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Webb Haymaker Founders of Neurology archive,
1946-1978
421
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Title: Webb Haymaker
Founders of Neurology archive,
Date (inclusive): 1946-1978
Collection number: 421
Creator: Haymaker, Webb, M.D.
1902-1984
Extent:
9.33 linear ft., 8 cartons plus 1 lantern slide box, 573 folders, 10
lantern slides
Repository:
University of California, Los Angeles. Library.
Louise M. Darling Biomedical Library History and Special Collections
for the Sciences
Los Angeles, California 90095-1490
Abstract: Much of this collection consists of correspondence,
texts, and photographs created and gathered for an exhibit about individuals
important in the history of basic and clinical neuroscience. The materials of
this multi-authored, international endeavor were expanded, under leadership and
editing by Webb Haymaker and backing by the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology
and the Army Medical Library, U.S.A., into a printed volume of 133 biographical
sketches, portraits, and short bibliographies, titled
The Founders of
Neurology
. The Haymaker archive also contains over 700 portraits of the
attendees at the 4th International Congress of Neurology, Paris, 1949, for which
the original exhibit was created, plus portraits of numerous other individuals
of interest to Haymaker. Correspondence folders from Dr. Haymakers files,
limited mostly to the years 1949-1963, make up the other sizeable part of this
collection. These give not only a revealing picture of Haymaker's generous, ever
energetic and ever creative personality, but also show someone closely engaged
in the U.S.'s post-World War II endeavor to reestablish contact with, and give
aid to, the scientific establishment in Europe and Asia.
Physical location: Restricted cage, Biomedical Library History
and Special Collections for the Sciences Division, University of California, Los
Angeles
Language of Material: Collection materials in English, German,
French
Collection is open for research.
Property rights in the physical objects belong to the UCLA Biomedical
Library. Literary rights, including copyright, are retained by the creators and
their heirs. It is the responsibility of the researcher to determine who holds
the copyright and pursue the copyright owner or his or her heir for permission
to publish if the Biomedical Library does not hold the copyright.
[Identification of item], Webb Haymaker
Founders of Neurology archive (Manuscript collection 421). Louise M. Darling Biomedical Library History and Special Collections for the Sciences,
University of California, Los Angeles.
UCLA Catalog Record ID:
6774090
Dr. Haymaker made his first deposit of papers, photographs, and lantern
slides to the UCLA Biomedical Library in 1961. Further materials were added over
the years until 1978.
Webb Edward Haymaker was born in 1902 and died in 1984. After his
undergraduate years at Clemson College and the College of Charleston, SC, he
entered the Medical College of South Carolina and received his M.D. degree in
1928. In 1934 Dr. Wilder Penfield invited him to become a Fellow at the newly
created Montreal Neurological Institute. Haymaker spent a year there, earned an
MSc degree from McGill University, and met fellow scientist Evelyn Anderson,
PhD, whom he married in 1936. For six years he taught neuroanatomy at the
University of California School of Medicine, San Francisco and University of
California, Berkeley. In 1942 he was commissioned a First Lieutenant in the Army
Medical Corps and assigned to the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology (AFIP), in
Washington, D.C. There he remained for approximately 20 years, rising to the
rank of Lt. Colonel, then as civilian Chief of the Neuropathology Branch. Among
his many influential publications during these years, he guided and edited a
compilation of 133 biographical sketches of pioneering luminaries in neurology,
The Founders of Neurology; this volume grew from an exhibit created for the
4th International Congress of Neurology, Paris, 1949. In 1961 Dr. Haymaker
became Assistant Director for Life Sciences, then Senior Scientist, at NASA's
Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, California, focusing his research on the
biological effects of heavy cosmic ray particles, especially on the brain.
This short, bald account may be accurate as to major milestones, but conveys
too little about the remarkable individual being described. Dr. Haymaker was a
person of intense intellectual curiosity and ability, coupled with apparently
unlimited energy and charm, someone who endeavored to aid every person who
turned to him for advice or assistance, but also someone with a sense of humor
to leaven the intensity of his supercharged life.
Being, in his own words, "not a person to have his eyes glued to books",
Haymaker interspersed education with going to sea, rising from ordinary seaman
to helmsman on a four-masted schooner. In the break after his first year of
medical school he crewed on a freighter, but jumped ship in Bremerhaven because
he wanted to explore European education. He spent one semester at the University
of Würzburg and the next at the University of Vienna, earning
certificates in Anatomy and Physiology. Then he returned to the U.S. to complete
a standard medical course - M.D., internship, residency in Pathology, further
clinical/research work. After that he really began traveling, now more focused
on seeking new ideas, new techniques in neurology and pathology. Haymaker spent
a year in Paris, half as a hospital intern, half at the University to study CNS
tissue culture. Then back to the U.S. for a year as Director of Laboratories in
a state sanatorium. Next came Penfield's invitation and Canada for a year,
London for two years, Madrid for a few weeks (cut short by the Spanish
Revolution); later Haymaker wrote "these were the days when no aspiring
neurologist should fail to reach these ... meccas." The traveling never stopped,
and he seemed to enjoy it despite occasional exhaustion. After the end of World
War II, official trips to Japan and South America were added to numerous
assignments in Europe.
Dr. Haymaker was a graceful and prolific writer and a dedicated editor. In
addition to his numerous scientific papers and reports he authored, co-authored,
edited, or co-edited a number of major integrative works in neurology (e.g.,
Hypothalamus,
Histology and Histopathology of the Nervous System,
Peripheral Nerve Injuries) and in the history of neurology (
Founders of
Neurology
, 1953 and 1970, and
Breakthroughs in hypothalamic and pituitary
research
); he also translated and edited Robert Bing's
Compendium of Regional
Diagnosis...
(from the 5th to the 16th editions). As a lecturer he was highly
sought after, receiving many more invitations than he could possibly accept. The
load of his correspondence was heavy, not surprising given the number of people
he contacted on his travels and the number of projects, publications, and
associations in which Haymaker was involved; but from the evidence in this
collection it seems that he never flagged in his politeness, patience, and
eagerness to help colleagues or strangers.
Additional biographical details may be found in the following in memoriam
articles: "Acta Neuropathol. (Berlin)", 66:1-2, 1985; "J. Neuropathol. Exp.
Neurol.", 44:220-223, 1985; "Neurology", 35:392-392, 1985.
This collection is mainly concentrated on the fourteen-year span (1947-1961)
during which Dr. Webb Haymaker, released from active service in the Army,
continued as Chief of the Neuropathology Branch, Army Institute of Pathology
(later the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology (AFIP)). When he resigned from
this position in 1961 for relocation to NASA's Ames Research Center, he shipped
the materials in his
Founders of Neurology files to UCLA, where he had friends
and knew that the history of neurology was a subject of active interest. He
added further materials until 1978, mostly additional portraits, reprints, and
illustrations of individuals contributing to basic and clinical neurology.
Fortunately he also forwarded documents pertaining to persons whose
correspondence folders he had previously deposited, thus considerably extending
the span of at least some of his professional correspondence available for
study.
The largest percentage of the archive's content pertains to
The Founders of
Neurology
in its various developmental phases: an exhibit at the 4th
International Neurology Congress in Paris, 1949; 1st edition of the printed
Founders..., 1953; and 2nd edition, 1970. The materials consist of chapter
drafts, usually with editing; some correspondence with authors and editors of
the biographical sketches; many portraits of the individuals who are chapter
subjects, plus biographical and bibliographical notes, facts, and summaries.
The Paris exhibit which preceded the published
Founders was itself modeled
on a smaller exhibit limited to history of neuropathology, which Haymaker and
the Army Institute of Pathology presented at the 1948 annual meetings of the
American Psychiatric Association and the American Neurological Association. The
positive reception accorded the neuropathology exhibit fueled enthusiasm for
creating an inclusive neurology exhibit at the Paris congress. For this
ambitious plan which would need to be executed within one year, a team of
collaborators needed to be gathered quickly. Haymaker, well respected and very
well known internationally, was the man for the job. Letters from Haymaker to
Stanley Cobb (Sept. 1948, Box 1, Folder 52) outline the planned methodology: the
exhibit would include 100 deceased individuals, pioneers in neuroanatomy,
neurophysiology, neuropathology, neurosurgery, and clinical neurology; it would
present a portrait of each, with one text page on their life and contribution to
neurology, plus a physical copy of one of their seminal works. A few photographs
of the exhibit in situ at the Paris exhibition hall are in the collection.
This is rich research soil, but some limitations need to be noted: 1. The
multiple text drafts for the exhibit and subsequent chapters are not dated nor
in any particular order; duplicate copies of one draft may have identical or
differing editing notes; there are incomplete drafts and illegible marginal
edits. To attain an insight into the editing process would demand much checking
and cross-checking of texts, consideration of handwritings and papers, and
intuition. 2. There is very little information as to who edited what; Haymaker
was probably the final arbiter for all text and certainly the most active
editor, but aside from identifying his and Robert Wartenberg's handwriting, it
is hard to tell who else contributed. 3. There are no materials in the
collection for 16 of the 34 individuals added to the 2d edition of
Founders...; in fact, most of the 2d edition documents are held by the Otis
Historical Archives (see "Related Materials" section below).
The "Other Professional Correspondence " series provides an enlightening
picture of Haymaker, both as scientist and person, during the mid-century years
covered. It provides insight into the efforts on both sides of the Atlantic and
Pacific to re-establish collegial connections and cooperation after World War
II. With his pre-war experiences in Europe, his language facility especially in
German, his scientific eminence and leadership position, Haymaker served as an
ideal person to survey needs and capabilities of foreign research institutions;
and his ebullience and charm made him widely welcomed. This section also reveals
how much energy and time Haymaker devoted to projects such as planning an
international congress, editing a voluminous, internationally-authored
Festschrift for his friend Wartenberg, or authoring a scientific treatise on the
hypothalamus.
Finally, the collection is a treasury of portraits, both of historical
figures and of Haymaker's contemporaries. The "founders" are represented as well
as additional "founders" for possible future editions. Almost everyone whom
Haymaker visited during the 1950s and 1960s or who visited him at the AFIP had a
snapshot portrait taken by him. For many years he maintained a guest book at
AFIP with visitors' signatures and their portraits, a volume which is available
at the UCLA Biomedical Library (see "Related Materials" section below). This
drive to create a photographic history of of his discipline led Haymaker to
lobby for capturing the portraits of all the attendees at the 1949 Paris
congress, and over 700 individuals complied and are now part of this collection.
(Haymaker deposited copies of the photographs with the National Library of
Medicine.)
The collection is organized into the following series:
- Series 1. The Founders of Neurology: Correspondence and Subjects, 1948-1973, bulk 1949-1953. 243 folders; 4.33 linear ft.; 4 cartons
- Series 2. Other Professional Correspondence, 1946-1972, bulk 1950-1963. 166 folders; 2.66 linear ft.; 2.5 cartons
- Series 3. 4th International Neurological Congress, Paris, 1949. 7 folders; 0.5 linear ft. ; 0.5 carton
- Series 4. Other Portraits and Illustrations. 157 folders; 1.5 linear ft.; 1 carton
- Series 5. Lantern Slides. 10 slides; 0.33 linear ft.; 1 box
"Guest Book" compiled by Webb Haymaker; photographs and signatures of over
500 visitors to Dr. Haymakers laboratories in the Armed Forces Institute of
Pathology. UCLA Biomedical Library Manuscript Collection #119.
"Haymaker Collection, 1930's-1970's". Otis Historical Archives, National
Museum of Health and Medicine, OHA #185
The following terms have been used to index the description of this
collection in the library's online public access catalog.
International
Neurological Congress (4th : 1949 : Paris, France) - archive
Haymaker, Webb,
1902-1984 - archive
Neurologists - Biography
Neurology - Biography