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Carrel (Alexis) scrapbook
Biomed.0219
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Contributing Institution:
UCLA Library Special Collections
Title: Alexis Carrel Scrapbook
Identifier/Call Number: Biomed.0219
Physical Description:
0.5 Linear Feet
(1 box)
Date (inclusive): 1908-1919
Abstract: This collection relating to the French/American surgeon Alexis Carrel (1873-1944) contains materials which had been mounted
or loosely inserted into a scrapbook. Most of the items are newspaper clippings, plus some manuscript letters and ephemera.
Dr. Carrel, whose research in vascular suturing and the transplantation of blood vessels and organs in animals won him the
Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1912, also won him the enmity of anti-vivisectionists; a few of the letters and articles
express their viewpoint vividly. As a French Army surgeon during the 1914-1919 war Dr. Carrel collaborated on important advances
in the antisepsis of wound treatment. His work with tissue culture also contributed significantly to the understanding of
viruses and the preparation of vaccines.
Physical Location: Held at UCLA Library Special Collections. Advance notice is required for access to the collection. All requests to access
special collections materials must be made in advance using the request button located on this page.
Language of Material: Materials are in English and French.
Open for research. All requests to access special collections materials must be made in advance using the request button located
on this page.
Conditions Governing Reproduction and Use
Property rights to the physical objects belong to UCLA Library Special Collections. All other 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 where The UC Regents do not hold the copyright.
[Identification of item], Alexis Carrel Scrapbook (Collection 219). Louise M. Darling Biomedical Library History and Special
Collections for the Sciences, University of California, Los Angeles.
UCLA Catalog Record ID:
9962672743606533
The scrapbook was purchased from Scientia, 2009.
Dr. Alexis Carrel (1873-1944) was a complicated, multi-faceted individual. Here are some descriptors retrieved on a Google
search of his name: surgeon, biologist, sociologist, Nobel laureate, vivisectionist, eugenicist, Nazi sympathizer, genius,
innovator, believer in miracles, ideologist.
Carrel was born and educated in Lyon, France, and received his medical degree from the University of Lyon in 1900. In 1904
he went to the University of Chicago, then moved to the Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research in New York in 1906; he
was affiliated with that institution until his retirement in 1939. His vacations were spent in France, and he maintained his
French citizenship. During the 1914-1918 war he served as a military surgeon in the French Army. He died in Paris in 1944.
An exceptionally gifted surgeon, Carrel, from early in his career focused his research on devising innovative techniques for
vascular suture and the transplantation of blood vessels and organs. It was this work which earned him the 1912 Nobel Prize
in Physiology or Medicine. During his years as an army surgeon he utilized a chlorine-based solution, originated by the English
chemist Henry Drysdale Dakin, to minimize infection. For this major advance in the treatment of traumatic wounds Carrel was
awarded the Légion d'honneur. His experiments also laid the groundwork for future developments in several related fields:
his work with tissue culture contributed significantly to the understanding of viruses and the preparation of vaccines; and
in the development of medical devices, the special sterilizing glass pump he and Charles A. Lindberg designed that could keep
animal organs alive for several days or weeks was a significant trail blazer for the field.
The collection includes ten leaves from a loose-leaf scrapbook which are covered with numerous clippings from English- and
French-language newspapers, all dealing with the surgical work of Dr. Alexis Carrel. Also included are numerous items places
loosely between the album pages: additional newspaper and magazine articles, six letters addressed to Dr. Carrel, and one
unidentified snapshot of a young man. A copy of "Time" magazine (v. 26, no. 12, 16 Sep 1935), bearing a portrait of Carrel
on its cover, has been added by the processing staff.
The letters divide four to two in attacking Dr. Carrel for vivisection, versus asking for help in medical problems through
his newly perfected surgical methods. The newspaper articles invert that percentage, with approximately two thirds of the
reports agog about the surgical marvels he was performing, and a third or less writing about individuals or groups decrying
his work as cruel, against God's will, or unnecessary.
The majority of clippings are without identification of publication, place, or year.
Collections are processed to a variety of levels depending on the work necessary to make them usable, their perceived user
interest and research value, availability of staff and resources, and competing priorities. Library Special Collections provides
a standard level of preservation and access for all collections and, when time and resources permit, conducts more intensive
processing. These materials have been arranged and described according to national and local standards and best practices.
Processed by UCLA Biomedical Library staff.
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