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Benjamin (John Allison) papers
Biomed.0001
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Contributing Institution:
UCLA Library Special Collections
Title: John Allison Benjamin papers
Identifier/Call Number: Biomed.0001
Physical Description:
12.0 Linear Feet
(10 cartons + 1 box: 10 storage cartons (12 1/2" x 10" x 16 1/2"): containers #1 - #10; 1 storage box (21" x3" x17"): container
#11)
Date (inclusive): 1925-1994
General Physical Description note: 10 cartons + 1 box (12 linear ft.): 10 storage cartons (12 1/2" x 10" x 16 1/2"): containers #1 - #10; 1 storage box (21"
x3" x17"): container #11
Physical Location: Stored off-site. All requests to access special collections material must be made in advance using the request button located
on this page.
Language of Material: Materials are in English.
Portions of this collection are restricted. Folders marked "restricted" are unavailable.
In order to access materials that are protected under HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) or for which
there is sensitive health information, please submit a research protocol to Library Special Collections at speccoll@library.ucla.edu.
Information on permission to reproduce, quote, or publish is available from the History and
Special Collections Division.
[identification of item], John Allison Benjamin Papers (Manuscript collection 1). Louise M. Darling Biomedical Library, History
& Special Collections Division, University of California, Los Angeles.
Collections are processed to a variety of levels depending on the work necessary to make them usable, their perceived user
interest and research value, availability of staff and resources, and competing priorities. Library Special Collections provides
a standard level of preservation and access for all collections and, when time and resources permit, conducts more intensive
processing. These materials have been arranged and described according to national and local standards and best practices.
Newspaper clippings and other brittle papers have been photocopied onto permanent durable paper. Photographs, x-rays, and
reproductions have been sleeved in Mylar, as have the lantern slides. 35 mm slides have been placed into archival slide pages.
Microfilm and film reels are housed in acid-free boxes.
Processed by Pat L. Walter.
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UCLA Catalog Record ID:
9942357433606533
Newspaper clippings and other brittle papers have been photocopied onto permanent durable paper. Photographs, x-rays, and
reproductions have been sleeved in Mylar, as have the lantern slides. 35 mm slides have been placed into archival slide pages.
Microfilm and film reels are housed in acid-free boxes.
John Allison Benjamin (1906-Dec. 25, 1992), M.D., urologist, surgeon, scientist, teacher, collector of a treasure trove of
rare books in the history of medicine and science, and generous benefactor, was a self-made man. Innate capability and a driving
work ethic propelled him, not privileged birth or extraordinary opportunities. His intellectual drive and ambition led to
contacts with men who would act as role models, mentors, and friends until he had achieved his own renown, when he in turn
became a gifted and conscientious teacher and mentor.
Dr. Benjamin had wide-ranging curiosity, interests, and achievements. First he was, according to many statements and hints
to be found in these papers, a superb and warmly caring clinician; his patients seem to have adored him, and younger urologists
gave credit to his example long after leaving his wards. Second, he was a very good scientist, doing animal experiments to
further basic urological understanding; his work in developing cinematography of the urinary tract, in both dogs and humans,
was pioneering. And third, with little background except some school Latin, through sheer perseverance and many hours of self
study, he became a good historian of urology and a superb book collector, fashioning a well-focused collection of rare medical
& scientific works that became renowned in its field.
The professional recognition Dr. Benjamin received as clinician and scientist is well documented in the papers. He was a founder
and president of the Society for Pediatric Urology, prominent in the American Urological Association and several of its regional
sections, editorial board member of the
Journal of Urology, author of many chapters and many, many papers in the literature of urology, including its history. As a book collector and
benefactor he was also widely hailed. In 1964 Dr. Benjamin presented his library of over 700 volumes of classics in medicine
and science to the Biomedical Library of the University of California, Los Angeles, and for many years thereafter he added
priceless volumes to that collection.
John A. Benjamin was born in Salmon, Idaho, the oldest of six children in a poor and troubled household. He attended the small
local schools and escaped as soon as he was ready for college, to the home of relatives in Santa Ana, California. Commuting
by streetcar, he entered UCLA at its old downtown location, a member of the first class to graduate, with a B.A. in Zoology,
from the new Westwood campus in 1930. Then he entered The Johns Hopkins University Medical School, maintaining himself with
money he had saved from working during college, further part-time jobs, and help from his So. California relatives. He received
the M.D. degree in 1934.
Urology was already his primary field of interest. During the summer of 1933 he was awarded a student fellowship by the Rockefeller
Foundation, International Health Division, to study venereal disease in the Southern U.S. After graduation he interned in
genitourinary surgery and gynecology with Dr. Hugh Young in Baltimore for a year, and spent the following year as general
surgery intern with Dr. T.F. Riggs of Pierre, So. Dakota. Then followed urological residency training at the University of
Rochester Medical Center, from 1936 to 1939.
After completion of his residency, Dr. Benjamin returned to Los Angeles to join the urology practice of Dr. E. Belt, where
he stayed for two years. Elmer Belt served as a major role model -- not only as clinician and educator, but he also transferred
his abiding fascination with the history of medicine and the collection of rare medical books to his young colleague. Dr.
Benjamin himself stated that he owed his collecting drive to Dr. Belt's example.
Dr. Benjamin next shifted to private practice in Portland, Oregon, from 1941 to 1942. But then he received an invitation,
eagerly accepted, to join the faculty of the University of Rochester School of Medicine as Assistant Professor of Urological
Surgery. At this time Dr. Benjamin married his second wife, Mae McElman Benjamin, with whom he celebrated his 50th wedding
anniversary a few months before his death. He continued as a full-time faculty member until 1957, then as part-time clinical
professor until his retirement in 1971; during all this time he had a busy private practice.
The Benjamins moved back to So. California after retirement, but Dr. Benjamin soon grew restless with inactivity. Fortunately
a professional friend grabbed the opportunity to recruit him, and in 1971 Dr. Benjamin joined the Department of Urology of
the Southern California Permanente Medical Group, where he practiced for seventeen more years.
Dr. Benjamin was survived by his wife, Mae, his four children and six grandchildren.
The bulk of this collection documents Dr. Benjamin's research and clinical activities, the research covering the urogenital
systems of both humans and animals and historical/bibliographic topics. The papers mostly span the years from 1930 to 1988
--years of professional education and working life -- with a few earlier and later items. There are also translations, photocopies
and microfilm of early classic publications, dating as far back as the 15th century. Perhaps one-eighth of all the material
is concerned with the John A. Benjamin Collection of Medical History, including the correspondence with rare book dealers
and with UCLA librarians from which a separate provenance database has been constructed. A smaller percentage of the material
can be considered personal, concerning Dr. Benjamin's background, family, and friends.
The provenance database contains information on author, title, place and date of publication, name of the source supplying
the work, the date and price of purchase, and location of the pertinent documents within the collection, for each volume for
which such information could be found. This information is available from the History & Special Collections Division, UCLA
Biomedical Library.
In addition to the paper documents, the collection contains well over 500 photographs, over 600 35 mm slides, over 200 lantern
slides, eleven motion pictures, nine film strips, and numerous x-rays. There is also a 45 min. videotape of an interview with
Dr. Benjamin sponsored by the American Urological Association which gives a wonderful capsule biography and insight into the
man.
Dr. Benjamin apparently made an effort to save all his papers, including multiple drafts and multiple copies of drafts of
publications under development. Some of the material is handwritten, often on small cards or scraps of paper, and his handwriting
was typical of the physician writing stereotype -- i.e., illegible. If they carried no additional notes or editing, multiple
copies of typescripts were discarded by the processor; the same held for multiple copies of reprints. Duplication was also
avoided as much as possible among the non-print materials, although there is still some overlap of images between photographs,
35 mm slides, and lantern slides.
The materials were arranged by the processor into seven series:
- I. Early Study and Research (7 folders, 1930-1936)
- II. Research, Teaching, Patient Care -- Urogenital System (92 folders, 1939-1991)
- III. Research -- Historical & bibliographic (48 folders, 1940-1991)
- IV. Supporting Research Materials (73 folders, 1934-1991)
- V. The John A. Benjamin Collection of Rare Medical Books (38 folders, 1942-1993)
- VI. Personal Materials (22 folders, 1925-1992)
- VII. Nonprint Materials (ca. 500 photographs, ca. 50 x-rays, 11 motion pictures, 14 film strips, 660 35 mm slides, 206 glass lantern slides, 1 phonograph record, 1 videocassette, & 2 tie tacks, no dates). Series and subseries are arranged chronologically. The contents of boxes 1-8 and 11 are identified as "folders"; of box 9 as "film" or "film strip," etc.; of box 10 as "item." The Table of Contents preceding this section affords an overview of series and subseries.
- JAB John Allison Benjamin
- MTG Martha Teach Gnudi
- KESD Katharine E.S. Donahue
- JZ Jake Zeitlin
- F Folder
- I Item
- FS film strip
Benjamin, John A. (John Allison), 1906-
Urology.
Urology--history.
Urogenital System.
History of Medicine.
Book Collecting.
O'Malley, Charles Donald.
Gnudi, Martha Teach, 1908-
Belt, Elmer, 1893-1980.
Young, Hugh, 1870-1945.
Goodwin, Willard E.
Steele, Victoria.
Donahue, Katharine E. S.
John A. Benjamin Collection of Medical History.
American Urological Association.