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Register of the Herbert McLean Evans Biographical papers, memorabilia, 1946-1970
MSS 92-18
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Title: Herbert McLean Evans Biographical papers, memorabilia,
Date (inclusive): 1946-1970
Collection number: MSS 92-18
Creator: Evans, Herbert McLean, 1882-1971
Extent: 1 carton, 2 o.s. boxes, one hat box
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.
Collection is open for research.
[Identification of item], Herbert McLean Evans Biographical papers, memorabilia, MSS
92-18, Archives & Special Collections, UCSF Library & CKM
Herbert McLean Evans was born on September 23, 1882 in Modesto, California, the son,
grandson and nephew of prominent physicians. In 1904 he received a B.S. degree from the
University of California, Berkeley. After spending one year at the University of
California School of Medicine, he completed his medical education at Johns Hopkins, where
he studied with such distinguished individuals as Franklin P. Mall and William Stewart
Halsted. Evans published papers as a student (including major contributions to Mall and
Keibel's Manual of Human Embryology) and over a period of sixty-two years he authored, or
co-authored, over six hundred papers. Following his graduation in 1908, Dr. Evans joined
the staff of Dr. Mall's department.
In 1915 he was appointed chairman of the Department of Anatomy at the University of
California. Here he embarked on experimental studies that gained for him and his
associates worldwide recognition. In 1921 he and Joseph A. Long described the estrous
cycle of the female rat, which eventually led to an interest in the influence of vitamins
on fecundity and the discovery in 1926 of vitamin E. Also in collaboration with Dr. Long,
he confirmed the pituitary gland's role in growth. In 1930 he was appointed Director of
the Institute of Experimental Biology on the Berkeley campus. In 1939 he and co-workers
separated the growth hormone from the total secretion of the anterior pituitary; in 1944
he and Drs. Cho Hao Li and M. E. Simpson crystallized a pure form. Later, with Drs. Li
and Simpson, he separated and purified the pituitary's interstitial-cell-stimulating
hormone. Following his retirement in 1952, Dr. Evans taught the histology course for
medical students on the Berkeley campus.
Dr. Evans received numerous international honors, including horary doctoral degrees from
leading educational institutions in Europe, South American and the United States. A
Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Dr. Evans was also a member of the
National Academy of Sciences, the Kaiserliche Leopoldinisch-Carolinische Deutche Akademie
der Naturforscher, Societas Regia Medicorum Budapestinensis, American Physiological
Society and the Society for Experimental Biology and Medicine. He was also past president
of the American Association of Anatomists and an honorary member of many foreign medical
and scientific societies. Dr. Evans was one of the founders of the History of Science
Society, and as a lifelong bibliophile he amassed what was described in 1961 as "one of
the world's great collections of scientific first editions." Dr. Evans died on March 5,
1971.
Transferred to Special Collections from the School of Medicine, Department of Anatomy, by
Ian W. Monie, MD, 1/3/92. Includes biographical articles, bibliographies, oral hstory
interview transcript and other transcripts of lectures, caps from Evans' academic
regalia.