The papers of Dr. William Barclay Stephens - MD, eye researcher, California Academy of Sciences Member, Fellow, and Honorary Curator of Horology. Included are photographs, negative, slides, articles, correspondence, clippings, and a stereopticon. The collection is mainly comprised of items relating to his interest in horology and also includes photos of San Francisco and the 1906 earthquake and fire.

Dr. W. Barclay Stephens, Physician and Horologist, was born on January 5, 1869, in Paris, Kentucky. As a boy, he found two antique clocks in the attic of his parents house. He was able to repair one of the clocks to working order, the second’s mechanics were beyond the abilities of the junior clock lover and became a cabinet instead. This cabinet would serve to hold the other clocks that he would eventually collect in this lifelong hobby. In 1890, Dr. Stephens graduated from Georgetown College, Kentucky. In 1893, he received his Doctorate of Medicine from the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons. That same year, he began an eye, ear, nose, and throat practice in San Francisco, California. After a year in San Francisco, Dr. Stephens moved his practice across the bay to Alameda, where he was engaged in eye research. After thirty years as a practicing physician and diplomat of the American board of Ophthalmology and Oto-Larynthamology, Dr. Stephens suffered a heart attack while testifying as a medical expert in court. That same year, 1934, Dr. Stephens retired, turning his practice over to his two physician sons, whose mother, Sarah Louise Bruce, he had married in 1903. He spent next eight the years involved in horticulture and horology. This retirement was interrupted by World War II. In 1942, his two sons, Stuart and Bruce, were called up to serve in the Navy. It was apparent to Dr. Stephens that there would be a shortage of physicians in the area and resumed his practice. Once the war was over Dr. Stephens returned to his retirement in 1948. Dr. Stephens once said of his hobby (sometime he referred to it as his philosophy), “Time is a precious commodity. One should spend it and invest it more carefully than any other capital. Wasting it is a destructive habit.” He felt similarly about the wasting or languishing of money. After organizing the Boy Scouts of America Chapter in Alameda and presiding over the organization for fourteen years, he (in 1949) donated $20,000.00 for the purchase of a Boy and Girl Scouts youth center. They named it, in his honor, the Stephens Center. The Boy Scouts further showed their respect and gratitude with Camp Stephens and the W. Barclay Stephens explorer ship (the largest one of its kind in the world). Dr. Stephens also helped found the Alameda Hospital and subsequently had a wing named after him in 1957. After being a member of the California Academy of Sciences for thirty-seven years, Dr. Stephens was named Honorary Curator of Horology and his famous collection of clocks was opened for display to the public. That same year, 1946, he became a Patron of the Academy and subsequently a Fellow and a Benefactor in 1952. Dr. Stephens also gave an exhibit to the Bishop Museum in Honolulu. As was said before, Dr. Stephens saw clocks not as mere measurers of time but as philosophical instruments telling one how and when to live their life. After approximately a month of illness, Dr. W. Barclay Stephens passed away, in the hospital he helped to found, on February 28, 1962.

7+ boxes, 2.45 cu.ft

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