1. Dr. Askey's publications, including short
notes, letters to the editor, editorial comments; 2. some typescripts of Askey
articles, essays, or talks, probably unpublished; 3. some articles by other
authors, usually citing or commenting on Askey's work; 4. letters to Askey
concerning his publications - acceptance by editors, comments from readers, some
reprint requests
Note
most of the publications are bound into the volume [which bears the
bookmark of the Los Angeles County Medical Association Library]; much of the
other material was taped or stapled to bound pages, or simply inserted
loosely
