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.