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Cleary (Dr. Ernest) Family Papers
MSS-2014-09-11  
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  • Access
  • Publication Rights
  • Biographical / Historical
  • Scope and Contents
  • Preferred Citation
  • Processing Information
  • Arrangement

  • Language of Material: English
    Contributing Institution: SJSU Special Collections & Archives
    Title: Dr. Ernest Cleary Family Papers
    creator: Cleary, Ernest W., Dr.
    Identifier/Call Number: MSS-2014-09-11
    Physical Description: 34 boxes 38 linear feet
    Physical Description: 1 folder
    Date (inclusive): 1855-1980
    Date (bulk): 1900-1970
    Abstract: The Dr. Ernest Cleary Family Papers document the life of Dr. Cleary and his family from 1855-1980. The papers consist of correspondence between Cleary family members, journals Dr. Cleary kept during school and his career, photographs and journals of backpacking trips and his time as doctor of the Sugar Pine saw mill, photographs and papers from his time in military service in the medical corps during World War I, portrait photographs of relatives and friends, newspaper clippings, publications, articles, and stories written by Dr. Cleary. Some other contents include business, financial, and legal documents, military insignia and uniform pieces, and keepsakes such as dried flowers from a wedding bouquet and locks of hair.

    Access

    The collection is open for research.

    Publication Rights

    Copyright has been assigned to the San Jose State University Library Special Collections & Archives. All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Director of Special Collections. Permission for publication is given on behalf of the Special Collections & Archives 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 by the reader. Copyright restrictions also apply to digital reproductions of the original materials. Use of digital files is restricted to research and educational purposes.

    Biographical / Historical

    Dr. Ernest Winton Cleary was born on May 17, 1880 near Milton, California in Calaveras County, to mother Mary Eliza “Mollie” (Cooper) Cleary and Frank C. Cleary. When Ernest was 7 years old, his family moved to Pleasant Valley, CA, near the Posa Chine Creek, where his father had bought land and built a cabin. Following a drought in the late 1890s, Ernest and his father took up work in the nearby oil fields, where he became a driller. Ernest Cleary then decided to follow his childhood dream of becoming a doctor. He returned to high school and graduated from Santa Cruz High in 1905.
    Ernest Cleary continued his education at the University of California at Berkeley. In his third year as a pre-medical student, Ernest Cleary met Mary Edna Robinson, a teacher and recent graduate. They were married on August 1, 1911 at his parents’ home in Lindsay, California. After an internship in the University of California hospital, Ernest, his wife Edna, and new baby daughter Mary Beth went to Sugar Pine in the Sierras in May 1913, where Ernest worked as a doctor for a lumber company saw mill through the spring and fall of the next four years. During the winters of these years, Dr. Cleary worked in Boston at Massachusetts General Hospital and at New York Orthopedic hospital, did postgraduate work in the University of California hospital orthopedic department, and took over a practice in Lindsay, California, to be close to his mother after his father Frank’s death in March, 1915. That summer, on June 28, 1915, Dr. and Mrs. Cleary had their second daughter, Margaret, at Sugar Pine.
    In the fall of 1916, Dr. Cleary resigned from the Sugar Pine saw mill and became the medical director of the State Compensation Insurance Fund. His son Frank Winton Cleary was born in San Francisco in 1917. In the fall of 1917, at the American College of Surgeons meeting in Chicago, his colleague Dr. Brackett of Boston convinced Dr. Cleary to join the military service to assist the wounded of World War I. After a military orthopedics training course in Washington, Dr. Cleary was assigned to the army’s general hospital in Lakewood, New Jersey as the chief of orthopedics. While serving there, he became chief of the surgical service and was promoted to the rank of major. Dr. Cleary was discharged in May, 1919, when the hospital was closed.
    He returned to California and started an orthopedic surgery office in San Francisco until 1938, when he established his new office on the Peninsula, where his son Frank Winton Cleary later joined him in his practice. While he had his office in San Francisco, from 1922 to 1929, Dr. Ernest Cleary served as an instructor in orthopedic surgery at the University of California Medical School. He also served in executive offices of the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgery in 1935 and the Western Orthopedic Association in 1940. Dr. Ernest Cleary died on January 29, 1976 in San Mateo, California.

    Scope and Contents

    The Dr. Ernest Cleary Family Papers include a variety of materials and documents of and about Dr. Ernest Cleary and his family members. Though he was born in 1880, the collection consists of some documents that date back to 1855, giving insight into the lives of his parents and grandparents. Included are many journals kept by Dr. Cleary as well as his father Frank, his wife Mary Edna, and some by his children. In addition, there are many of Dr. Cleary’s personal writings (stories, reminiscences, poems, and more). His writings illustrate the experiences and memories of Dr. Cleary and his family in Coalinga’s oil fields, in Lindsay, in Sugar Pine, in Burlingame, and in other cities in the San Francisco Bay Area, as well as in Lakewood, New Jersey, where Dr. Cleary served in the medical corps during World War I. Dr. Cleary was also a great keeper of records and inventory of his personal library and household possessions as well as his correspondence with others; these personal notes are included in the collection as well.
    This collection also includes the correspondence of Dr. Cleary and his family, his friends, and colleagues. A great portion of the correspondence is between his wife, Mary Edna, and their eldest daughter, Mary Elizabeth. Included are letters written to and from his business associates, giving insight into his daily business as a doctor in various hospitals. Some official prescription licenses are included in the collection. There are also documents that describe his business partnership with his son, Frank Winton Cleary, and various other meeting minutes, memoranda, receipts and bills regarding hospital operations. Also included are some legal documents concerning property sales, his will and testament, and more. As an orthopedic surgeon, Dr. Cleary wrote and gave talks and speeches on the subject numerous times; his publications are included in the collection as well as newspaper clippings about himself and his family members.
    The photographs in this collection depict life in the Coalinga oil fields and include many portraits of family and extended family, and baby pictures of Dr. Cleary’s three children growing up together and then getting married and having their own children. The Cleary family enjoyed vacations and sight-seeing together; there are numerous scenic photographs from their various family trips, but there are also many photos that document their everyday life at home. Many of these photographs have corresponding negatives; there are also albums, glass plate negatives, and tintypes. Some hospital and medical operations were also photographed; these photos show the processes of orthopedic surgery during World War I and beyond, including some photographs of the apparatuses, gear, and equipment that Dr. Cleary used or designed himself.
    Lastly, the collection contains memorabilia and ephemera collected over the years, like theater and musical programs as well as tourist pamphlets. Included are two scrapbooks that contain Dr. Cleary's and Mary Edna's keepsakes and memorabilia. Dr. Cleary’s World War I military insignia and other uniform pieces are included as well. The collection’s contents give accurate insight into Dr. Cleary as not only an orthopedic surgeon but also as a son, a brother, a young man, then older man, a husband, a father, a writer, a business partner, a photographer and traveler, and a friend.

    Preferred Citation

    Dr. Ernest Cleary Family Papers, MSS-2014-09-11, San Jose State University Library Special Collections & Archives.

    Processing Information

    Processed by: Molly Freed, Brandon Sheirich, and Grace Song. Reviewed by: Leilani Marshall.

    Arrangement

    The Dr. Ernest Cleary Family Papers are arranged into six series: Series I: Journals and Writings, 1850-1974; Series II: Correspondence, 1855-1980; Series III: Business and Legal Papers, 1877-1977; Series IV: Publications and Clippings, 1857-1968; Series V: Photographs, 1880-1976; and Series VI: Memorabilia and Ephemera, 1895-1971.

    Subjects and Indexing Terms

    Central Valley (Calif.)
    Cleary family
    Orthopedics--Practice--United States
    Physicians--California--Biography
    San Francisco Bay Area (Calif.)
    World War, 1914-1918
    Cleary, Ernest W., Dr.