Register of the Wallace Irving Terry Papers, 1892-1939

Processed by Special Collections staff; machine-readable finding aid created by James Ryan
UCSF Library & CKM
Archives and Special Collections
530 Parnassus Ave.
San Francisco, CA 94143-0840
Phone: (415) 476-8112
Fax: (415) 476-4653
Email: http://www.library.ucsf.edu/collections/archives/contact
URL: http://www.library.ucsf.edu/collections/archives
© 1997
The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved.

Note

History --History, California --General Biological and Medical Sciences --Clinical Medicine --Surgery

Register of the Wallace Irving Terry Papers, 1892-1939

Collection number: MSS 50-7

UCSF Library & CKM



Archives and Special Collections

University of California, San Francisco

Contact Information:

  • UCSF Library & CKM
  • Archives and Special Collections
  • 530 Parnassus Ave.
  • San Francisco, CA 94143-0840
  • Phone: (415) 476-8112
  • Fax: (415) 476-4653
  • Email: http://www.library.ucsf.edu/collections/archives/contact
  • URL: http://www.library.ucsf.edu/collections/archives
Processed by:
Special Collections staff
Encoded by:
James Ryan
© 1997. The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved.

Descriptive Summary

Title: Wallace Irving Terry Papers,
Date (inclusive): 1892-1939
Collection number: MSS 50-7
Creator: Terry, Wallace Irving, 1868-1950
Extent: 2 boxes (26 folders)
Repository: University of California, San Francisco. Library. Archives and Special Collections.
San Francisco, California 94143-0840
Shelf location: For current information on the location of these materials, please consult the Library's online catalog.
Language: English.

Administrative Information

Access

Collection is open for research.

Preferred Citation

[Identification of item], Wallace Irving Terry Papers, MSS 50-7, Archives & Special Collections, UCSF Library & CKM

Biography

Wallace Irving Terry was born in Sacramento, California, on November 26, 1868. He attended public schools in Sacramento and graduated from the University of California in 1890 with a B.S. degree. He obtained his M.D. degree from the University of California Medical School in December of 1892, and then spent a year as intern at St. Luke's Hospital.
Dr. Terry had decided to pursue a career in surgery, but felt he needed more time for study and practical preparation, so after a short service as City Physician of Sacramento, he began postgraduate work in March, 1894, at the New York Polyclinic under John A. Wyeth and Charles McBurney; he also attended some of the clinics of Robert F. Weir. Later he studied in Germany with Czerny, von Bergmann and Lungerhaus, and visited clinics in France and England.
Returning to San Francisco in 1896, Dr. Terry began a private practice limited to surgery. In 1899 he joined the teaching staff of the University of California Medical School as an assistant in surgery. He advanced from this assistantship to the position of instructor in surgery (1903-1907) and then to assistant professor (1907-1912). In 1912 the affiliated colleges (departments of medicine, dentistry and pharmacy) became an integral part of the University. The medical school was reorganized and Dr. Terry was appointed professor of surgery and head of the department, a position he would hold until his retirement in 1930.
John Homer Woolsey has credited Dr. Terry, along with Drs. Stillman and Rixford, as having brought modern surgery to San Francisco and environs. Indeed, every year Dr. Terry spent a month or so visiting Eastern clinics, gleaning the best from each and bringing it home to San Francisco. Some innovations he disseminated in this way include the first direct blood transfusions from donor to patient by the use of Brewer's glass tube (it has been noted that while the actual procedure "worked only after a fashion," it was the beginning of a succession of improvements which resulted in the blood bank of today); nitrous oxide anesthesia and anociassociation (also called anocithesia; the blunting of harmful association impulses, designed to minimize the effect of surgical shock) at a time when chloroform and ether were the only anesthetic agents in use; the use of the first non-absorbable sutures (silk was used first, and later cotton); early removal of drains from wounds, promoting more rapid healing by collapse instead of slower granulation; elimination of the use of castor oil pre-and postoperatively, which helped to conserve the patient's fluids at a time when the only fluid replacement was the uncertain Murphy Drip; most importantly, the practice of careful asepsis (including the use of rubber gloves), meticulous hemostasis, the careful handling and respect for all tissues as a substitute for the speed and trauma of nineteenth-century surgery.
Perhaps the most significant of Dr. Terry's educational trips occurred in 1901, when he spent an extended period of study at the Berne, Switzerland clinic of Theodore Kocher, the "father of goiter surgery." Having noted a prevalence of goiter in Northern California, Dr. Terry had a special interest in disease and surgery of the thyroid and parathyroid glands. He assimilated all he could from his association with Kocher and applied this experience to his practice and teaching. In an era before the advent of iodine therapy, Dr. Terry dominated this specialty on the Pacific coast. In his lifetime he performed more than 3000 goiter operations, frequently more than 200 per year, and by so doing laid the foundation for the reputation of the University of California as a center for the treatment and management of goiter.
Dr. Terry was a charter member of the American College of Surgeons, the American Board of Surgery, and the Pacific Coast Surgical Association. He served on important boards and committees of these organizations. He served as librarian of the San Francisco Medical Society for several years just preceding his election to the presidency in 1906; in the days following the great earthquake and fire of that year, he helped coordinate civilian medical personnel with the authorities in charge. In 1908, when the City Emergency Hospital Service need renovation, he served as its chief for two years. During World War I, he served under the direction of Army authorities in the formation of Base Hospital No. 30. Also during this period, Dr. Terry --along with Dr. Herbert C. Moffitt --was instrumental in raising funds for the construction of the University Hospital, which opened in 1917. In 1929, he was president of the Pacific Coast Surgical Association. He served on the editorial boards of Surgery, Gynecology and Obstetrics, the Archives of Surgery, and the Western Journal of Surgery. His contributions to the medical literature were relatively small, some thirty-three in number, but most worthwhile and covered all aspects of surgery in which he was interested.
Dr. Terry died on September 22, 1950. On December 14th, 1956, his family and associates gathered at the new Moffitt Hospital to dedicate the Wallace Irving Terry Surgical Pavilion.

Scope and Content

Manuscripts and typescripts of materials written by Dr. Terry, plus typescripts of materials written by others and collected by Dr. Terry.

Box Box 1, Folder Folder 1

Contents list

 

CORRESPONDENCE

Box Box 1, Folder  Folder 2

Correspondence. Outgoing, 1892-1933. Arranged by date.

Folder  Folder 3

Correspondence. Incoming, 1906-1939. Arranged by signature.

Folder  Folder 4

Discussions and reviews. Manuscripts and typescripts.

 

MANUSCRIPTS AND TYPESCRIPTS OF TERRY PAPERS

Box Box 1, Folder  Folder 5

The value of blood pressure observations in surgery. Typescript. Ca. 1903. Not published?

 

A case of total laryngectomy. Typescript. Incomplete. "Read at Academy of Medicine, Oct 27, 1903." Not published?

 

Excision of the cervical portion of the esophagus, with report of a case. Typescript. Published in JAMA, v. 45, no. 14, Sep 30, 1905, p. 970-971

Folder  Folder 6

Operations on the thyroid gland. Typescript cc. Published in California State Journal of Medicine v. 5, no. 2, February 1907, p. 27-28.

 

Untitled paper on surgical cases. Typescript. 2 copies. "Read before U.C. Alumni Assoc., Aug 26, 1907." Not published?

 

The progress of surgery during the past twenty years, 1886-1907. Typescript. Read before "U.C.M.D. Alumni Assoc., Feb 3, 1908." Not published?

Folder  Folder 7

Indications for operations on the stomach. Typescript cc. "Read before Santa Clara County Medical Society, Mar 18, 1908." Published in California State Journal of Medicine v. 6, no. 4, April 1908, p. 134-136.

 

Direct transfusion of blood. Typescript cc. "Verbal report to Pacific Assoc. of Railway Surgeons, Aug 1908 ..." Published in California State Journal of Medicine v. 7, no. 2, Feb 1909, p. 69-71.

 

Major emergency operations with special reference to fracture of the skull and wounds of the abdomen. Typescript cc. Plus notes. Read before "County Medical Society, Nov 10, 1908." Published in California State Journal of Medicine v. 7, no. 5, May 1909, p. 185-187.

Folder  Folder 8

Surgery of the blood vessels. typescript. 2 copies. Plus notes and abstract. "Read as special lecture before Oakland College of Medicine and Surgery, Jan 17, 1910." Not published?

Folder  Folder 9

A brief consideration of the operative treatment of hyperthyroidism. Two typescript drafts. "Read at S.F County Medical Society, Dec 20, 1910." Published in California State Journal of Medicine v. 9, no. 3, March 1911, p. 119-121.

 

The indications, technic and results in decompressive operations on the brain. Typescript. "Read at the State Medical Society, Apr 20, 1911." Published in California State Journal of Medicine v. 9, no. 7, Jul 1911, p. 278-280.

 

The surgical treatment of megacolon. Typescript cc. "Read at A.M.A. meeting, Los Angeles, Jun 28, 1911." Published in JAMA, v. 57, Aug 26, 1911, p. 731-733.

Folder  Folder 10

Surgical treatment of gallbladder diseases. Typescript. "Read at State Medical Society, Apr 15, 1913." Published in Published in California State Journal of Medicine v. 11, no. 8, Aug 1913, p. 304-306.

 

Untitled paper on medical history. Manuscript/typescript. "Read before Associated Premedical Students, Berkeley, Apr 1914." Not published?

 

Clinical experience with anoci-association. Manuscript/typescript. Plus notes. "Read before San Joaquin County Medical Society, May 29, 1914 ..." Not published?

Folder  Folder 11

Sarcoma of the stomach: a report of two cases: Total gastrectomy in one case. Typescript. "Read before S.F. County Medical Society, Aug 18, 1914." Not published?

 

Operative technic in carcinoma of the larynx. Typescript. 2 copies. "Read before S.F. County Medical Society, Aug 24, 1915. Not published?

 

Personal experiences with anoci-association. Typescript cc. "Read before American Assoc. of Anes. Jun 21, 1915." Published in American J. of Surgery, v. 30, no. 4, Apr 1916, p. 42-44.

Folder  Folder 12

Operative treatment of goiter. Manuscript and typescript (2 copies). "Read at Oregon State Medical Society, Jun 30, 1917." Published in Northwest Medicine, v. 17, no. 1, Jan 1918, p. 20-22.

 

Jejunal diverticula, by Wallace I. Terry and Frederick R. Mugler. Typescript. Ca 1918. Not published?

Folder  Folder 13

Hereditary osteopsathyrosis. Manuscript and typescript, 2 drafts each. Plus notes. Read before American Surgical Assoc., Jun 1918. Published in Annals of Surgery, v. 68, no. 2, Aug 1918, p. 231-234.

Folder  Folder 14

Ulcer of jejunum following gastrojejunostomy. Typescript. Two drafts plus notes. Read before A.M.A. meeting, New Orleans, Apr 1920. Published in JAMA, v. 75, Jul 24, 1920, p. 219-221.

Folder  Folder 15

Diverticula of the jejunum, by Wallace I. Terry and Frederick R. Mugler. Typescript cc. Incomplete. Published in Archives of Surgery, v. 2, Mar 1921, p. 347-353.

 

Radium emanations in the treatment of goiter; preliminary report. Typescript cc. Plus notes. Published in JAMA, v. 76, Jun 25, 1921, p. 1821.

 

Chairman's address - Section on Surgery, A.M.A. meeting, 1922. Manuscript and typescript cc. Not published?

Box Box 2, Folder  Folder 16

The differentiation of normal and pathological human thyroid glands by serological methods; preliminary report, by Wallace I. Terry and H. C. Shepardson. Typescript cc. Published in JAMA, v. 81, Oct 27, 1923, p. 1435.

 

Arterial circulation of thyroid adenomata, by Wallace I. Terry and Granville S. Delamere. Typescript cc. Published in Archives of Surgery, v. 8, no. 1, Jan. 1924, p. 165-175

 

Differentiation of the globulin from normal and abnormal human thyroid glands by serological methods, by W. I. Terry and H. C. Shepardson. Typescript. Two drafts. Sent to JAMA Sep 6, 1924. Never published.

Folder  Folder 17

Goiter. Typescript cc. Published in Illinois Medical Journal, v. 48, no. 1, Jul 1925, p. 46-48.

 

The foramen of Winslow. Manuscript and typescript (2 copies). Published as editorial in Surgery, Gynecology and Obstetrics, v. 41, no. 1, Jul 1925, p. 115-116.

 

Postoperative pulmonary complications. Typescript cc. "Sent to publishers Aug 27, 1937." Published as Chapter 16 in unidentified monograph.

Folder  Folder 18

Acute surgical complications of typhoid fever. Typescript cc. Plus letter. Published in California & Western Medicine, v. 51, no. 2, Aug 1939, p. 114-115.

 

Untitled paper on goiter. Typescript. n.d. Plus notes. Not published?

 

MANUSCRIPTS AND TYPESCRIPTS -- OTHER AUTHORS (Mainly the work of medical students. Arranged by author.)

Box  Box 2, Folder  Folder 19

Observations on the bacteriology of the operating room, by E. P. Cook. Typescript, Apr 1916. (Medical student)

 

Physical findings for 357 women students with thyroids, by R. L. Cunningham. Manuscript. Sep 17, 1925. (Professor of Hygiene and Physician for Women, Berkeley)

 

Case report on lip-myxo sarcoma, by J. M. Gunning. Typescript. Circa 1922. Plus photos. (Physician, Spokane, Washington)

Folder  Folder 20

Experiments with pyxol, by H. P. Hare. Manuscript. Circa 1916. (Medical student)

 

The etiology of varicose veins, by J. C. Raddock. Typescript. Circa 1915. (Medical student)

 

Report of data collected from operative reports concerning the conditions of the foramen of Winslow ... by F. P. Shafer. Typescript. Circa 1921. Plus notes. (Medical student)

Folder  Folder 21

Special topic in surgery: "Complete exclusion of the large bowel," described by Alfred A. Strauss in JAMA ... by Julius Sherman. Manuscript. Mar 1916. (Medical student)

 

Syphilis of the thyroid, by Dean M. Walker. Typescript. Circa 1918. (Medical student)

Folder  Folder 22

Hyperglycemia and hyperthyroidism, by W. W. Washburn. Typescript. Feb 10, 1921. Plus illustrations. (Physician, San Francisco; former medical student)

 

Radium treatment in thyroid diseases, by William W. Washburn. Typescript. Jan 20, 1922. (Physician, San Francisco; former medical student)

 

LECTURE NOTES

Box  Box 2, Folder  Folder 23

Topics discussed in the course on operative surgery on the cadaver by Prof. T. W. Washington. Manuscript and typescript. Sep-Nov 1899.

 

Operative surgery. Outline apparently based on book Atlas and epitome of operative surgery by Otto Zuckerkandl, 1898. Manuscript. n.d.

 

Dr. Terry's lectures on gynecology. Nos. I to IV. Outline form. Typescript. n.d.

 

MISCELLANY

Box  Box 2, Folder  Folder 24

Miscellaneous typescripts, manuscripts and notes. Includes photographs and clippings.

Folder  Folder 25

Miscellaneous typescripts, manuscripts and notes. Includes photographs and clippings.

Folder  Folder 26

Collected printed publications, as follows:

 

a. Programme of American Surgical Association, meeting of 1917, Boston. Annotated by Terry.

 

b. Minutes of 55th meeting of American Surgical Association, Toronto, 1934.

 

c. Minutes of 56th meeting of American Surgical Association, Boston, 1935.

 

d. Public work of San Francisco since 1906. Supplement to Municipal Reports 1908-1909. Issued by City of San Francisco.

 

e. President Wilson's war message. Apr 2, 1917.