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Register of the W. K. (William Kenneth) Livingston Papers, 1923-1966
136
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Table of contents
Title: W. K. (William Kenneth) Livingston Papers,
Date (inclusive): 1923-1966
Collection number: 136
Origination: Livingston, W. K. (William Kenneth)
Forms part of:
Extent: Five cubic-foot cartons
Repository:
Louise M. Darling Biomedical Library
History and Special Collections Division
History and Special Collections Division
University of California, Los Angeles
Los Angeles, CA 90095-1798
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, with the following exceptions: Folders in Boxes 3, 4 and
5 are restricted. Contact the manuscript curator at the Louise M. Darling Biomedical
Library, History and Special Collections Division, for information on access to these
files.
The William K. Livingston Papers were received from William K. Livingston's
daughter-in-law Katherine Livingston in August, 1995, and April, 1996, with one
additional box on 10 October 1997.
Information on permission to reproduce, quote, or publish is available from the History &
Special Collections Division.
[Identification of item], W. K. (William Kenneth) Livingston papers (Manuscript collection 136). Louise M. Darling Biomedical
Library, History & Special Collections Division, University of California, Los Angeles.
UCLA Catalog Record ID:
4233318
Livingston, William K.
Neurosciences.
Pain. (MeSH).
Peripheral Nerves-injuries. (MeSH)
William Kenneth Livingston was born on October 21, 1892, in Sparta, Wisconsin to John W.
Livingston and Sarah F. (Burr) Livingston. He received his BA in 1913 from the University
of Oregon, and married Ruth Forbes Brown shortly thereafter, on February 28, 1914. They
had two sons, Kenneth Edwin (1914-84) and Robert B., both of whom followed their father's
footsteps into neuroscience.
Livingston began professional life as the head of a high school science department
(1914-16) in Pendleton, Oregon, while he pursued his MA in Zoology (University of Oregon,
1915) and took some preliminary courses in medical school. The Livingstons then moved to
Boston for about six years for William to finish medical school. He received his MD from
Harvard in 1920, followed by two years in surgical residence at Massacheusetts General
Hospital.
Returning to Oregon, Livingston set up private practice in Portland, 1922-44, with
medical school affiliation at the University of Oregon. In 1927 he published his first
paper, "Visceral Pain," in
Northwest Medicine, and in 1935
his first book
The Clinical Aspects of Visceral Neurology
(Charles C. Thomas , Springfield, Illinois). His second book,
Pain
Mechanisms
(MacMillan, NY, NY) came out in 1943 and was reprinted in 1947 and
1976.
During WWII, Livingston studied more than 2000 nerve-injured soldiers, taking extensive
notes in the form of patient histories, follow-ups, and drawings. He entered active Naval
service as a Lieutenant Commander on January 11, 1943. He served as the Chief of
Neurosurgery Service at U.S. Naval Hospital in Oakland, California from August, 1945
until August, 1946, and was released from service at the rank of Captain on October 31,
1946. Immediately after service he spent a year as a visiting professor at New York
University, the Royal College of Surgeons, Oxford University and Cambridge University.
Livingston spent the rest of his medical career as Professor and Chairman of the
Department of Surgery at the University of Oregon, from 1947 to 1958.
Livingston retired in 1958, when he and Ruth moved to Eastern Oregon. He continued to
pursue many of his hobbies, which included, at various times in his life, racquet sports,
wrestling, fishing, sailing, archery, pottery, photography, painting and music. He also
worked on the manuscript of what he hoped would be his most complete book,
Pain and Suffering, but it remains unfinished and unpublished.
William Livingston died at age 73 on March 22, 1966, while visiting a friend in Portland,
Oregon, of coronary thrombosis.
Sources:
[List of Reprints, CV, Biographical Information], nd. [Box 5, Folder 20], William K.
Livingston Papers, Manuscript collection number 136, Louise M. Darling Biomedical
Library, History & Special Collections Division, University of California, Los Angeles.
[Obituaries], [1966]. [Box 5, Folder 26], William K. Livingston Papers, Manuscript
collection number 136, Louise M. Darling Biomedical Library, History & Special
Collections Division, University of California, Los Angeles.
[Oregonian clippings re: WKL's resignation], [1957]. [Box 5, Folder 31], William K.
Livingston Papers, Manuscript collection number 136, Louise M. Darling Biomedical
Library, History & Special Collections Division, University of California, Los Angeles.
The William K. Livingston Papers were received from his daughter-in-law Katherine
Livingston in 1996 with one additional box on 10 October 1997.