Biographical / Historical
Conditions Governing Access
Processing Information
Preferred Citation
Scope and Contents
Conditions Governing Use
Language of Material:
English
Contributing Institution:
ONE National Gay & Lesbian Archives, USC Libraries, University of Southern California
Title: Harry Benjamin licenses and awards
Identifier/Call Number: Coll2014.063
Physical Description:
1.3 Linear Feet
1 archive flat box
Date (inclusive): 1915-1975
Abstract: Licenses to practice medicine and awards from medical groups for Dr. Harry Benjamin, 1915-1975. Benjamin was a clinical specialist
in transexualism and an advocate for transgender people.
Biographical / Historical
Dr. Harry Benjamin was born in Berlin, Germany, in 1885. He moved to New York in the 1920s and started a practice focusing
on endocrinology and gender identity. Up to the 1960s, he was the go-to person for transgender people seeking medical treatment
in the United States. Dr. Benjamin assisted Christine Jorgensen, Reed Erickson, Renée Richards, and numerous others to medically
alter their physiology. He also provided them and other transgender people with social and legal support. In the 1960s, Benjamin
helped establish the Harry Benjamin Foundation to assist transgender people in obtaining surgery. Benjamin retired in the
1970s and the Harry Benjamin International Gender Dysphoria Association (HBIGDA) was named in his honor.
Conditions Governing Access
The collection is open to researchers. There are no access restrictions.
Processing Information
Collection was processed by Kyle Morgan, 2014.
Preferred Citation
[Box/folder #, or item name] Harry Benjamin Licenses and Awards, Coll2014-063, ONE National Gay & Lesbian Archives, USC Libraries,
University of Southern California.
Scope and Contents
The collection includes Dr. Harry Benjamin's licenses to practice medicine from the University of the State of New York (1915)
and the Board of Medical Examiners of the State of California (1934), and awards from the American Geriatrics Society (1950),
Association for the Advancement of Psychotherapy (1955), Society for the Scientific Study of Sex (1966), Harry Benjamin International
Conference on Gender Identity (1975), and Fifty Year Club of American Medicine (undated).
Conditions Governing Use
All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the ONE Archivist. Permission
for publication is given on behalf of ONE National Gay and Lesbian Archives at USC Libraries as the owner of the physical
items and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Physicians -- Licenses
Awards
Transgenderism
Benjamin, Harry